Family Vacation Part V – Cameron Highlands

Moshi moshi!

As promised, I would like to share with you the most memorable trip I had for the last two week. It was none in our plan that we were going to Cameron Highlands.

Early in the morning, DearDear woke me up and asked me to get ready. I asked him, where are we going? He told me “we’re going to Ipoh. Cik (his uncle) have some work to do in Ipoh, so he bring us along. Get ready faster, others are waiting outside” Oh my. My body still feel the ached from the Zoo trip and the night after that we were wandered around the ‘uptown’ until 2 am. It made me think, when were these townies had time for sleeping? So I dragged myself to get ready as fast as I can, including preparing the milk, flusk and some clothes for Amani. Want to know a secret? Amani didn’t took a shower that day. The whole day! Lol!

From KL to Ipoh, we drove along and had a pit stop at Pak Tam’s for breakfast. Look at Amani, still wearing her pajama outfit. Lol! My tummy couldn’t accept heavy food that morning. So I didn’t finish my breakfast meal.

We arrived in Ipoh around 10 am. While waiting for DearDear’s uncle to settle his job, we wandered around Ipoh town and headed to Tambun. Have you ever heard of The Lost World of Tambun? We only took pictures at the front entrance and bought some souvenirs. It wasn’t suitable for a short trip. At least stay overnight, then it is worthier going to this kind of place. Never mind, added to my travel wishlist. Hehe.

At 11.30am, DearDear’s uncle drove us to the Cameron Higlands. I just love the view all the way to Cameron. The fresh and green view, the wild orchids were beautifully along the roadside. We stopped at the Strawberry farm for praying. While waiting for others, Amani had a photoshoot with her new Princess Umbrella. Hehe. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a strawberry season. The strawberries were still green. Not much we could see though.

We continued the journey to Brinchang. It is a commercial town with many hotels, shophouses, restaurants, food courts and here you can buy souvenirs, cactuses, flowers, veggies etc. After having lunch at the food court, the rain poured heavily. The pouring rain feels like ice. So cold.

So we arrived at the main point. The Cameron Valley. Once you came here, you must have at least a cup of tea and enjoying the beautiful view of the tea valley. Well, we ordered glasses of tea. Lol! I was lucky enough to have a seat near the balcony. It was so mesmerizing….

Luckily the rain had stopped. We went down to the tea farm and get a closer look at the tea trees. I have falling in love with this place on the spot. I love the fresh air that we breathed in. I love the greenie views. I love the peaceful sound. I love everything about this place. 😍 This is certainly for a tea lover. Sorry, coffee lover. 😜

Before going back, we went to the Tea House’s shop and bought some souvenirs. I managed to grab a few flavour of teas and a cutie mug for myself. Hehe. 😝 Oh, there was one plant that caught our attention. The hanging upside down flower. We found at the Brinchang people were selling this flower’s fritters. It tasted like fried aspsragus. I have no idea of the name of this flower. My mother in-law told me it is called Bunga Sundal. Perhaps this is what people call Bunga Sundal Malam. Any ideas?

It was sad to leave this place. Especially when it had captured your heart. I certainly will go to Cameron Higlands again in the future. I’ll make sure to visit the Lavender Farm, Flower Garden and Cactus Valley next time. Those were places that I didn’t visit for that day trip. Well, we had to get going back to KL before it’s getting dark.

So long Cameron Higlands! It was my most memorable trip so far. I leave you with my favourite picture that I took that day before leaving the place. It reminds me of The Beatles’s song “Strawberry Fields Forever” 🍓

Till then, bye!

Family Vacation Part IV – Zoo Negara

Moshi moshi minasan! ☺️

I’m back on my family vacation, and now we’re back in Kuala Lumpur. We stayed at my mother in-law’s sister house. The house is situated just near the Zoo Negara, Malaysia.

Therefore, we’ve made a plan to visit Zoo Negara. It’d been my childhood dream of going to the zoo. I know that my parent couldn’t afford to bring us to go there before, so I just kept my dream as a wish.

Then, this lucky girl fulfill my wish. If it does not because of her, I would never come to Zoo Negara. We arrived around noon and the place was packed with people. The ticket was so pricey. Most probably because it was school holiday, they had doubled the price. Our first stop is the Butterfly Farm. There are so many different species of butterflies that you can find in there. Unfortunately, neither one of it would want to perch on our hands. Unlike my parent in-law and my brother in-law, the butterflies love them I guessed.

