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Summer Taiwan Trip with Baby 1 year old- Taichung

2020-02-04T22:55:00.001+08:00

Our 1st Taiwan trip with little one. Both of us never actually went to Taiwan together but I decided to have a try this summer. It wasn't a pleasant trip especially to travel on summer time, the weather in Taiwan was super hot. We also experienced earthquake and typhoon during our trip but luckily we were not at the affected area. It was overall a good experience but I would recommend to bring children along at least 4-5 years old where they could walk and sit on adult chair during meal time. Taiwan wasn't as child friendly as I think it is, at least not during meal time, most of the dinning place do not have baby chair!

For this 7 days 6 nights trip, I only planned to visit two places- Taipei and Taichung as we don't want to be too rush on our trip by going too many places plus we don't know whether our baby can take it as well.

Here is the itinerary:

Day 1: KUL-->Taipei-->Taichung
We took Ubus from Taoyuan International Airport to Taichung.
Hotel: Park City Hotel, Taichung

Day 2: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art--> Park Lane by CMP--> National Taichung Theater--> Rainbow Village--> Luce Memorial Chapel-->Gaomei Wetlands Sunset --> Feng Jia Night Market

Day 3: Taiwan Museum of Suncake--> Miyahara-->Taichung Old Train Station--> Taichung Bus Station-->Taipei
Hotel: Ambience Hotel, Taipei

Day 4: Taipei Zoo--> Syntrend Mall

Day 5: Ximending Youth Shopping District--> Taipei Tianhou Temple--> Clothing Shopping Outlet in Wufenpu-->Raohe Night Market

Day 6: Houtong-->Shifen-->Jiufen

Day 7: Taipei--> KUL

I managed to get flight ticket from Eva Air at a very reasonable for around RM 850 per adult round trip. Child another RM 400 without a seat.

For the first day, we reach Taoyuan Airport around 5.30pm and we took Ubus to Taichung directly. We decided to take bus to Taichung rather than taking the train (don't need to change train with bulky luggage), straight to Taichung with a journey of 2 and half hours. It is a smooth journey. Bus to Taichung cost around NT 300 per person.

There are few stops that Ubus can drop you off, along the road to the last station-Taichung Bus Station. We dropped off at Taichung Bus Station and took a taxi to our hotel.

We stayed at Park City Hotel Central Taichung. I booked the Combined Twin room which came with a super large King size bed. A night is approximately RM 250 with breakfast which is quite reasonable.

Bathroom came with bathtub as well, easy to bath for our baby.

On our Day 2, we first visit the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art. We took a public bus just 1 min walk away from our hotel. Remember to get the Easycard, or 悠遊卡 at MRT station or 7-eleven /Family Mart at NT 100 (without top up) to hop on the bus. Travelling on public bus in Taichung city within 10km is free so don't miss this benefit. You can get the Hotel staff to assist you to check the bus # to get to your destination.There is an bus app that the Hotel staff use to check on the bus# and time of arrival. In Taichung, basically there is no train available to travel around the city, you need to get the public bus or taxi.

In National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art, there is a play area and library for children on the ground floor. The kids can make crafts, drawing, reading and play there, no entrance fee required.

We had our lunch at Bafang Dumpling 八方雲集 on the way to Park Lane by CMP. We didn't have time to visit Park Lane as we spend half of the day at the Museum.

We really love their dumpling and it is quite cheap too. Total we paid NT 235 only for our lunch.

We booked the Half day Tour: Gaomei Wetlands and Rainbow Village with KKDAY for RM97 per adult & RM 26 per child. It is a good deal since travelling to both places required hired car/taxi. We went to few places other than Gaomei Wetlands & Rainbow Village during the tour, but it was quite rush for us especially we are carrying a baby with us.

National Taichung Theater

Inside National Taichung Theater

Rainbow Village

Luce Memorial Chapel

Gaomei Wetlands Sunset
Unfortunately it was typhoon in Taipei during our visit which also indirectly affect Taichung. The wind was strong and we aren't allow to go down directly to the windmill area. So the tour bus stop somewhere further that we could take photo from far.

Feng Jia Night Market

We chose our last stop of the tour at Feng Jia Night Market since we can have dinner there and take a taxi back to our hotel. A good experience for baby to explore the colourful night market!

We found this Beef Samurai restaurant in one of the alley of Feng Jia Night Market. It turns out to be very good. The plus point is they provide baby chair in the restaurant. I would definitely drop by this shop again if visit Taichung in future.

We were so hungry that we ordered 3 don to share among.

PS: Don't bring along stroller for this tour. There is a lot of hop in and hop out of the bus you need to do which it is NOT convenient to carry a baby stroller.

Our last day in Taichung, it pretty much a short trip but if I have chance again I would extend a longer stay. It is the day we have to depart back to Taipei. Due to the typhoon strike on our trip Day 2, all train to Taipei has stopped, so we have no choice to take Ubus back to Taipei.

We dropped by the Taiwan Museum of Suncake to buy their famous Suncake before we head to Miyahara for some Ice-Cream.I didn't get the chance to take photo of the Suncake that I bought, all have been distributed out to family. You can try out their Suncake before purchase to ensure you like the taste. I'm personally do not fancy that kind of biscuit but it is definitely a nice souvenir for family.

Miyahara

Inside Miyahara

All biscuits are packed in really nice packaging like CD cover. So impressive!

Ice cream time, basically anytime you come there is a queue outside the ice-cream section. The staff will hang you the paper to choose your ice cream flavour and the size. More than 50 types of ice cream flavours serve in the shop.

We got 2 scoop of ice-cream each with the basket wafer and 2 sides to add on. Total around NT360. The downside of the place is you have to stand outside the shop to eat the ice-cream. There isn't any chairs prepare outside or inside the shop for dine in. If you have baby with you, better get a stroller or carrier.

Before we left to the Bus station, we dropby the old train station which is just walking distance for photo taking.

Last but not least, our lunch at the Taichung Bus Station before we board our bus. We picked this shop-Thefreen Burger, very small corner shop at the end of bus station. Surprisingly, the burgers turn out to be quite good with reasonable price too. We really enjoy the meal with our baby playing around with her fries. Again, the place do not provide any baby chair, I will have to carry my daughter on my lap.

That's all my post for Taichung trip for now. I will update on the trip back to Taiwan soon.

Stay tuned!

Love,

sufen

Elevate Your ONG With Jack 'N Jill Calbee Golden Chips This Chinese New Year 2020

2020-01-06T21:12:00.002+08:00

It is really excited when receiving good snacks for Chinese New Year. Calbee was one of my favourite snacks and it was a surprise when receiving this big red box filled with my favourite snacks! Jack 'n Jill is now giving away some cash, scroll down and read more.

Do you want to try something new this year? Take on a new custom to be ONG with Jack ‘n Jill Calbee, the newly popular potato chips brand. Jack ‘n Jill Calbee will Elevate Your ONG with its golden potato chips and auspicious Chinese New Year Fortune Ang Pow Giveaway where you stand a chance to win the Grand Prize of RM3,333 cash ang pow and a Lion Dance Package Performance to usher in even more ONG!

“To celebrate the new cycle of the Chinese Zodiac of 2020, Jack ‘n Jill Calbee is giving a big offer in-store for our consumers. With the year of the ‘Rat’ 鼠and ‘Chips’ 薯 both pronounced similarly (as “Shu”) in Mandarin, we want to take the opportunity to encourage more consumption of our Jack ‘n Jill Calbee Golden Chips as a symbolic act of welcoming ONG for Chinese New Year,” says Emmanuel B. Puno, Senior Vice President (SVP) of URC Snack Foods Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

“We hope consumers can share Jack ‘n Jill Calbee Golden Chips with their friends and family during Chinese New Year visits, as though they are gifting prosperity and ONG to their loved ones. Additionally, for every purchase of RM10, consumers can redeem a set of limited-edition Jack ‘n Jill Calbee Fortune Ang Pow packets. We call it Fortune Ang Pow because each one is designed with an auspicious Golden Money Tree, symbolizing giving or receiving ONG for the new year ahead,” he continues.

THREE EASY STEPS TO ELEVATE YOUR ONG!

Step 1

Purchase RM10 worth of Jack ‘n Jill Calbee at any participating outlets.

Step 2

With every purchase, you’ll get a set of limited-edition Jack ‘n Jill Calbee Fortune Ang Pow packets.
*While stocks last.

Step 3

Scan the QR code on the Fortune Ang Pow. Submit your details and proof of purchase.

ARE YOU ONG ENOUGH TO WIN THESE PRIZES?

Grand Prize x 1

RM3,333 cash & Lion Dance Package Performance (at your home)

Second Prize X 3

RM333 cash each

COMPLIMENTARY Prize X 33

RM33 cash each

Elevate Your ONG now with Jack ‘n Jill Calbee’s delectable flavours – Classic Salted, Smokey BBQ and Flamin’ Chilli – in all participating stores like Giant, Aeon, Aeon Big, Econsave, TF Value, The Store, Sogo and many more and join Instagram celebrities May Ho, Jorise Lee, Wei Keat and many more to snack your way to a lucky year ahead.

For more contest information, go to their Facebook page (www.facebook.com/JacknJillCalbee.MY) or Instagram (@jacknjillcalbeemy).

Love,

Su Fen

I'm Back!

2019-03-09T13:50:00.000+08:00

Since the last post in 2017, I basically hibernated for the past 1 and half years. What have I done for the past 1 and half years? I have gone through from having a lovely husband into getting our first baby daughter. Our baby daughter is 9 months now! Time flies so fast, still remember the day that I carried her in my arm in the labour room, and she is now all grown up, able to crawl and stand on her own.

For the next few weeks, I'm going to share my journey of pregnancy, my delivery and baby led weaning process with my baby.

It was a bumpy journey during my pregnancy. I was on bed for around 2 weeks when doctor found bleeding during my second month of pregnancy. I vomited from third month, continue until 6th month of pregnancy, worst time is early morning and late at night. Stomach upset everytime I had spicy food but I had the crave everyday. I was admitted to hospital on 41 weeks due to overdue but baby seem to be very comfortable in my tummy after 3 doses of medicine to induce labour. Luckily doctor manage to make it happen for natural delivery!

Here is a summary of my pregnancy & delivery:

Vomit period: 3rd month until 6th month

Weight gained: 15kg (41 weeks)

Craving Food during Pregnancy: All spicy & sour Food

Delivery: Natural birth, baby came out at 41st week

Delivery place: KPJ Klang, Selangor

Doctor: Dr. Vijaya & Dr. Ooi (baby)

Breastfeeding: Fully Breastfed, still on-going even though baby is 9 months now.

My 7 months pregnancy

My baby 3 months old

9 months old Now!

Signing out now! Stay Tuned!

Mummy Su Fen

What to eat in Lombok?

2017-09-18T21:40:00.000+08:00

If you have been reading my first post on Lombok trip, I believe you are wondering where is the food review. This tamchiak girl never failed on introducing nice food when travelling. Yes, you are right. Here is the post! I'm going to review on the food I had during the trip and which are good and bad.

If you missed out the Lombok 4 days 3 nights Itinerary post, you can check it out HERE.

LOMBOK LAND:

Rumah Makan Cahaya

Jl. Raya BIL, Bandara Internasional Lombok, Praya, Lombok, Indonesia

Tel: +62 878-6520-4131

This is one of the place that you must visit and it is just opposite the airport right at the round about. You can ask the driver to drop you here when you reach Lombok from airport or before you leave Lombok to airport. You will not miss this place. During our meal, we see lots of locals and air cabin crew will drop by here. Lombok is famous for its Ayam Taliwang, and this is the place where you can find cheap and good original Ayam Taliwang.

To our surprise the drink name Es Jeruk with Coconut turns out to be one of the best drink we had in Lombok. It is a type of orange juice added with coconut juice. However, be careful of the chilli that comes with the rice, it is super spicy and burning!

Coconut- Rp. 25K; Es Jeruk with coconut- Rp.15K;

Nasi Balap Puyung- Rp. 10K;

Nasi Ayam Kampung + Balap-Rp. 16K

Rumah Makan Bu Suta
Jl. WR. Supratman No. 22, Pancaka, Gomong, Mataram Bar., Selaparang, Kota Mataram, Nusa Tenggara Bar. 83126, Indonesia
Tel: +62 370 626860

The second place that you should not miss out. Please note that this is a non-halal place. This is one of the famous local stall for its pork dishes. It sells everything from pork skin to pork meat and pork intestines. It is so famous that for the past 1 hour when we were there, the crowd never stopped. It is a small shop that fits not more than 20 pax. Most of the local will take away instead of dine in. It is like a mixed rice shop in Malaysia. But you will need to bear with the heat if you are dining in.

The food are prepared in trays. You pick the dishes you want from the counter and they will take from there using their hands. If you are concerned about hygiene, you may want to re-think of visiting here. So far, none of us got food poisoning from this stall.

Based of our analysis, each item is charged Rp. 5000 except rice which is foc. The most ridiculous calculation by them are the drinks. All of us order the same Mandarin Orange Juice but was charged at different prices, ranging from Rp. 5K -8K. We ordered 3 rounds and it never came to the same price. Overall, the food is great, the peanut sauce is the real highlight. It is cheap and good!

This cost Rp. 25K

consists of fried tofu, fried pork meat, pork sausage, fried pork satay and grilled pork meat.

This cost Rp. 20K

consists of Kangkung, Tempe, Pork skin, Pork sausage and Fried Pork Meat

GILI TRAWANGAN:

Casa Vintage Beach

We had dinner here on our first night in the Lombok. A romantic place for couples as the dining area is exactly on the beach, looking out to the sea. We came around dinner time and the place is decorated with nice and dim lighting. This place was one of the recommended places online to dine in in Gili Trawangan, some people said it is the best place to eat. In conclusion, we think the food was not bad but the price was high.

Bintang Beer (Big)- Rp. 40K

Casava Wedges- Rp. 49K

It is basically deep fried sweet potatoes. Don't be fooled by the "wedges" word, thinking it is potato wedges. However, the taste was nice.

Oven Baked Yellow Chicken- Rp. 89K

It taste like Indian curry chicken rice, spicy but full of fragrant spices . Actually, we were expecting roast chicken since it was named "oven baked" but we are still fine with curry rice. The size of the chicken is normal, not the tiny ayam taliwang.

Oven Baked Yellow Chicken Wrap- Rp. 79K

Basically it is similar to the ingredients and taste of the oven baked yellow chicken, except they wrapped it in a Tortilla bread. The portion is big.

French Town Chicken- Rp. 89K

Oven-baked chicken again but this time with roasted veggies and rice. Taste wise is quite similar to the yellow chicken, the spices is stronger.

Jamaica Pot- Rp.79K

Jamaican spiced vegan stew with beans and dumpling. We do not really know what is this but it is more like vegetarian curry with rice and tortilla chips, nevertheless it does taste quite good.

Le Petit Gili Restaurant
On our second night in Gili Trawangan, we headed for some burgers. We found this place rated to be one of the top rated restaurant in Gili Trawangan. It is just beside the night market.They served western food like burgers, paninis, hot dog, burritos and even local food. The taste was not bad, the portion is just average but service is quite fast. This place is not halal as we asked about the ham, it is pork.

Chicken Satay Burger- Rp. 77K

Chicken Panini- Rp 70K

Double Cheese Burger- Rp 95K

Texture is like the pulled pork burger, overall was nice.

Chicken Burrito- Rp. 80K

The Banyan Tree

It is a Vegetarian restaurant that we found when passing by at night. I actually liked the place, nice and cozy. Their menu are quite unique and food was good. It opens from 7am-8pm daily. We came here for breakfast since I don't quite like the guesthouse's breakfast. No regret of coming here though the price is on the high side.

Scrambled tofu-Rp. 48K

add omelette- Rp. 8K

Scrambled tofu mixed with wild mushroom, onion & tomato, served with toast. Tasty scrambled tofu, I think it will be better if it is served with rice! But it was a little on the salty side.

Blueberry pancake-Rp. 46K

Lovely texture and nice pancake, maple syrup is not too sweet as well.

KUTA, LOMBOK:

SEASALT
Jl. Raya Pantai Kuta, Kuta, Lombok, Indonesia
Tel: +62 813-8198-7104

This is a newly opened restaurant, in coincidence we visited the place during their soft opening. It was opened by a Swiss owner, however the chef was not around that day. There weren't any guests during our visit, I guess it was still new. Since we love trying new food, this quickly became our choice for dinner. There aren't a lot of choices in the menu, around 6 types of main dishes since it is only the soft opening. I guess they will extend their menu after the grand opening. Overall the food were nice. Just take note when ordering the seafood grill, we found that the squids that were served on that day weren't fresh. My husband and one of my friend's husband had bad diarrhoea the next day.

The menu is quite special where it shows the steps for you to order. First, you choose your main either, fish, chicken or seafood. Second, you pick one side. Lastly, you can pick one sauce to go with your main. Besides that, you can still add side dishes like chips, bread and salad with additional of Rp 20K.

Additional sides- Rp. 20K

Grilled Citrus Chicken with roasted pumpkin, aubergine, tomato & garlic- Rp 70K

I recommend to not order chicken when in Lombok as all their chicken dishes always come in super small portions. Looking at the above photo, it is only 5 tiny pieces of chicken breast served. Barely enough for appetizer. Taste wise, I like the side - roasted pumpkin the most.

Seafood Grill with roasted pumpkin, aubergine, tomato & garlic and Mint lime dip- Rp. 130K

The seafood grill came with the catch of the day, squid and bonito tuna fillet. The food was ok except for the squid which was not fresh. The portion was not as big as we imagined too.

Catch of the day with salad bowl- Rp. 75K

This is the biggest portion we ordered. The crispy battered catch of the day, basically is what we call the Fish & Chips. I guess this is the "wont go wrong" dish.

Pan Seared Catch of the day with chips- Rp. 75K

Coconut Pannacotta- Rp. 35K
Strawberry coulis with coconut ice-cream. Very special combination.

Warung Bobby

Jalan Pariwisata Pantai Kuta, Kuta, Pujut, Kuta, Lombok Tengah, Kabupaten Lombok Tengah, Nusa Tenggara Bar. 83573, Indonesia

We had our brunch here before we depart to airport. It is located at the shopping road of the Kuta beach where you can see many stalls selling souvenirs and clothes. We picked this place because it was the only food outlet full of people compared to other outlets. I guess the more people the place has, the better the food is, so we followed the crowd. It advertised Wood Fire Oven Pizza on their signboards, trust me you do not want to try any dish other than their Pizza. And it is true, their Pizza is the nicest food than other local delights.

Watermelon- Rp. 10K

Avocado- Rp. 12K

Maremonti Pizza- Rp 70K

If you ask what is the difference between the three pizzas, we can only say it is the ingredients. The sauce is the same and they all actually taste the same. The pizza crust is the thin type, it smells really good when it was baking. Overall was good and if you are medium eater, you can actually finish one pizza by yourself.

Love Pizza- Rp 70K

Taste is the same, just the shape of the pizza is love.

Chicken Pasto Pizza- Rp. 60K

Tom Yum Kung-Rp. 25K

I was craving for tom yum and spicy food that day, therefore I order a tom yum soup. Regretted as it doesn't taste like tom yum at all but more like the Malay spice soup with chilli. Don't even think of ordering it when you are here.

Mee Goreng Seafood- Rp. 30K

Indonesia is famous for it Ibumie Goreng, so we were thinking it should be nice if we order their Mee Goreng. But it turned out to be quite disappointing. The mee goreng is wet and sweet, quite similar like using tomato sauce to cook the noodles.

Not sure what is the name but it taste like fried ice-cream. Quite nice but a bit too sweet.
Price: Rp.25K

Places that are not worth the visit:

RM. Nada Alam Nyaman

I wouldn't recommend to come here as the food is just so so and the price is very high. If any driver try to push you on this restaurant, reject them immediately. I saw the guests are mostly tourists that dine in here. Their famous chicken dish is the size of a lady's palm. It comes with different sauces- normal, spicy and honey. However, the chicken was dry and barely had any flesh.

Ayam Taliwang- Rp. 45k; Pelencing Terong (Brinjal)-Rp. 10k; Pelencing Kankung (raw vegetable with peanut sauce)-Rp. 10k; Cap Kangkung (stir fried vegetable)- Rp. 10k; Telur Dadar (Omelette)- Rp. 14k; Tempe Goreng- Rp. 10k; Coconut-Rp. 15k

Ceria Bar Restaurant & Warung

We did not had the chance to pick which restaurant to have our lunch in Gili Air as our guide parked their boat in front of this restaurant. For every boat that parks in front of the restaurant, the guide will have to ensure their guests dine in there. If you already have in mind the restaurant you want to dine in, tell your boat captain and they will bring you there. All boats will stop at Gili Air for lunch. The food was cold and tasteless, price wise is around Rp 40K and above.

Grilled Gurami Fish- Rp. 65K

Seafood Fried Rice - Rp. 45K

Mixed Rice- Rp. 35K

Fried Chicken Fillet- Rp. 50K

Fish & Chips- Rp.45K

Lombok 4 days 3 nights Itinerary

2017-09-03T11:19:00.002+08:00

Lombok, an indonesian island that is located near the east of Bali. It is around 2 hours journey by fast boat from Bali to Lombok. You may also fly from Kuala Lumpur to Lombok directly with AirAsia. This round, I travelled to Lombok with 5 of my friends, a total of 7 of us...yes an odd number but I feel it is still ok to travel with 6-8 persons in a trip. It is easy to manage and we're able to travel around with a van at a reasonable price.

We took AirAsia as it is the only direct flight from Kuala Lumpur to Lombok. I would recommend to take the earliest flight and reach there around noon. As you will need to travel around 1 hour from airport to jetty if you are planning to stay in Gili island. If you are taking the afternoon flight, I would recommend to stay at Kuta or Sengigi for a night before travelling to gili island the next morning. Travelling from the jetty to gili island in the evening can be quite dangerous as it starts to get dark around 6.30pm.

Where to stay/visit in Lombok?
I summarised into 3 places- The Gili Islands, Senggigi and Kuta, These are the favourite places to stay for tourists. During our 4 days 3 nights trip, we stay in Gili Trawangan and Kuta. We picked Gili Trawagan because it is the most happening island compared to Gili Meno & Gili Air. On the last night, we stayed in Kuta because it is near to airport, around 30 mins drive.

Transportation:
1. Access to Lombok
There a are few ways to travel to Lombok. You may take directly flight from Kuala Lumpur to Lombok by Airasia. If you have additional days to spend while travelling in Bali, you may take fast boat or flight to Lombok. Fast boat will take around 2 hours - 2 and half hours journey while flight will take around 30 mins.

2. Access in Lombok
You may charter a van to travel around or get a taxi. However, I found that taxis are quite rare in Kuta, you would mostly find rented vans only. Negotiation skills will be needed to avoid getting slashed.

3. Access in Gili Islands
To travel to Gili Islands, you can either use the public boat from Bangsal Harbour or private speed boat (depart from different harbours). Public boat will cost around IDR 15k, takes around 2 hours, but it will only depart when the boat is full. For private boats, it will cost around IDR 600- 800k depending on your negotiation skills. We manage to get around IDR 600k (total of 7 pax) from our accommodation.

In Gili islands, basically you only have three transportation modes, one is to rent a bicycle, second is getting a horse cart ride (more like a pony ride) and third is by your own two feet. No cars are allowed in the island to save the island from getting polluted.

Tours:
There are many tours offered online. I actually booked an airport transfer and South Lombok tour with a tour guide name Eko. He was one of the recommended tour guides in tripadvisor. He does not have any website but you can contact him through watsapp or email. However having said that, I would recommend to get tour packages only after you reach Lombok. They are many tour agencies in Lombok that offer lower prices than what I saw online. As long as you have good negotiation skills, anything can be discounted in Lombok, including accommodation.

We got the below prices for tours (total of 7 pax):
Airport transfer to Gili T.- Rp. 1.5mil (booked with Eko)
Snorkelling tour- Rp. 2.5 mil (10 hours- booked in Gili T. with ANDY)
South Lombok Tour- Rp. 2 mil (8 hours- booked with Eko)
Boat transfer to Teluk Nara Harbour- Rp. 600k (book with guesthouse)

4 days 3 nights Lombok Itinerary:
Day 1: KUL- Lombok- Gili Trawangan
Day 2: Snorkelling trip- Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno- Gili Air
Day 3: South Lombok tour- Kuta
Day 4: Kuta- KUL

Places for food: Check out HERE !
1. RM. Nada Alam Nyaman

2. Casa Vintage Beach

3. Ceria Bar Restaurant & Warung

4. Le Petit Gili Restaurant

5. The Banyan Tree
6. Rumah Makan Bu Suta
7. Rumah Makan Cahaya
8. SEASALT
9. Warung Bobby Wood Fired Pizza

Day 1: Gili Trawangan

Gili Trawangan Harbour

We were shocked when we first step onto the island. We never expect the island to be packed with people and the road was muddy with horse poop everywhere. It wasn't as beautiful as we thought it would be.

Horse riding or more like pony riding is everywhere in the island. They are the "taxis" and I feel quite sorry for those ponies. They hardly have any rest and need to carry heavy loads on the islands. As such, we walked ourselves to explore the island.

Horse cart ride

Ilham The Rooftop Guesthouse
We paid around Rp. 350k (approximately RM 113) per night for the double room with a simple breakfast (omelette and bread/ pancake). It is cheap but the place was quite run down comparing to the photos we saw in Booking.com. We booked from booking.com but payment was collected in cash on the spot after check in. Comparing to Bangkok hotels around that price, Bangkok is far more better in terms of cleanliness and maintenance. I would recommend to spend a bit more on the accommodation. Anyway, the bed provided is spring bed, I can hear the spring sounds every time I turn my back and there is no hot water.