And then we walked along the Bird Aviary. There are so many bird species you can see at the very close range. Can you see the green egg on the picture? It was an Emu’s egg. I thought it was a stone in the first place. Lol! There is a realy big bird sitting, which I wasn’t sure what type of it. It looks like an ostrich, but it has a blue, red colour…. Yeah, saw the name on the signboard but I have forgotten it now. Lol! I think it was a cassowary.

Amani loves the idea of doodling the giraffe, without knowing or seeing the animal for real. So that day, she was so lucky to see the giraffe in real. She was so excited! It was my first time too. I found that the giraffe was so beautiful. We also got to see the lions, tigers, tapirs, deers, and white tiger. The white tiger (Bangal Tiger) was so scary to see. It looked so fierce and watching us from it’s place. Amani told me she was scared to see that animal. huhu.

Maybe, cows are common for me. I grew up seeing cow everyday. But not for Amani. It was her first time seeing it real close. She even fed the cows to eat. I was impressed to see the Indian Bison. It look so ‘masculine’? Lol! We also got to see the hyppos. Really really a ‘badak berendam’ . Ahaha. The elephants were interesting to see. When we approached the elephants, Amani started to sing her nursery song. It sounds like this:

“Gajah berkaki empat, gelek gelek gelek!”

To our astonishment, one of the elephant started to swing it’s body left and right. Looks liked it was dancing! When we snap a picture of it, it stoped dancing. What a clever animal! We really enjoyed the show. Hehe.

Our last stop is the aquariums. There you get to see so many big fish. Looks unbelievable but they were extremely big! And the penguins too… I bet you are asking me where is Panda? For your information, the ticket to watch PAndas are different rate with the normal ticket. So we just bought the normal ticket instead. No Panda, no meaning going to the zoo? Nevermind, I still can take a picture with the balloon panda. Lol!

There were many places we skipped. I really couldn’t stand to carry Amani. She had a limit to walk. When she’s tired of walking, she would want us to carry her. Aiyoo… heavy ah. 😝 We took a rest at the cafe. Amani was having her pink ice-cream which cost RM6! While mama had the big portion of cendol with ice-cream! Never mind the pricey, it was a self reward for myself! 😜

That’s all for our Zoo Negara trip. I hope you find it enjoyable reading. Stay tune for more stories after this. Ciao! 😘

Family Vacation Part III – Melaka

Hi everyone! Let’s continue the journey… 😀

Have you been to Malacca (Melaka)? Well, this is my first time going to Melaka. Of course I was so eager to see the historical place.

As planning, we went to Melaka using the inside route, meaning that we were avoiding using the highway.

We arrived in Melaka at about 8pm. Straight away check in the hotel for an overnight stayed. After that we went to the nearest hotel to fill the grumbling tummies. Hehe. At 10pm, we went to the Melaka city center. The first thing Amani saw was the attractive ‘beca’ (trishaw) She insisted on riding the beca. They really knows how to attract the tourist, especially kids. One thing that made Amani wanted to ride it is because the beca was in pink colour, and has Hello Kitty attached everywhere. The beca ride cost RM25. he rode us around the ‘dataran’ and he while riding he told us about the monument, the place that we should visit in the daytime. Did you know the beca has speaker on it? Some becas were spinning the hindustan songs, old Malay songs… Luckily our rider was a young man. He spinned a Frozen song for Amani. 😄 To make the story long… Amani didn’t want the beca to stop. She cried when we had to go back to our hotel.

Early in the morning, after having breakfast we went again to the center of Melaka. We went sightseeing the town. Can you see the big ship? That was Flora de la Mar Maritime Museum. It is a replica of a Potuguese ship that sank off the coast of Melaka. It looks like a real ship. I didn’t get inside the ship because I couldn’t stand to carry Amani and counting the stairs. Haiyah.. 😅

Like a nightime, the becas are everywhere. Once again, Amani wanted to take a ride with beca. I surrendered this time, so I just let my parent in-law brought Amani. My mother in-law told me the ride was different like last night we had. Only a few places to visit. I heard some people told me that some of them likes to cheat the tourist. This is really shameful to our country. If it not because of Amani, I wouldn’t ride the beca as well. Hehe.

Our next activity were taking a tour with the Melaka River Cruise. It is 45 minutes ride on Sungai Melaka (Melaka River) with audio commentary. The river was the main artery of trade for Melaka in its heyday when it was bustling with traders from all around the world. The cruise offers new perspectives of the historical city centre, Chinatown, Kampong Morten and other places in Melaka.