After checking in, we went out to the street to find a good deal for next day's snorkelling trip. The whole main street of Gili T. are mostly full of shops/stalls offering snorkelling tours, you can just book directly with any of the shop/stalls, the itinerary of the tour are similar.

For 2-4 hours snorkelling with sharing boat, it costs around Rp. 100k per person. If you come in a group, you can hire a private boat for snorkelling around 4 hours for Rp. 200k per person. We managed to negotiate a whole day snorkelling trip (10 hours) for Rp. 2.5 mil (7 pax). We booked from ANDY booth.

Staying in Gili T is very convenient as in every few steps you can find convenient shops, bikini shops and restaurants. Everything is just walking distance from one to another. One of the attractions in Gili T is the swings on the sea. Ombak swing is the most favourite spot, situated at Ombak Sunset Hotel, however you may find a few other swings on the way to Ombak Swing.

Gili Island map

We did not manage to walk to Ombak swing as it was way too far and we spent a lot of time taking pictures. But we managed to capture the beautiful sunset by the beach. The best time for photoshoot and poses!

Malibu Paradise Swing

Night at Lombok

We found an empty land when walking back to the harbour street and started to play with some lights. At night in Lombok, it can be really dark, be prepared with your phone light.

Main street near harbour

Lombok Night Market
Located along the main street. The night market are different from what we have in Malaysia. Mostly are stalls selling Mixed Rice (Nasi campur) and Grilled seafood. We did not try anything from the night market as we found the seafood wasn't stored under the correct temperature to retain the seafood's freshness. Just to avoid anyone getting food poisoning during the trip.

Nasi Campur (Mixed Rice)

Pick the fish and they will cook for you.

Day 2: Snorkelling day
We started our day as early as 9am. The tour included snorkelling gear, however if you are concerned about hygiene, you may bring your own gear. Lombok is famous for the glass bottom boat where the bottom of the boats are built with glass where you are able to see underwater directly from the boat.

We are lucky that we spotted a turtle and managed to capture a photo of it before a swamp of people pushed us away while trying to touch it. Please don't harm any sea creatures if you see any! And who said turtles are slow? They swim quite fast and we couldn't catch up as we were not wearing flippers.

After our lunch, we spend some time exploring Gili Air and found some bean bags in front of a resort. So, we just chilled out and relaxed there by ordering drinks as we are using their bean bags. If you opt for 4 hours trip, the trip ends around noon after lunch. But we continued another 3 spots near Gili Meno.

Gili Meno Turtle Santuary
We were told to see some baby turtles on the beach. Here we are at Gili Meno Turtle Santuary. You may donate Rp 100k to help to feed those baby turtle. They have some care takers to look after these baby turtles. Baby turtles will be released to the sea when they are 8 months old. You may also find turtle santuary in Gili Trawangan as well.

We ended our snorkelling trip around 5.30pm since the weather wasn't promising, we were unable to see any sunset on the way.

If you like to have a drink and dance all night, Gili Trawagan has many pubs that you can hang out. It is the happening island! The later the night goes, the louder the music went. If you like to have a quiet night's sleep, choose the hotel/guesthouse that is far from the pubs.

You will also find small stalls selling snacks like fried tofu, satay and nasi campur along the street.

If you would like to learn some Lombok dishes, you can join the Sweet & Spicy Cooking class. It is a 4 hours masterclass starting from Rp. 330k per person.

Day 3- South Lombok Tour

After breakfast, we depart from Gili Trawangan to Lombok land for our South Lombok Trip. Eko-our tour guide picked us from the harbour.

Itinerary:
Banyumulek-Pottery Village
Sukarara-weaving village
Sasak Ende Village
Pantai Tanjung Aan

In between our journey, we stopped by a few places for shopping, lunch and snacks.

Our transportation for the tour- 16 seater van

Our first stop- Pusat Oleh-oleh, the place to shop for souvenirs. You can buy cheap key chains and fridge magnets here compared to those stalls selling in Gili Trawagan.

We went to a local snack shop to buy some local snacks. I didn't manage to take any photos as all of us were busy tasting the snacks and shopping. Lombok is famous for the dodol but I do not really like it as it is hard and sweet. Here are what I bought! I really like the Keripik Rumput Laut and the peanuts.

Banyumulek-Pottery Village

Basically a shop that sells clay wares. They are a lot of variety from big vases to the smallest tea pots. However the price doesn't come in cheap as well. Behind the shop, there is a workshop area where you can make your own pottery. If you would like to bring home your master piece, just give them a small token of min Rp. 2000.

Getting myself ready for the making.

Making a turtle in progress

Our final products with the teachers

Sukarara-weaving village

We initially thought it is a village full of people weaving but it was actually a shop selling their traditional weaving textiles. There are 4 persons outside the shop demonstrating the process. You can buy weaving textiles as souvenir. I bought a table runner around RM 150.

Sasak Ende Village

The place of the indigenous people of Lombok, they are called the Sasak people. The place still remains in a traditional lifestyle. The Sasak people are still living there although it is open for tourists to visit during day time. Their own tour guide will guide you around the village and you will need to donate to them of any amount.

All the houses are made from clay and cow's poo. Every year, the woman will use the cow's poo to repair cracks in the house. Each house depending on sizes, can stay at least 5 people to 9 people. Men & women will sleep separately even after marriage, except when they would like to have babies. Until now, the Sasak people are still practising this tradition.

Young girls learning to weave.

Lumbung- Rice storage area also symbol of Lombok

Our guide in Sasak Village

Traditional dance by the villagers

Pantai Tanjung Aan

Tanjung Aan beach is a unique beach where the sand has two colours on the same beach. It is a soft beach with rounded sand. The shape of the sand is round, you wouldn't feel a sharp edge poking at your leg while walking on the beach, but somehow, you feet will sink more than usual as opposed to a normal beach.

Rounded sand

Overlook from the hill beside the beach

We stayed at Kuta on our third night. We booked Tri Putri Homestay however when we arrived, we were told the rooms have been overbooked. We were really disappointed toward the staffs' attitude as they lied to us that the room has electrical issues and they were unable to provide us the rooms. They claim to have prepared another homestay for us, but after a few rounds of questioning by us, they admitted that the rooms has been overbooked and they did not prepare any rooms elsewhere for us. We were really angry as most of the hotels/homestay has been fully booked or overpriced. They drove us to every homestay to find available rooms and it was already late in the evening. Finally, we found some available rooms at Surfer Inn.

Surfer Inn-a very run down Inn that has a decent swimming pool in the middle of the hotel. Our rooms were still under renovation where the toilet's door were yet to be painted. We were unable to complain anymore as it was one of the best rooms available. We negotiated from Rp. 350K to Rp.250K, A/C room with breakfast.

Adapted from Hotel Room Search website

The main entrance of Surfer Inn

I forgotten to take photos of the room as we were tired finding rooms and the hectic argument with the previous homestay's staff drained our energy. Please take note if you want to take the risk to book with Tri Putri Homestay, it might ruin your holiday mood.

The next day before we depart to the airport, we went for a walk at Kuta beach. It is not as beautiful as Tanjung Aan beach but the whole main road of Kuta beach is under major construction. It will be very beautiful next year for Kuta area after the construction is completed.

In total, we spent around RM 1000 each person including flight, accommodation, food and souvenir. The biggest chunk was spent on the flight that cost us around RM 450 per person. Overall we did not know what to expect when coming to Lombok but based on our experience here, Gili T is a nice place to stay but I would spend more on accomodation, and there were indeed many nice resorts on the West side of the island, where all the swings are located at. On a secondary note, Sengigi is a much quieter spot with some reasonable share of tourists around the area. I would definitely try out Sengigi if we were to come to Lombok again.

Love,
Su Fen

Ezbuy Online Shopping-What you need to know and how to use?

2017-07-06T22:29:00.001+08:00

I have been trying out Ezbuy recently for my online shopping instead of buying from Taobao directly. I have also recommended this platform to my family and friends especially for those who do not understand Chinese. This is one of the ways to shop Taobao's items with an online shopping agent.

Source: ezbuy

What is Ezbuy?

Ezbuy is a provider of online shopping services. Basically, they can help you buy anything from Taobao without you facing the sellers. Ezbuy can be in three languages for Malaysia's platform: English, Chinese & Bahasa Malaysia.

How to purchase from Ezbuy?

There are two ways of buying from Ezbuy:
1. Buy directly from its selected shops and items.
2. Ask them to help you buy from Taobao.

1. Buy directly from its selected shops and items through their website

You can select category from women's clothing to home & garden and pick any item to buy. Everything that is posted in the website are items that you can see a confirmed shipping fee and agent fee on the spot. However, there is a limited of items from the shop compare to the ones posted in Taobao.

Source:ezbuy

2. Ask them to help you buy from Taobao-"Buy for me"

It is super easy. Basically, you just copy the item's link from Taobao, paste on to the search bar and click search. The website will integrate their website with the Taobao's link.

Source: ezbuy

However, I found the price to be slightly higher than the price shown in Taobao. I guess this is the extra price to pay for if you ask them to buy.

Source: ezbuy

The below screenshot is from Taobao, the price after conversion is around RM 63.00 but the above shown is RM87.76 which does not include the international shipping fee and agent fee yet.

Source:Taobao

Also, you need to take note that when using 'buy for me" method, shipping fee and agent fee will be paid separately from the item's price. You will only be asked to pay after the goods arrive at the warehouse before shipping it to you. The below screenshot is the shipping payment.

Here is what I have bought recently from Ezbuy.

I bought two Iphone covers and knife holder. Unfortunately the knife holder is no longer in stock in ezbuy, can't screenshot the page.

Once I checkout to buy both items, there is a summary on the shipping fee and agent fee shown on the spot. Basically, you will pay that amount and no additional shipping charges needed. You may also need to take note that there are a list of self collection points set up in KL, Johor, Penang, Ipoh & Sarawak where you can collect your goods. However, if you want Ezbuy to deliver directly to your door step, you can pay additional RM 8 for delivery fee. I prefer to have my parcel sent directly to my door step.

When my parcel arrived, it is wrapped in Ezbuy's wrapper. Quite proper packing and everything came in good condition. Here are my items! It took around 13 days for my items to arrive due to Raya Holiday which is faster than my expectation.

I hope you liked my post. Basically, I use ezbuy when I can find the goods that I want from their website and shipping fee is reasonable. Since they will handle everything after payment, I can sit back and relax to wait for my goods to arrive.

If you find other online shopping services which is better and cheaper, feel free to comment on the below!

Love,

sufen

Good value service apartment in Bangkok | KC Place

2017-03-09T21:54:00.000+08:00

I'm going to share about the place I stayed recently in Bangkok. It is a service apartment that is near to Ratchaprarop Station, convenient for us who travel from Suvarnabhumi Airport. It is just 3 mins walk from the train station and less than 10 mins from Platinum Mall.

I booked the Deluxe room for two nights, cost only RM 133 per night including tax & fees. There are 4 types of rooms- Standard room, Standard with balcony, Deluxe room and Deluxe Family room. Rates start from RM 120 -RM 450++ depends on seasons. I booked the room from Expedia as it was the lowest among during that time.

The room is not as big as I expected, around 30 m² in long dimension. Basically if you have two big luggage, it block the whole walk path. The down side about the place is if you stay the highest floor, you need to take the stairs to walk up as the lift will stop at the second highest floor. The staircase is very narrow too, it is hard if you have big luggage to carry.

The toilet and bathroom are separated. The hotel only provide shampoo and body wash. Recommend to prepare you own toiletries or you can get from the mini market beside the hotel.

The room I booked do not come with breakfast, however you can have breakfast at their restaurant at ground floor. There is also a Thai massage shop at the lower level of the hotel, very convenient. You will need to make an appointment if it is after 6pm.

Source: Hotels.com

Even though, the room is small and staircase is narrow, we are quite satisfied with the service and location. It is a convenient place to stay and value for money. If you are planning for shopping and outing whole day in Bangkok, this can be a good place to have a sleepover. But if you are spending most of the time in room, I would skipped this place.

Festival Light and Motion Putrajaya 2016 (LAMPU)

2016-12-31T00:58:00.001+08:00

I just came back from the Festival Light and Motion which is held in Dataran Putrajaya Precinct 3. The event will be held from 30 January 2016 until 1 January 2017, starting from 7.30pm until midnight. It is a three day event that features the grand Projection Mapping on the facade of the grand Palace of Justice, garden lighting, wayang kulit, car light show and many more.

Tomorrow, there will be fireworks for the New Year's countdown. Be sure to bring umbrella as you may not know the weather these days. We got wet half way taking photos. Get your camera ready for selfie & photos!

The Grand Projection Mapping

Wayang Kulit

Garden Lighting

Lampu Skywave

Here is the map on the programme of the event. You may park your car at the car park near to Wisma Sumber Asli & Alam Sekitar or car park near JPN. You will need to walk around 5 minutes to the festival at the Dataran Putrajaya.

Love,

sufen

A pleasant stay at Hotel Jen | Johor

2016-12-29T23:25:00.007+08:00

I'm going to review about the room that I stayed recently at Hotel Jen, Johor. It is located near Sanrio Hello Kitty Town and Thomas Town. It is rated as a 4 Star Hotel in Johor but I think it is better than what I have expected.

Photo taken from Agoda

I booked the Premier Room that is 53sqm in size, very spacious with a separate bedroom and living room. Two LED TVs are provided, one in the bedroom and one in the living room. A good room for family with one or two kids. The room also come with fast-free wifi!

We really enjoy the living room, really feel like home even though we came for a short vacation.

The extra-wide super King size bed, one of the best beds we tried for a 4 Star Hotel quality. A "strange magnetic force" keeps us from getting up from the bed every morning :). Every detail of the decorations were well planned and designed.

A small open wardrobe at the walkway to the bathroom. They do provide a safe box in the cupboard as well.

Spacious bathroom with a separate toilet, shower cubicle and a bathtub. I am spoilt with choices on whether to use shower cubicle or bathtub!

We really enjoyed our stay in Hotel Jen, no regrets in paying the price for such a nice and spacious room for our trip in Johor.

Besides, we were impressed with their breakfast buffet. A wide range of food varieties to choose, from Malay-Nasi Lemak to Indian-roti canai, Chinese-curry noodle & dim sum, as well as Western food too. They do have several jars of detox fruit juices, something very interesting and definitely a must try item!

I would recommend getting the buffet breakfast together with your room as the shops downstairs probably do not open that early, and unless if you have your own transportation, there's pretty much nothing else to eat nearby in the morning. Other than that, the hotel is located close to Legoland, although not within walking distance but definitely a worthy choice if you plan to spend a few days at Legoland.

You can check from Booking.com on their promotion rates during this school holiday!

Love,
sufen

A trip to Redang: Laguna Redang Island Resort

2016-11-14T23:17:00.000+08:00

It has been 8 years since my last trip to Redang Island. This time, we decided to come for a short trip to rejuvenate ourselves. It was the last week before they close for the monsoon season. Laguna Redang Island Resort has always been in my wishlist ever since my last visit to Redang Island.

We travelled by AirAsia from KLIA2 with the earliest flight around 7am to Kuala Terengganu airport. The airport transfer is scheduled at 8am by Laguna and boat transfer is around 9.30am. What I like about booking with Laguna is they give you with peace of mind. You do not have to worry on transportation to Jetty or even to the resort. They have arranged everything from the time you reach airport until to Laguna resort, that's because they have their own boat and Jetty.

Let me bring you around to see how Laguna Redang Island Resort looks like.

It is the last week of the operation, the resort is fairly quiet. You can enjoy the whole place by yourself.

This is the buggy that took us from the Laguna jetty to its lobby, it only operates to carry passengers from the jetty on your arrival and to jetty when you depart. During other times, you can't use it.

The itinerary was given to us when we arrive at the Laguna Jetty. We just have to follow the scheduled activities and enjoy our holiday.

Basically, Laguna Redang has 6 types of rooms - standard room, deluxe garden, deluxe pool, deluxe sea, premier sea and laguna suite.We booked the deluxe garden, located on the second floor, instead of facing the garden, we faced directly to the Recreation Centre.

The room is quite big, able to fit 4 persons comfortably, suitable for families with 2 kids as it come with additional two single beds.

Toilet and bathroom were separated and basin is located outside the toilet and bathroom. It is very convenient especially when two persons can use the toilet and bathroom at the same time.

The Sang Suria Buffet Restaurant is located at second floor. It is not so convenient for those who can't walk up the staircase. The restaurant served a wide range of buffet spreads from local cuisine to international cuisine. BBQ dinner is available every alternate night. Only 3 meals are prepared for a day (Breakfast: 7.00am - 9.30am | Lunch: 12.00noon - 2.30pm | Dinner: 7.00pm - 9.30pm).

Here is where the swimming pool located. You can borrow towels from swimming pool area when going for snorkelling. They just need to record your room number and you are free to use it as many time as you wish.

The famous house of the Hong Kong Blockbuster Movie “Summer Holiday” starring Richie Ren and Sammi Cheng back in year 2000. It is now turned into a convenience shop where you can buy drinks & snacks and souvenirs.

Snorkelling trip is scheduled twice a day, 9.30am and 3pm. We did not manage to go Marine Park for snorkelling because of the big waves, we have to divert to another open sea. They do offer underwater photography service when we are snorkelling, each photo is selling at RM 7.50, you get to take a cool underwater photo for memories.

The recreation centre is where you collect snorkelling equipment and you can also book for other activities like jungle trekking, sunset cruise, fishing trip and others. So coincidentally, there is a young Chinese family who asked us to join them for the sunset cruise tour as it costs 10 pax for RM 350. They manage to gather 8 pax to join the tour. Check out the package here.

Sunset cruise tour with other families. However, the weather wasn't so good that day. Clouds are covering the sun, so we really weren't able to see the sunset.

Photo captured from the boat

Photo captured in the evening

Photo captured at night

We took the boat depart back to Shahbandar Jetty on our last day.

It was nice short getaway to the beach. Although it is end of the season, we were lucky that it only rained at night. During the day, we were still able to go snorkelling. If you are planning a short trip to Redang Island, I recommend to stay at Laguna Redang as it really provide all the services you need. I booked directly from their website here. You may check out their latest rates for next season.

Love,

sufen

To drive or to use Taxi/Grab/Uber to KLIA2, which is cheaper?

2016-11-02T21:39:00.000+08:00

I always have this dilemma when planning for transportation to airport. I used to travel to KL Sentral and took either KL express train or AirAsia skybus to the airport for convenience sake. But ever since KL express train's fare has increased, I prefer to take taxi directly to the airport.

During my recent trip to Redang, it was an early flight around 7am, it means I need to reach airport around 5.30am. Getting a taxi in the early morning means there will be a midnight surcharge which can almost double of the fare. After researching, I finally decided to drive to airport with my own car and park for overnight for 2 nights. Why? Let me tell you now!

I called up three different taxi drivers, all gave me a quote around RM 110-120++ depending on meter plus midnight surcharge for one way. This means I will need to pay around RM 190-RM 210 for round trip on transport alone to and back from airport.

If I were to use Grab, it is now RM 65 nett but I cant pre-book in advance except I put a note to state I am booking in advance, it also depends on whether the driver accept it or not. Even if he/she accepted the job, there is still a possibility that they might not show up. I didn't want to take this risk as I absolutely cannot miss the time in the morning. Same goes to Uber and well, it cost higher than Grab.

So, after checking with the parking rate in KLIA2, I found that it is cheaper for me to park in KLIA2 than taking the taxi considering the total cost and time.

Here is their new rate since 2015. KLIA2 has revised their rate to make it more reasonable.The longer you park, a flat rate of RM 20 will be charged on the 4th day onward.

Total I have paid for 3 days parking is RM 126 (calculated by hours), equivalent to a one-way trip taxi fare from my house to airport.

In conclusion, if you are travelling in two like us for a short trip around 3-4 days, I would recommend to drive to airport and park there overnight. We spent a total of around RM 146 (inclusive toll) for transportation to airport.

In addition, if you are driving a Hybrid car, there are designated parking areas just beside the entrance which are labelled for Hybrid cars only. It is so convenient and easy!

Love,
sufen

Kinpachi Japanese Restaurant | Subang Jaya

2016-08-30T22:45:00.000+08:00

It is time to find some nice Japanese restaurant for a change and this is the place that I visited recently. It was one of the oldest Japanese restaurant in Subang Jaya, and it definitely proves it all by the looks of it. Kinpachi is located at SS17, Subang Jaya, and it is operated in the 1st floor of the building. During the weekend, it is mostly packed and the seating capacity is quite small as well, around 30-33 pax max. I would recommend to make a reservation or else you might bump into a long queue at the entrance.

I saw all of the chefs are mainly Japanese, I guess this is the reason they can keep a good standard in their food. However, the waiter and waitress are all foreigners.

As for their food, I think it is fairy good and authentic. The price is quite reasonable too for an authentic Japanese restaurant. Looking back at these photos, makes me mouth watering again.

Salmon Avocado Roll-RM 23

Yaki Gyoza- RM 14

Chuka Iidako Sushi-RM 6

Ebiko Sushi-RM 6

Tonpei Yaki-RM 17

For those who are familiar to Okonomiyaki, this is quite similar to the dish. This is an omelette filled with shredded cabbage and meat, topped with sweet and savory tonkatsu sauce and mayo. It turns out to be quite delicious even though everyone was super full at the time it is served. But we managed to finish up without hesitation.

Tonkatsu Set-RM 34

Unajyu-RM 60

I'm personally quite disappointed with this dish. I am expecting it to be at least similar to Japan's taste, but they truly failed on the rice. Portion is quite small too considering the price that I am paying.

Barasushi-RM 32

Wakayama Ramen- RM 20

Chashu Men-RM 22

We loved most of the food and it definitely a YES YES for us to come back again for the quality and price. It is a must try Japanese restaurant if you are a big fan of Japanese food.

Kinpachi Japanese Restaurant

Lot1.06, Wisma Dicor,

Jalan 17/1A, 47500 Subang Jaya

Tel: 03-5632 2022/ 03-5632 2017

A trip to Jenjarom: Fo Guang Shang Temple | Selangor

2016-08-16T23:03:00.000+08:00

It is my first time to visit Fo Guang Shang Temple in Jenjarom even though I have been staying in KL for 20 years now. It was during the Raya week that my parents wanted to have a trip to this beautiful and sacred place. Basically, you just type "Dong Zen temple" in Waze and it will bring you there, easy peasy.

The temple was built in 1994, in a 16 acres of land. Every Chinese New Year Celebration, the whole temple will be decorated with beautiful lighting and different themes each year. There is also calligraphy writing activity in the hall that you can learn and write.

There is a exhibition on Venerable Master Hsing Yun's calligraphy for a month during our visit. We are so glad that we got the chance to see his work.

A lot of cute statues placed everywhere in the temple. Just can't take my eyes off these cutie.

After the temple visit, we drove to one of the famous biscuit shop in Jenjarom. It is called Heritaste, located just 3 mins from the temple. They are famous for its peanut biscuit. You just can't miss it when you are here.

Their main products are the peanut biscuits (kacang tumbuk) and kacang pipang. It comes in various packaging with different sizes.

I preferred this packaging. It is smallest size and easy to give out to friends & family.

Heritaste

40, Jalan Intan 2,

42600 Jenjarom,Selangor

Tel: 03-3191 3764

For more information, visit their Facebook page.

Next stop, we went to have lunch in this restaurant that I found it through foursquare. The food served are fresh and price is quite reasonable except the crab. I would recommend if you were to order their seafood, ask the price in advance. We ordered the oat soft shelf crab, it was really delicious but when the bill came we got a shock on the price of that dish. Other than that, the price is quite reasonable.

旺记海鲜 (Restoran Makanan Laut Wang Kee)

Lot 581, Lorong 23

Sg. Jarom, Kuala Langat,

Selangor

Tel.no: 03-3191 1654

2016 Top 3 Best Hotels in Kuala Terengganu

2016-08-01T19:59:00.000+08:00

Kuala Terengganu might be considered as one of the most affordable destinations in Malaysia. There's a lot of reason to visit this city, either to embrace the picturesque nature scenery of the South China Sea and the Terengganu River, enjoy the recreations in various spots, savor the Syariah trip by visiting the Islamic heritage park and themed park, or even doing the business matters.

Despite any reasons, you have to get a good rest while staying in Kuala Terengganu. For the best retreat, it is definitely offered by the best Kuala Terengganu hotel. Today, I would like to share with you the 2016 Top 3 Best Hotel in KualaTerengganu.

1. TH Hotel & Convention Centre Terengganu

Source: TH Hotel Website

This hotel is located at Jalan Lapangan Tembak, Gong Badak 21, TH Hotel is claimed as the 4-star Kuala Terengganu hotel focused on Syariah value. This hotel lies in the widespread land of the size more than 7 acres, engaging the tranquil environment aside from the crowded city. Even though, the hotel still within close proximity to the airport and Telok Ketapang Beach.

Source: TH Hotel Website

Source: Expedia.sg website

Notable as the #1 hotel in Kuala Terengganu by TripAdvisor, this is the affordable hotel for any matters. There are 182 classy decorated guestrooms with modern amenities. The entire rooms are designed with luxury sense shown by the golden color scheme. En-suite plush amenities are provided such as AC, sofa bed, flat TV, working station, electric kettle, mini fridge, full body sized mirror, also a modern bathroom with toiletries and hairdryer.