Amani really excited to see the water. Whenever a boat passed by, she would shouts “Bye-bye!” to the other visitors. The colourful buildings (murals) really caught my attention. Very creative!

All of my dream was taking photos at the ‘red buildings’. It’s like a trademark that you have been to Melaka. The first picture is a background of the Red Square, also known as Dutch Square. It dated from the 17th century and reflects the history of Melaka from Dutch colonization till today. The second picture is the background of Christ Church Melaka. It completed in 1753. The bricks were specifically shipped in from Holland. At the bottom of the picture, I was walking along the Stadthuys – Museum of History and Etnography. It is the oldest Dutch colonial building in Southeast Asia. Lastly, there is a fountain in the middle of the park. Queen Victoria Fountain – Built in 1904 by the Melaka people in memory of Queen Victoria Regina.

It was exhausting wandering the places. So stop by at the Cendol stall across the park. Me and DeaDear were having Mix Cendol and Ice-Cream cendol. Ahhh…. very soothing. hehe.

The clock ticked on 3pm. We need a journey to go back to Kuala Lumpur. Somehow, I was kind of sad because there were so many historical monuments that we haven’t visit. Especially the history of our own heroes Hang Tuah. Bear in mind that I will surely come back to Melaka some other time. Perhaps in the next visit, Amani has learn about history. It will be an educational trip for her. ☺️

Off we go to Kuala Lumpur. We did stopped by at Seremban, Negeri Sembilan to have dinner. My mother in-law sempat borong another veggies at the market. Hehe.

Next trip – Zoo Negara Malaysia. Stay tuned! Bye for now…. 😚

Family vacation Part II

Hello everyone!

I am going to continue our journey from Pontian to Johor Bahru (JB). Before going ahead to JB, my father in law showed me his old house, school and some places he grew up. If I’m not mistaken, the name of the place is Kukup. We also visited his uncle’s house and after that heading straight away to JB.

We arrived in JB at Round 7pm. There were not much I can see because it’s already dark. We could only see the city with beautiful lights.. And then we stopped by the small bay to eat Wak Steamboat. I love the ideas of this stall. Haven’t seen it in Sarawak at the moment. As you can see, from the stall, we could see Singapore across the sea. How I wish I could go to Singapore during the trip. We didn’t, due to my parents in-law whom was planning the trip. Hopefully, one day I can go to Singapore. Well, from where I stand to take the picture, I could only whispered “Hello, neighbour!” 😊

We stayed overnight at my father in-law’s sister house. Early in the morning, we started our journey again and visited his two other sisters. Lastly, we met my friend who was also a Sarawakian, but working in Johor. It’s been awhile since I met Akma. Although it was only a short meeting, I felt really happy to see her. Till we meet again, sister. 😚

Around 3 pm we started our journey going to Melaka. My father in-law insisted on using the village road, instead of using highway. In that case, I got to see some places in Johor. We also stopped by at Air Hitam.

Air Hitam is look likes a Serikin to me. Mini shopping heaven for people like me. I bought some ‘kerepek’ from Johor and not forgetting the English Rose Mugs. 😂 Can’t help it! RM2 for each mug. How can you resist it? Lol! I also bought some Johor Signature T-shirt for souvenirs. My mother in-law ‘borong’ some veggies. The price were very very cheap compared to our place. Hehe.

After spending some time at Air Hitam, my brother in-law started driving to Melaka. We also stayed overnight in Melaka. Please come back, for our Melaka trip. 😀

See ya. ✋😉

Family vacation Part I

Hello lovelies!
Sorry for a long silent from me.
I am now touched down the land of hornbil after spending 12 days at the Peninsular Malaysia.

It was a family vacation indeed. We were attending my father in-law’s niece wedding at Pontian, Johor. It was my first time coming to Johor. All this while I only went as far as Kuala Lumpur only. Really a homie person, muhuhu.

This is the beautiful bride, Ain. She looks stunning! I got the experienced watching the wedding tradition in Johor. Of course it was so different from ours in Sarawak. 😊

We spent three days at Pontian. On the third day I went on strolling along the beach at Pontian. Can you see the very rare rock? It’s really weird and unique, don’t you think? The town is just a small area, about 40 minutes drive from the village.

Amani really excited to see the sea. While walking along the path, there was a strayed cat approached her. The cat followed her everywhere. It was a cute cat indeed. After spending the morning walk along the beach, we went off to Johor Bahru.

Stay tuned for our next journey in Part II.