Source: TH Hotel website

Source: TH Hotel Website

The swimming pools are available both indoor and outdoor, where the outdoor pools also complemented by wading pool with a playground that is very attractive for children. Other facilities presented by this exquisite hotel are a restaurant, lounge, shuttle service, and also business and convention center.

2. Hotel Grand Continental Kuala Terengganu

Source: Grand Continental KT Website

This hotel settled at Jalan Sultan Zainal Abidin, Daerah 8 - City Center, the 4-star hotel is very strategic with the quick access to surrounding areas. Sultan Mahmud Airport is within 25 minutes driving away from this hotel. The China Town, Pasar Pasang, and Redang Island Jetty are located even closer, only 10 – 15 minutes drive away from the hotel.

Source: Grand Continental KT Website

There are nearly 200 guestrooms and suites; the Grand Continental Kuala Terengganu embraces luxury touch with specific contemporary decoration, alongside with the top-notch amenities. The standard amenities you’ll find in each room are AC, flat screen TV, sofa, working station, electric kettle, mini fridge, ironing facilities, and bathroom with bathtub, toiletries, and hair dryer.

Source: Grand Continental KT Website

As the 4-star Kuala Terengganu hotel, the Grand Continental Kuala Lumpur owns both leisure and business facilities to cater the traveler needs. Some highlights in the hotel comprise coffee house and restaurant, gym, boutique and shops, BBQ facilities, tour desk, various meeting rooms, business center, premium business lounge, and car rental.

3. Duyong Marina Resort

Source: Duyong Marina Resort website

Duyong Marina Resort is the 5-star Kuala Terengganu hotel that offers a great retreat on the Putri Duyong Terengganu. The hotel nestled in a very serene place, complemented with sailing facilities for those dreaming of a getaway to the ocean. Even though it is closer to nature, this hotel is still considered strategic to reach vital areas, such as the airport, located only 7 minutes drive away from the property.

Source: Duyong Marina Resort website

There are nearly 100 guestrooms and suites that settled in beautiful decoration as a chalet exuding the traditional majestic sense. Each guestroom and suite are complemented with ultra-modern amenities, including the entertainment system with plasma TV, and DVD Player. The bathroom already has a soaking tub. Each room also has the private veranda or balcony facing either the garden or the sea.

Source: Duyong Marina Resort website

Duyong Marina Resort presents a comprehensive retreat to ensure every guest can savor the best time while in Kuala Terengganu. The restaurant is available, with the open-air dining venue overlooking the stunning South China Sea. The other facilities on this 5-star hotel in Kuala Terengganu are the outdoor swimming pool, lounge, fitness and spa, children’s playground, business and exhibition center, as well as outdoor activity services. The Oasis Lounge and the swimming pool might be your favorite place to relax while staying with Duyong Marina Resort.

Source: Duyong Marina Resort website

Hurom Slow Juicer Review

2016-07-16T22:05:00.000+08:00

Today, I am going to introduce you my lovely Hurom slow juicer that I bought from Taobao.com two months ago. Hurom slow juice is already available in Malaysia, so far I found it in Aeon Jusco, and it is selling around RM 2.4k-2.8k. The price is totally out of my budget so I decided to look through Taobao.com and bought it around 30% of the selling price here. The downside about buying electronic items through Taobao is that the plug is China's three pin design which is different from Malaysia. You need to prepare a travel adapter to use it.

The packaging I received was in real good condition. It was packed using a box in box method, I am really satisfied with it. I bought the HU-1100WN model in red colour. There are two colours to choose from, one is red and the other is gold.

2nd box

Original box

The Hurom juicer come with two types of strainers- Fine and Coarse, I use the fine strainer most of the time for pure juice, coarse strainer is used when you want to have some pulp in the juice.

I didn't know what is it until I saw the description in the manual. It is a tofu making container. Wow, this is really impressive. You can actually make tofu using the slow juicer and this container.

Tofu making container

It actually comes with a recipe book with 68 recipes inside. Unfortunately, it only come in Chinese version. This is the downside when buying from Taobao because they cater mostly for the Chinese market and everything is written in Chinese. The recipe book contains photos with the instructions, even if you don't know how to read, the photos actually explain it all.

Here is my Hurom slow juicer with two containers. One is the pulp container and one is the juice container. One more thing that I need to mention here, this juicer do come with a safety feature. If you do not install it properly, the juice won't work. I mean it really won't start as if it is malfunctioning. I thought it was damaged when I first use it, but after a few adjustments here and there, I manage to master it.

I love how Hurom squeeze the juice out and leave the dry pulp on the other side. It seriously dried the pulp when it blends.

I used to use the Cosway Slow Juicer, but Hurom actually yielded more juice and has a thicker texture. I really like it!

The best part is Easy Cleaning! There is a reverse button that you can use for cleaning which makes it more easier to wash the juicer and without leaving all the pulp stuck in the sink. It also come with a drying stand where you can hang all the parts on the stand to dry easily.

I personally do not like eating cut fruits but I love juices very much. This is why I need to get this baby quickly into my home so that I can have juices everyday. Normally I make a few bottles of juice and store in the refrigerator. From my observation and experience, the maximum days to store fresh juices in refrigerator is 3 days before it turns colour. I would recommend to store your juices a maximum of 3 days but you can try to store longer and try out the taste later.

This is my experience and review on my recent buy on Hurom Slow Juice. I hope you like this post and it gives you info when comes to buying a juicer,

Love,

sufen

Sekinchan One Day Trip Itinerary

2016-07-06T17:36:00.000+08:00

Since it is a long holiday this week due to Hari Raya, I would like to share with you my recent trip to Sekinchan. It isn't my first time to be in Sekinchan but it did changed a lot since my last trip 4 years ago. Sekinchan is now a popular tourist spot, one and half hour's drive from KL. Normally I make a short trip to Sekinchan since it is near and you can actually cover most of the popular locations in a day. I would recommend to visit Sekinchan during Friday, Sat and Sunday as most of the popular eateries will be closed on weekdays.

Here are the places I have visited this time:

1. Paddy Factory & Paddy Museum (PLS Marketing (M) SDN BHD)

2. Pantai Rendang

3. Ah Ma House ( Cake & Biscuit Store)

4. PTP Prawn Crackers

5. Restorant Jiann Chyi

It is easy to travel around Sekinchan however you will need a car to drive around. Just print out a map here and you are ready to go!

This is an old map that spotted in one of the tourist spot

Paddy Factory & Paddy Museum (PLS Marketing (M) Sdn Bhd)

Lot No 9990, Jalan Tali Air 5, Ban 2, 45400 Sekinchan, Selangor, Malaysia

Tel: +603-3243 6558 / 016-205 6558

Entrance to the factory

Paddy Museum that you can visit with a fee of RM 5. It introduces you the process of rice making.

After the tour, don't forget to get yourself an ice-cream in their shop. I love their Yam ice-cream the most.

Don't forget to take some photos at the paddy fields before you leave. If you go around Oct, you can see a sea of green paddy fields.

Ah Ma House

Address: Lot 10376, Jalan Tali air 5, Kampong Sekinchan, 45400 Sekinchan, Selangor, Malaysia.

Tel: 019-378 3300

This is a place where I will drop by to buy their cake (阿嬤鸡蛋糕) & kueh ka pek. They do sell other biscuits like pineapple tart, kuih bangkit and others. It is a house located around 500m from Paddy Factory, it decorated in a way like those traditional kampung style.

PTP Prawn Crackers

Address: 274, Lorong 10, Bagan Sekinchan, 45400 Sekinchan, Selangor Darul Ehsan

Tel: +6016-662 1522 /+6012-234 7274

If you like some homemade prawn crackers, here is the place that you should pay a visit. The factory is operated at the back of a house, it is hard to find the place as there isn't any signboard, we followed waze to the place and we found a small banner hanging outside.

Storing of prawn crackers' dough before it is make into prawn crackers

The finished products

Pantai Rendang

There is a small temple located at the Pantai Rendang, this is also the place made famous by one of the TVB series where they shot a few scenes in. It has now become a popular spot for tourists to come over and make a wish and tie the red rope on the tree.

A small jetty for the boat to stopover.

Buying seafood is one of the activities that we look forward every time we come over here. However on our last trip, due to bad weather, there isn't much variety of seafood and the prices was hike up too.

We had lunch at Jiann Chyi, one of the recommended place by Ah Hian since my usual restaurant is closed that day. The food was not bad, quite delicious, however price is a bit higher than the one I went usually. Don't forget to order their fried shark meat and chilli prawn.

On my last trip, we didn't cover most of the places as it was a weekday, most of the places are closed. I hope to come back again on the weekends. However bear in mind that if you visit during the weekends, it will be packed.

Hope you enjoy my post!

Love,

sufen

Tea & Tattle | Uptown Damansara

2016-06-26T20:41:00.000+08:00

Not a fan of coffee? Why not try out tea instead? Yes. I'm going to introduce you a lovely tea place for tea lovers. Tea & Tattle, a cafe that serves up to 150 types of tea for customers to enjoy. They originated from Ipoh and started a new outlet in KL located at Uptown Damansara, same row as Epicuro cafe. You won't miss the bright yellow outlet whenever you pass by the LDP highway.

A simple and cozy ambience, I guess not a lot of people know about the place except for those who are always hunting for new cafes around uptown. High turnover of cafes is so common in Uptown due to high rental.

Beside the ala carte menu, they also provide value lunch for working adults like us. 5 types of value lunch to choose from that come with coffee or tea or lemonade. The portion of the value lunch is quite satisfying with a reasonable price.

Since it is a tea cafe, you shouldn't leave without trying out their tea. The waiter is so nice that he know we were having a hard time choosing one tea out of 150 types, he brought us 6 types that are favourable and popular to smell and pick.

In the end, we chose the "Happy Tea", a tea under the wellness category that could stimulate a "Happy" feeling. We did feel better after long day at work, it made us more relaxed and calm.

Happy Tea-RM 20

Sweet, succulent strawberries are prefectly balanced by the tangy effervescence of fresh hibiscus flowers whilte the indulgent, floral scent of jasmine carries this slightly stimulating guayusa tea to take place that could only be described as Happy.

Espresso Sandwich with Affogato- RM 15.80

This is a special sandwich which is recommended and it is for a limited time only. What is special about this sandwich is the bread and meat are soaked in coffee. You could actually taste a mild scent of coffee when you bite the sandwich. It taste as if you are eating sandwich and drinking coffee at the same time. Brilliant idea!

Fish & Chips (value lunch RM 16 ++)

Whenever it comes to fish & chips, I always worry on the texture and taste. Either the fish is too dry or the taste is flat. Normally fish & chips is served with tartar sauce but this one is actually served with brown sauce as the dipping. It is quite a nice combination without leaving your mouth dry with fried food taste.

Grilled Chicken- RM 30

This is an ala carte dish from the menu, the portion is actually quite big. Fresh whole chicken leg grilled and basted in maple and brown sugar sauce. Served with coleslaw, grilled tomato, corn cob and a side of wedges/herb rice (you can choose either one).

Sausage & Egg Boat-RM 20

We ordered this as our starter but it turned out to be quite a big & long baguette. Their baguette is filled with chicken sausages, eggs and cheese, baked until hot and toasty. Served with tater tots and breakfast salad. Really nice indeed. I would recommend to share among 3 persons if you order it as starter.

Tea & Tattle, Uptown

12, Jalan SS 21/35, Damansara Utama, 47400 Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

Business Hours: 10am-12am (Mon-Sun)

Tel. no.: +60 3-7732 6080

Bacon & Brew | Uptown Damansara

2016-06-15T22:51:00.000+08:00

Another new cafe in uptown that we spotted recently. It is called the Bacon & Brews, a cafe that serve all their food with bacon bites. It is located at second floor, a simple layout cafe with minimal decoration. The layout of the place is quite similar to another cafe nearby, that is the impression we had when we walked in.

There is a list of lunch set menu that is the favourite for most of the working adults. It is fast and convenience where we do not have to think to hard about what to eat for that day. The price is quite reasonable too but do note that normally set menus come in smaller portions than the usual one.

Since it was our first time and also their first day opening, we did expect some recommendation from the waiter however to our dissapointment, we weren't greeted in that way. In the end, all of us ordered their set menu which cost around RM 10.90 a set just to try it out their taste and presentation.

Honey Lemon

Bacon Carbonara

Cream base pasta with bacon chunk and bites

My colleagues were quite satisfied with the taste and portion. The texture of the pasta was just right with the creamy gravy on top.

Fat Rice

Their home style hainanese chicken rice with pork lard sauce and chicken roll. They used Japanese grain on the rice which I find it to be a brilliant idea. They used chicken breast meat for the chicken roll which is not bad. I love the most is the rice, fragrant and tasty.

Chocolate cake

Dessert is a must especially on a Friday lunch. We ordered the chocolate cake, the portion was quite big served with vanilla ice-cream and bacon bites. The chocolate cake taste like brownie, not bad at all. However, my colleagues weren't quite satisfied with the dessert as they have high expectations for cafe to serve good and unique cake.

Bacon & Brews
52M, Jalan SS21/58, Damansara Uptown, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Tues-Thurs, 11am-10pm, Fri-Sun, 11am-11pm
+60 16-977 9775
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Hokkaido 8 days 7 nights Winter Itinerary

2016-06-09T23:54:00.000+08:00

I travelled to Hokkaido, Japan in early January this year. The trip was planned rather at the last minute and this time instead of travelling as a couple, we travelled with his mom and my brother. A bigger group and more detailed planning was crucial as it was winter, which was harder to walk on street or backpack as we liked.

I am not posting about a budget trip to Hokkaido or a blog post that can cater for less than RM 2000 per pax. In this post, I will tell you all the places that I have visited in Hokkaido, what is worth and what is not worth the visit. I managed to cover quite a lot of places in Hokkaido, basically all the major/famous tourist spots including my skiing experience as well. Yes, you heard me! My budget included skiing as well. How much did I spent in total, check out at the end of this post.

We travelled with AirAsia from KLIA2 to Shin-Chitose Airport, Hokkaido. This is the only direct flight from Kuala Lumpur to Hokkaido and it is limited to a certain date and time.

During our trip in Hokkaido, we travelled with rental car as we were travelling to 4 different cities, and taking the train was far more expensive than driving in Hokkaido after my calculation. Check out more from my previous post here on car rental in Hokkaido.

You can also check out on the accommodation that I picked in this trip here.

8 days 7 nights Hokkaido Winter Itinerary:

Day 1-3: Hakodate
Day 3-4: Otaru
Day 4-5: Furano
Day 5-7: Sapporo
Day 8: Morning flight off to KUL

Hakodate

Accomodation: Hotel New Ohte
Hakodate guide map that I used to plan my trip in Hokodate.

Day 1: Rera Chitose Outlet mall- Lake Toyako -Mt Hakodate
Brunch: Food Forest, Rera Chitose Outlet mall
Dinner: Hakodate Dining GAYA

Kinotoya Bake

I found this shop in Shin-Chitose Airport once I arrived, it is located at the domestic departure area. Kinotoya is famous for it baked cheese tart. You just can't skip without trying out these tarts. Each tart is selling at 183 yen and 1080 yen for 6 pieces (1 box). I love these cheese tart, creamy soft cheese that you can't find any where in Malaysia.

Rera Chitose Outlet Mall
We visited the Rera Chitose Outlet Mall that is less than 5km from the airport. We went to have an early lunch before we start our long journey to Hakodate. Rera Chitose Outlet Mall is Hokkaido's largest outlet mall with 140 shops.

If you are driving in Hokkaido, please ensure that you have the location's mapcode or phone numbers. All cars comes with GPS, however you are unable to type in English for road or place names, you will need to use the mapcode or phone number. For this case, we used the phone number to search the place.

Rera Chitose Outlet Mall, tel. no: 0123-42-3000

We visited the Food Forest (a.k.a food court). We found that the Udon shop was the only shop operating before 11am at that time, we have no choice but to have a bowl of udon as we are rushing to start our journey. The udon was delicious and it cost only 560 yen.

The journey from airport to Hokadate is around 3 and half hours, however as it was winter time, it took us around 4 and half hours as the road was slippery, you can hardly speed on the road. It is a bit tiring but I felt it is worth it once you see the place.

Lake Toya

On the way, we stopped by Lake Toya for some photos. Lake Toya is an ice-free lake even when temperature dropped drastically during the winter, it never freezes. It is really cold that day, around -2 degree celcius, but we can still see white smoke coming out from the active volcano. It is indeed a must visit place if you are travelling down to Hakodate.

Lake Toya mapcode: 321 519 466*44

Lake Toya (Toyako)

Hakodate Dining Gaya

During winter, sunset is around 4-5pm. Around 6pm, the sky is as dark as 9 pm. A lot of the restaurant closes around 9pm. It is recommended to have your dinner early before they close. After a long day driving, we decided to simply dine in at a restaurant that is near to our hotel. This restaurant is just 1 min walking distance from our Hotel and around 5 mins walk from the train station. They do not have English menu but do come with a Chinese menu. The food was not bad but do not expect too much on it. The best I think is their teppayaki chicken set.

Mt. Hakodate

Next stop, we visited the Mt. Hakodate. A must visit place for an amazing view of Hakodate city. It was around 7.30pm, the weather was super cold around -7 degree Celsius. But the cold can't stop us from going up the mountain. Parking is free at the ropeway station, however you will need to walk around 5 mins to the ropeway station.

For the photographers alike, its highly recommended you bring your tripod here otherwise you'll regret it. My husband brought his all the way from home and it seemed ridiculous at first, but look at the picture below and thus we felt in the end it was well worth the hassle. Oh, and don't forget to use the widest lens you can find. You'll wish you could capture the whole scene in one picture!

Mt. Hakodate ropeway mapcode: 860 410 05

Operating hours: 10am-9pm

Admission fee: Round trip-1280 yen (adult)

View of Hakodate city

Day 2: Hakodate Asaichi Morning Market- Goryokaku Park and Goryokaku Tower
Kanemori Red Brick Warehouse- Old Public Hall of Hakodate Ward- Daimon Yokocho
Breakfast: Stall at Hakodate Asaichi Morning Market
Lunch: Lucky Pierrot Burger

Hokodate Asaichi Morning Market
It is just opposite our Hotel. As early as 5am, we can hear sounds of the pushing trolley from our window. In this market, it is famous for its seafood, you can also pick the seafood you like and pack it back to Malaysia as long as it is wrap nicely with the tax free sign. You can also find fresh sashimi or seafood for breakfast here.

Hakodate Asaichi Morning Market mapcode: 860 410 63

The most famous seafood you need to try when you are in Hokkaido is the King Crab! You just must try it out once in your life time. King crab certainly isn't cheap but it is worth a try. You can either have the fresh one or the frozen one. Frozen King crab is much, much more cheaper than the fresh King Crab.

This King Crab cost us around RM 700++ but it is definitely worth it. And we got 4 scallops for free.

This is the shop that we had our most expensive breakfast in our lives. Traditional shop with friendly owner, but you will need to speak Japanese with them, although they do speak some basic English.

Goryokaku Tower

Goryokaku is a massive star shaped, western style citadel that was built in the end of Edo Period to defend Hakodate against the imperialist threat posed by the Western power. From the Goryokaku tower, you can view the whole Goryokaku park and the city.

Goryokaku Tower map code: 861 650 27

Operating hour: 9am- 6pm

Admission fee: 840 yen

Tip for photographers: Definitely a wide or super wide lens is needed to capture the citadel in whole. Otherwise you'd have to stitch a panorama.

Kanemori Red Brick Warehouse

This is where the first Japanese ports opened to international trade is located. It is a beautiful place for photo shooting. The only problem we had was that it was too cold! And a light blizzard (and by that I mean some rather heavy snow) came and we just couldn't stay outside for too long.

Kanemori Warehouse mapcode: 860 416 13

Lucky Pierrot Burger

At Kanemori, you can also find the famous Lucky Pierrot Burger which is just opposite the bay. There are a few branches around Hakodate. It is famous for its Chinese Chicken Burger but I found it to be overrated. The burger is quite small compared to a normal McD burger. The price ranges from 350 yen to 800 yen and the taste is not as delicious as it is reviewed, I still prefer Western burger.

Lucky Pierrot Burger

Old Public Hall of Hakodate Ward

Western looking wooden structure of the Old Public Hall, completed in 1910. When we arrived there, the place was closed as the business hours have ended. We didn't manage to get inside but we did take a nice photo of it.

Old Public Hall of Hakodate Ward mapcode: 860 404 65

Operating hour: 9am-5pm

Admission fee: 300 yen

Old Public Hall of Hakodate Ward

Daimon Yokocho

Daimon Yokocho is a collection of 26 small retro style restaurants and bars. You can find different kinds of Japanese cuisines from ramen to sushi, tempura and grilled chicken. Each restaurant is very small, if you have a big group you might need to visit different restaurants separately.

Daimon Yokocho Tel.: 0138-24-0033

Next morning after breakfast in Hakodate, we drove all the way to Otaru which took us about 5 hours. We stopped at the rest area for lunch before we proceeded to Otaru. Most of the rest areas in Hokkaido come with small eateries area, so you can always fill your stomach before you continue your journey again. Orders are made at the vending machine, we were so excited with the vending machine that we kept playing around with it like kids.

Otaru

Accommodation: Smile Hotel Otaru
I used this guide map to plan my trip in Otaru. You can refer to it.

Day 3: Sakaimachi Street- Music Box Museum- Kitachi Glass- Otaru Canal & Canal Building

Music Box Museum

The largest music box museum shop, basically it is a big building selling all kinds of music boxes. It however wasn't like a music box display museum as I imagined. The museum is a beautiful century-old building, designated as one of historic landmarks of Otaru City. It is definitely a place worth to visit.

Music Box Museum mapcode: 493 661 492

Operating hour: 9am-6pm

Admission fee: Free

If you are driving, you will need to park your car at the private parking spaces around the Sakaimachi street. You can't just dump your car at the roadside, it is illegal. Parking fee in town is more costly, about 200-400 yen per hour. In Otaru, basically, you just need to park your car at one place around Sakaimachi street and walk around. It is just a small town and all the famous shops and cafes are just a few steps away from each other.

Kitachi Glass Sangokan

Kitaichi Glass Sangokan is a historical stone on wood frame building dating back to 1891, originally constructed as a fishery warehouse. In 1983, they converted the building to contain a Kitaichi Glass sales outlet and café. If you are a glass lover like me, you can find a wide range of fine glass products here.

Kitachi Glass mapcode: 493 661 669

Operating hour: 9am-6pm

Admission fee: Free

Otaru 7 Layered Ice-cream

Beside the Kitachi Glass, there is a cafe selling the famous 7 layered ice-cream. You just have to try out the tall and 7 different flavours ice cream in a cone during the winter. It is freezing cold outside and people are queuing for ice- cream. It is crazy!

The one that I ordered came with 8 layers, it cost around 580 yen. It wasn't cheap but definitely worth trying out.

LeTao

Another sweet dessert that you should try it out is the LeTao Fromage Double cheese cake. It is also located around the Sakaimachi Street. There is a LeTao cafe where you can try out their cheese cakes and coffee, but we are late that day and it was closed by the time we arrived. So, we grabbed the cheese cake before we leave.

LeTao Fromage Double give us the exact experience as they stated below:

Just one bite and you will experience the taste in your mouth that melts like snow, the rich milky taste that brings instant joy, and the aesthetically modest sweetness. The upper layer is creamy smooth no-bake cheesecake, and the lower layer is rich, tasty baked cheesecake.

Kurage (海月)

We had our dinner in this authentic traditional Japanese restaurant that we found on the way. All the food were very delicious especially the sushi. There isn't any English menu but the owner was very friendly and patiently tried to explain every single dish on the menu to us in Japanese. Anyway, all their staffs can only speak in Japanese, so it will be hard if you can't communicate with them in Japanese. Nevertheless, I would encourage you to pop into one of these old looking Japanese restaurants, to experience how is it like to dine like the locals.

Total spent: 7462 yen

Otaru Canal & Canal Building

I would recommend to come over here during night time. The place is decorated with lights all around the canal. During the day, it was packed with busses and tourists that we can hardly walk around.

Otaru Canal mapcode: 493 690 796

Furano

Our destination the next day was Furano, roughly 2 and half hours drive from Otaru. Be warned that if you drive there in winter, you'll pass a mountain route which is very slippery and lots of blind turns. Take your time and drive very carefully at this mountain pass, and you will be rewarded with a spectacular view all the way. Halfway in the pass we came across Lake Katsurazawa, you will see some signs and suddenly there will be a turning in on the highway. The snow was alarmingly thick here, but you can park in the car park and walk down towards the frozen lake.

There, if you're lucky and the weather is clear, the view is truly breathtaking and is a definite hidden gem here in Hokkaido. You can watch the locals doing some winter lake fishing here, while enjoying the view.

Day 4: New Furano Prince Hotel (Skiing)-Ningle Terrance and Furano Kan Kan Mura
Accomodation: Log Yukari
Lunch: Curry Shop Furanoya
Dinner: Torisei

Curry Shop Furanoya

One of the many delicacies that you must try out in Furano is the Curry rice. I searched from foursquare and found this place. It is a cafe concept that operated by young people. Furanoya specializes in their soup curry, very different from those normal Japanese curry rice with a bit of Indian curry taste. Very unique and delicious! Furanoya allows customer to choose the level of spiciness of their curry from number 1-10. You can also choose the portion of rice you would like to have. However, this shop do not have English menu, luckily there are photos on the menu which allows us to pick from it. A must try out place for curry. Total Spent: 4760yen

New Prince Hotel Ski Resort

There are two skiing area in Furano, one is at the Prince Hotel and New Prince Hotel. You can check out the map here. We went to the New Prince Hotel Ski Resort which is directly the place of Kan Kan Mura. The ski area is located at first floor of the resort. If you are beginner, I would recommend you to get a basic lesson from the Skiing School before you start on your own. It would be best that you allocate one full day just for skiing, you will enjoy the whole process. We didn't manage to join the group lesson as we arrived Furano around noon time. However, his brother and friends were there for the past week, so we just joined them and got some lessons from them.

New Prince Hotel Tel. No.: 0334-40-1111

To be able to ski, you need to have full ski equipment. Ski equipment fee is charge per day and you will also need lift/ropeway ticket to use the gondola. It will cost you a bit more if you plan to include skiing in your itinerary. It is very exhausting, and we fell many many times. But it is definitely a worthy experience. Do however be careful when skiing and try not to go too fast as accidents can happen. We learned to just fall on our side when we couldn't handle the speed, luckily the snow here is very soft and powdery which made it much less painful than we thought.

Ningle Terrace and Kan Kan Mura

After the ski, we visited the Ningle Terrace and Kan Kan Mura which is just located beside the hotel entrance. Ningle Terrace is a 15 log cabins which display different crafts connected by boardwalks in the forest, there is everything from wooden toys to glass-blowing to candles to paper products. Kan Kan Mura is located at the end of Ningle Terrace, however it was too dark for us to walk on the snow path so we decided to skip it. It is best to visit around 4-5pm when the sky is just going dark.

Tips for photographers: Here is a great place for photography! Do take lots of pictures here!

Torisei

The signboard of a big chicken attracted us to dine in. It is a restaurant that specializes in yakitori and BBQ chicken. Yakitori is always best to go with a glass of beer. It felt so nice especially after a long day of skiing in the snow. The place is quite small and full of smoke as they bbq the yakitori inside the restaurant. Try it out if you are a person who like yakitori. Total Spent: 10950yen

Torisei Tel. No.: 0167-23-1189

Day 5: Furano Cheese Factory-Farm Tomita

Furano Cheese Factory

During winter, the main activity is skiing in Furano therefore only a few places are open. The best time to visit Furano is during Summer time where all the lavender fields will be in bloom. We visited the cheese factory where it opened all year round. In the cheese factory, you get to see the production process of the local cheese behind the window. Besides that, there is also an ice cream factory and pizza factory as well as hands on workshop for making butter, ice-cream, bread and cheese.

Furano Cheese Factory mapcode: 550 840 177

Operating hour: 9am-5pm (Apr-Oct); 9am-4pm (Nov- Mar)

Admission fee: Free

Furano fresh milk is a must have. We were so crazy over it that we bought so many bottles to store in order to have it everyday during our stay in Hokkaido. So far, we only can find this milk in Furano. You hardly can find in other cities or any convenient stores. These fresh milk is definitely the best milk we had in our lives.

Farm Tomita

We decided to have a try even though we know that during winter the whole lavender and flower field will be covered with snow. Fortunately, they are open during the winter. You can still view the lavender flowers from the small and warm green house. Nothing much else to do here so don't expect too much from here during the winter.

Farm Tomita Tel no.: 0167-23-1156

Operating hour: 9.30an-4.30pm (Dec-Mar)

Admission fee: Free

Sapporo

We spent our last 3 nights in Sapporo with more rest and relaxed travelling. We actually returned the 4WD car and rented a smaller car to travel in the city. It is cheaper and easier for parking.

Day 5: Sapporo Beer Garden and Museum
Dinner: Hakataumakamom Buaiso

Sapporo Beer Garden and Museum

Sapporo Beer brewed in Sapporo since 1877 and it is one of the oldest beer brands in Japan. The museum introduces the history of the beer and the process of beer making but mostly in Japanese. After the exhibition, there is a hall where you can sit down for beer tasting. We tried out 3 types beers - Black Label, Classic and Kaitakushi Beer for 500 yen. Or, you can still choose either one of it for 200 yen. You will need to get a ticket from the ticket machine to get your beer. Just don't skip the beer tasting, worth to try out the experience. Cheers!

Sapporo Beer Garden and Museum tel. no.: 1117-48-1876
Operating Hour: 10.30am-6.30pm
Admission fee: Free

Hakataumakamom Buaiso

It was really cold that day, so we decided to have dinner nearby our Hotel. We wanted some hot pot so I found this place through foursquare. It is a famous place for the local working adults. We reached around 7pm and the place was packed and noisy. Most of the food come with beef, however we specially requested them to change all the meat to pork as some of us can't take beef. Luckily the staff we friendly and they happily did so, and the menu only came in Japanese, so it was hard to make orders when they don't speak English at all.

Nevertheless, their hotpot is really nice. One hotpot is able to cater for two persons, however they require a minimum order of two hotpots. So it is best to come in a group as you need to order at least two hotpots to dine in. I wasn't sure whether this was a special rule and I've not seen it written anywhere, better double check if you decide to visit here. Total Spent: 6670 yen

Day 6: Nijo Fish Market- Shiroi Koibito Park- Mount Moiwa
Tea Time: Plantation cafe
Dinner: Yoshiyamashouten

Nijo Fish Market
Popular market in Sapporo that you can find fresh seafood like crabs, salmon egg, sea urchin and dried seafood. All morning markets in Hokaido are around the same. You may skip this if you are lacking of time.

Nijo Market mapcode: 9 493 642
Operating hour: 7am-6pm

Shiroi Koibito Park

Shiroi Koibito Park is designed as an entertainment zone where visitors can enjoy a variety of attractions, such as observation of Shiroi Koibito Cookies production line, cookies making at the Cookiecraft Studio and Ishiya's original sweets at cafe. Besides, you can also find the toy exhibition room, choco time tunnel, gramophone gallery and etc.

Shiroi Koibito Park mapcode: 960 330 0

Operating hour: 9am-6pm

Admission fee: 600yen

Parking: Free

Shiroi Koibito Cookies Production Line

Mount Moiwa

Mount Moiwa is one of the popular sightseeing spots that is located at the southwest of central Sapporo. You will need to take ropeway to a transfer station then take a mini cable car to reach the summit. However due to winter time, the mini cable is not operating. Instead of mini cable car, we were transferred to the summit using their "Morris Go". The view is beautiful especially after sunset, it is recommended to go around sunset time so that you can view both sunset and night time views.

Mount Moiwa mapcode: 9 400 462

Operating Hour: 10.30am-11pm

Admission Fee: 1700 yen (round trip for ropeway and mini cable)

Mt Moiwa Ropeway

Morris Go

Stunning view from the summit

Plantation Coffee

A cafe famous for its own blends of home-roasted coffee and home-made desserts. Plantation is Morihico's 4th cafe in town. It is situated in a former warehouse where they transformed it into a double-storey cafe. A very unique transformation and decoration in the cafe. The desserts were delicious too, however the coffee is a bit too rich for us. Total Spent: 4850yen

Plantation Tel. No: 050-5590-0342

Operating hour: Mon-Thurs, Sun - 11am-10pm; Fri & Sat-11am-10.30pm

Yoshiyamashouten (らーめん吉山商店札幌らーめん共和国店)

This is a ramen shop that we found it inside the BIC Camera building, it is located at the top floor. This shop is under the Sapporo Ramen Republic where you can find all ramen shop inside here. I ordered the spicy ramen and it turned out to be quite spicy. Overall the ramen was not bad but not the best. Total Spent: 4126yen.

Photo credits from chikuwachan website

Day 7- Sapporo TV tower - Tanukikoji Shopping Arcade

On the last day, we basically just walked around the Sapporo city from our hotel to Sapporo TV tower. We spent the whole day shopping in Tanukikoji Shopping Arcade and BIC camera. It was rather a relaxed trip before we depart the next morning.

Sapporo TV Tower
Mapcode: 952 303 6
Operating Hour: 9.30am-9pm
Admission fee: 720yen

If you are looking for Hokkaido's souvenir to buy, you can find it all in Tanukikoji Shoping Arcade .

This is the shop that we bought all the Hokkaido confectionery and snacks. You can request to pack all your goods in boxes and seal it. It is free and the price is slightly cheap as well.

This is the donut shop that is always packed and there are long queues after work. On the last day, we decided to join the queue and try out their donuts. The wide variety of donuts will make you crazy, it took us a while to select our donuts.

Here we are with 6 pieces of Donuts, and most of it are really delicious! Total Spent: 776yen

Day 8 Flying back to KUL

We took the earliest rapid train from Sapporo station to Chitose Airport which took around 1 hour. It cost around 1590 yen per person. Remember to reserve some cash before you depart. You can get the ticket from the ticket machine easily.

Conclusion for this Hokkaido trip is splendid. We managed to overcome the winter cold after the 3rd day in Hokkaido. Driving in winter wasn't that bad, we did encounter snow storms twice during our journey but it was a good experience as long as you drive carefully and slowly. One thing that we regretted is that we should have spent more days in Furano as it was really a beautiful place even though most of the fields is covered with snow. The place gave us a feeling of peace and quiet. Skiing experience is really good, made us fall in love with skiing. We will definitely come back again!

You can view here for all the tourist spot mapcode in Hokkido.

Here are the total expenses I have spent per person (with currency of 1 yen= RM 0.037) :

Flight: RM 1,150(booked two months ahead)
Accommodation: RM 1,323 (Avg RM 189 per night, you can get even lower price if book early)
Food: RM 1,000 (we really eat a lot and buy a lot of snacks)
Rental Car: RM 666
Parking & Petrol: RM 127
Rental Ski Equipment: RM 300 (Half day)
Admission fee: RM 165
Total: RM 4,731 (excl. souvenir)

As I mentioned in the beginning, this is not a tight budget trip but rather an enjoyable and manageable trip. You can always adjust your plan according to your budget.

I hope my post will be able to help you to plan your trip in Hokkaido. If you any questions, drop me a comment below. :)

Love,
sufen

Go Noodle House 有間麵館 | One Utama

2016-06-01T21:44:00.000+08:00

I wasn't a big fan of noodles but I heard that this noodle shop was highly recommended and it is always packed during the lunch and dinner time. I guess I just have to make a trip there and try out their speciality noodles and meat balls. Their first outlet is actually located at Jaya One, they opened another outlet in One Utama, which is located at Lower ground floor beside the escalator and Reebok outlet. You will spot it easily with the big Chinese style entrance.

The place is almost full by the time we left. We reached there before 6pm for early dinner.

Herbal Tea- RM 2.80

In House Pu Er Tea- RM 2.30

Can you guess which is which? Both looks exactly the same colour, but tastes different.

Trio Special Dark Sauce Pan Mee- RM 9.50

I always prefer dry pan mee over soup pan mee, but not everyone can prepare a nice mixture of the dark sauce for the pan mee. Go Noodle did good job on the taste and texture of their noodles. Even though I am not ordering their famous superior soup pork noodle, but this is definitely a must try item. I would recommend to add on their bursting meat ball or pork ball as the noodles come with only a handful of extras as you can see.

Bursting Meat Ball with homemade spicy soup- RM 10.90

Add on Pork Ball- RM 3.00

If you like spicy then you should try out their spicy soup. The spicy soup was however a bit too spicy for him. Nevertheless, their mian xian noodle is good in terms of texture and taste, it is a thick version of noodles with a nice chewy bite. The bursting meat balls were delicious, I love the texture of the meat ball, bouncy and juicy. The bursting meat ball is basically a layer of meat ball with pork meat inside.

Pork Roll- RM 5.60

Last but not least, pork roll as the appetiser. Crispy and nice are the two words I will describe it.

Overall the price is quite reasonable especially for a food outlet in shopping mall. If you are a noodle fan, I would recommend you to try it out.

Go Noodle House 有间面馆

Address: LG 308, 1 Utama Shopping Center, Bandar Utama, 47800 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Tel. No: +60 19-316 8866

Business Hours: 10.00am to 10.00pm

How to buy from Taobao in Malaysia? | Step by Step guide and Tips

2016-05-30T23:38:00.000+08:00

I would like to share my recent experience in buying an item from Taobao. This is my first time purchasing from Taobao even though I already knew about it long time ago. It was somewhat challenging at first especially on the language. I find it hard to read Mandarin and I felt sceptical about buying from Taobao. If you are unable to read Mandarin, I would recommend either you use google translate (not necessarily correct) or get help from a friend for the first time. After that it will be easy as the steps are the same. I did get some guidance from my colleague (who is a big fan of it) for my 1st trial. It is easy but you will need to identify the trusted seller and also the delivery method to Malaysia (not all items can be delivered to Malaysia, some may cause you a big boom in transportation cost).

So, I am going to share with you some tips and step by step guide how I made purchases.

Firstly, you need to log in to https://world.taobao.com/. The website will track your location and display your homecountry. Prices will be shown in MYR, however when you make payment, it will be charge under RMB (China currency).

If you are new to Taobao, I would recommend that you to sign up first for easy check out and payment. When signing up, you will need to register with your phone number and email address, after that set up your password. A verification email will be sent to your email.

Once you have completed the registration, go to the home page and search for the goods that you would like to purchase. For example, I wanted a Hurom slow juicer ever since I moved into my new house. I checked online, the nearest and cheapest place I can find is Lazada but the price is still way higher so I looked at Taobao which is just half of the price.

Tip 1: Filter the page using the highest transaction made before I look out for the lowest or most reasonable price. This is to avoid any dispute or fake sellers.

Tip 2: Check the rating of the seller. Choose ratings with around 3 diamonds and above. The best if the seller rating is the crown symbol which mean they got the best rating in Taobao, most of the time the price is much more higher.
Tip 3: Check the review from the buyers to ensure good reviews on this seller in terms of quality of product and delivery time. Sometimes, you may see a truck symbol to state that the sellers did sold products to your home country or other international countries for the past month.

Once you decided to purchase, click on the orange button to add the item into your cart. Go to your cart to make payment. Tick on the item then click on the big colour button to make payment.

When you are at the ordering page, I would recommend to pick your shipping method for Global Consolidate and Shipping (not all sellers has this option, so check before making payment). The Global Consolidate and Shipping method is a lot cheaper than using the Direct Shipping. It means once the order is received, the seller will send the goods to the authorised warehouse for international shipping. You will need to pay the shipping fee separately to the warehouse.

You may also pick on the type of courier service for local delivery. I was recommended by my colleague to pick on ABX courier service because it is slightly cheaper and faster delivery. You may choose others as well. Also note that, shipping charges on electronic items is much more higher than normal goods as it need different handling and packaging.

After you have confirmed the type of courier service, you may proceed with the payment by clicking on the big orange button below.

Then you may pick on the payment method to make payment, either using credit card or e-banking (extra charges of 1.5%). I recommended to use credit card which is a lot safer.

After payment, go to 我的淘宝>已买到的宝贝 to check on the status. The seller will need to pack and send the item to warehouse within 24 hours. If the status doesn't change, you can click on the reminder button to prompt the buyer.

Once the item arrive to the warehouse, click on the make payment to warehouse on the highlighted column (since I completed the shipping payment, it is no longer showing). The warehouse will show the weight of the good and the shipping price, you will need to make payment on the shipping cost to the warehouse. Remember, you don't pay shipping cost to the seller directly if you are using Global Consolidate and Shipping.

Tip 4: Log in to the website daily to check the status, you will receive Taobao's email on updated status but it is quite late (this is the only downside of it). Just to avoid late payment on shipping cost, I would recommend to check daily on the website.

After that, wait for your good to arrive at your door step! It took around 7 working days from the day I ordered till arrival of the item. Here is the HUROM slow juicer I received today, have a sneak peak on it.

The package I received is in very good condition. It was packed into three boxes. The Hurom slow juicer is exactly the same as the photos shown by the seller. The downside about buying electronic items through Taobao is the plug is China three pin design which is different from Malaysia. You need to prepare a travel adapter to use it. Check out my Hurom Juicer review here.

I hope you find this post useful when come to buying from Taobao. If you need more information about it, leave me a message below.

Khun De Thai Restaurant | Sunway Tunas, Penang

2016-05-13T10:59:00.001+08:00

Thai food is always at the top of my list as I always have this craving of spicy and sour food. On my recent trip to Penang, I decided to get some Thai food instead of the normal hawker Penang food. And I found this place from Foursquare which is highly recommended. It is a small Thai restaurant located at Sunway Tunas. The capacity of the place is limited around 7 tables, recommended to go early during peak hours/days.

I was so excited with the food that I totally forgoten to take photo of the place. I will go back again and re-took the photo.

Basically, their food was quite good. The cooks were real Thai as I heard the waitress was talking to them in Thai language. The price is quite reasonable too, we paid around RM 90 for 6 dishes and 3 drinks.

Thai Mango Salad- RM 10

We all love this mango salad eventhough my hubby do not like sourish mango. The mango turn out to be sweet and delicious. Eventhough it is not sourish but overall was quite nice.

Chicken Tom Yum- RM 17

When comes to Tom Yum, we always prepare ourselves to be sweating and tongue burning by the spiciness. To our surprise, the soup turn out to fit our spiciness level just nice. We totally in love with this Tom Yum soup. The chicken tom yum comes with chicken meat with bones instead of small bites of chicken meat.

Stir Fried Dou Miao (Pea Shoot)-RM 10

Fried Garlic Pork-RM 12

This dish was recommended by the waitress. We are not convince at first, thinking that the fried pork will be hard and dry but I guess we have no regret from odering. The fried pork is tender and juices, with the garlic on top really makes the whole dish smell so good. I never try fried pork with garlic before but this definately is good.

Fried Salted Egg Squid-RM 15

The salted egg squid is just normal, not too salty, just nice.

Otak Fried Egg-RM 12

The otak-otak and egg blend quite well, however I feel it is a bit salty due to the otak-otak but overall was delicious. A must ordered dish if you are die hard fan of fried omelette.

Khun De Thai Restaurant

38-G, Persiaran Mahsuri 2,

Sunway Tunas, 11900 Penang

Tel: 04-611 9669 / 016 421 6189

Where to stay in Hokkaido? | A trip to Hokkaido during Winter

2016-03-31T22:04:00.000+08:00

Many people asked me where to stay in Hokkaido that is cheap and good. My advice is that it depends on one's budget and your requirements. As for us, we like to pick hotels that have a private toilet/bathroom and are near to the train station or near to the city center, also preferably to be just within walking distance. These hotels might be slightly more expensive than those further away. However, in this trip, we rented a car to drive around Hokkaido and our priority is to have parking area for our car. We picked all the hotels that come with free parking or a lower parking fee per day.

We travelled to 4 cities in Hokkaido- Sapporo, Hakodate, Otaru and Furano. Here are the hotels we stayed during our trip. All the hotels are book through booking.com.

Hotel New Ohte (Hakodate)

We picked this hotel because it is able to accommodate 4 persons in a room. We booked the Japanese style as it is more spacious than the Quadruple room. We requested for their biggest Japanese style room which is at the Third floor. Although the Japanese style room is stated to be able to fit 5 persons but I think 4 person is just nice for everyone to have some private space to sleep.

Hotel New Ohte is located right across the Hakodate Station’s West Exit, just 5 mins walking distance. Hakodate Morning Market is also just in front of the hotel, very convenient. Their room rate is quite reasonable as well, we pay around RM 440 per night which is only RM 110 person/night. I would recommend to stay in this hotel, as they have English speaking staff and they are very friendly. There is a parking bay at the top of the roof, with a parking fee of 540 yen per day. If you are driving in Hokkaido, I would recommend that you to mention to them when you make a room booking as they will prepare the parking bay and you just need to pay them directly on the spot when you check in.

Photo adapted from booking.com

Reception Area

Japanese style Room

We like their toilet as they separate the toilet and bathroom with a dressing area in the middle.

Toilet/Bathroom area

Bathroom

Toilet

Smile Hotel Otaru

We were quite disappointed with this hotel due to the condition of the room. Again, I booked the Japanese style room which caters for 4 persons. However, it was smaller than we imagined. The men were hardly able to use the toilet because it is too small to fit in. The room comes with two heaters but it is filthy, cover with thick dust. There is also a humid smell inside the room which gave us an unpleasant stay. This location of the hotel is just 3 mins walking distance from the JR Otaru station.

We were quite disappointed with their allocation of parking lot as well as we were told that it is first come first serve basis. However when we came back at night, even though there are a few parking lots, the staff insisted that we are not allowed to park because it has been booked. We pay the same amount of parking fee which is 600 yen per day but we are not allowed to park which made us very angry and sad about their service. At the end we have to park at the back of the narrow alley, luckily there was still one parking left for us, I'm not sure whether they ran out of parking for other guests though.

Photo adapted from Booking.com

Welcome drink for the guest- Hokkaido milk. This is the speciality drink in Hokkaido which I managed to find it in Furano only.

Sleeping Area

Tatami floor with Futon bedding

Sitting area

Toilet & Bathroom

Log Yukari- Furano
I managed to book this at the last minute and we were pleasantly surprised on this place. I never imagined the scenery of the place is so beautiful until we arrived at the place. The downside of this place is that you will need a car to get there. It is located around 5 minutes drive to the Furano Ski Area.

It is a log house style cottage where the house that we booked can cater up to 8 person. Free parking is available on site and free wifi in the house. The owner does not speak very good English, you might need a translator if you do not speak Japanese but he is very friendly. Since we went during winter time, the whole lodges are covered with snow, looks like a small Christmas town.

We really enjoyed staying here as it was quite unique and the surrounding area is very relaxing. The price is also quite reasonable compare to most of the hotels in Furano. Accommodations in Furano are slightly higher because it is a popular skiing spot for tourists.We paid around RM 700 per night for the whole house.

Each lodge comes with a seating area, tv, kitchen, bathroom with wooden bath and toilet. The kitchen includes microwave, fridge, kettle and kitchen utensils where you can cook in the house.

Bathroom

Toilet

I think we had a wonderful winter time in Hokkaido, I believe there are many other better places but I highly, highly recommend that you book very early ahead of time. We booked our places roughly one month before our departure and there isn't much choices left. I guess there's quite a lot of tourists in Hokkaido and the best and cheapest accommodation tends to get snag up in no time. Check out HotelsCombined price comparison website to compare for the best deal the next time your travel?

Get RM 76 off with Airbnb, just click on the link HERE.

Make your reservation with booking HERE.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’s campaign by Grabies

2016-03-18T18:42:00.000+08:00

Thank you Seeties for the recent introduction to grabies. Grabies is a unique platform to promote upcoming movies, concerts and shows. Grabies allows you to rate, review as well as share the upcoming movies, concerts and shows on your Facebook, which in return allows you to collect grab points (GP). By collecting grab points (GP), you will get exclusive opportunities to grab FREEBIES like exclusive merchandises, movie premiere tickets and etc.

Here is a recent campaign that you can get Free Premiere Movie Ticket for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Just click, share and review to get your GP now!

Besides, which side are you on? Batman vs Superman? You can join the online quiz to get your GP points.

Step 1: DOWNLOAD Grabies apps at APP Store.

Step 2: Play Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice movie's Online Quiz.

Batman v Superman’s Quiz: https://goo.gl/xTCIB8

Step 3: Share it onto Facebook and get your GP!

I am on the Batman side! Which side are you on?

Join the Grabies Instagram Photo Hunt Contest as well to stand a chance to win Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice's movie premium item(s)! Contest start from March 14 to April 14. Here is a sample of how you can show in your instagram.

Step 1: Take a picture with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice movie’s poster that is allocated in the cinemas of Malaysia.

Step 2: Post that picture up on your Instagram with a fascinating caption that related to the movie.

Step 3: Include #batmanvsuperman, #grabies and @grabies_official in your caption.

Step 4: Tag @grabies_official in your picture.

Good Luck to all readers!

The Northam Hotel | Penang

2016-03-16T21:18:00.000+08:00

Today, I'm going to review about the Northam Hotel that I recently booked for my trip in Penang. I booked the room from Agoda.com instead of Booking.com this time because only Agoda had available rooms. Travelling to Penang during the CNY period is actually the peak season, most of the hotels are fully booked and luckily I found this hotel which is within our budget.

The Northam Hotel is located at Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, less than 5 minutes drive from Gurney Drive, very near to Gurney Hotel. The Northam Hotel comes with 4 types of rooms-Studio Suite, Junior Suite, Deluxe Suite and Family Suite. It is an all suites hotel, each room is equipped with a private jacuzzi.

Photo taken from Northam Hotel's website

I booked the Junior Suite and was given the room that is facing the sea, quite a nice view except that it did not come with a balcony, we can only view through the window. All room prices includes breakfast buffet. The price is quite reasonable with 52 square meters of room space, I could hardly find this big of a room in any Penang hotel with that price.

The room is separated into two smaller areas with a door- the common area and the bedroom. There are two TVs available, one at the common area and another one in the bedroom. Best of all, there are two toilets, one near to the entrance (for easy access before going out or coming back) and one in the bedroom.

Sea view from the window

Quite big space for the bathroom. We were quite excited with the jacuzzi but was quickly disappointed when we tried to use it. The water was flooded with dirts coming out from the pump, it seemed like it has not been used for a long time and no proper cleaning was done here.

We requested for a King size bed so they actually helped us to combine the two single beds into one.

Photo taken from Northam Hotel's website

If you like swimming like us, there is a pool for you to enjoy. It is nicer when you go during the sunset. However, be careful if you have kids, accompany them when they are in the pool as there aren't any life guards or staffs there to monitor them.

Nevertheless, I'd recommend this hotel to anyone who's looking to stay in Penang. Although public transportation is quite limited here, parking is free for hotel guests and it's really near to the busiest places in Penang.

The Northam All Suite Penang
Address: 55 Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, George Town, Penang, 10050, Malaysia
Tel: +604-370 1111
Website: http://web.northamhotel-penang.com/