Plaza Damas

Spent the afternoon at Hartamas Shopping Center today. Mum-in-law travelled back to Kuala Kangsar for an overnight stay, leaving us lot to stay with Dad. He went to a kenduri for lunch, so the afternoon meal was sorted out.

The festive decorations were still upAnita was still bothered about not getting a new set of swimming gear for the boys, so she had to go out looking for them. Since we were due to get new Wii games for them, we decided to head here.

Where we had lunch

For lunch, we stopped at the branch of Penang Village here and oh boy, it was disappointing. I will write an entry about that when I get home, but suffice to say, we would probably avoid the place in the future.

Picking up some chicken pie for teaWhile waiting for Anita to finish up her shopping, we hung around at the Kidz Zone play area. The boys needed to burn off some energy. We had to get them to bed early tonight as school will start in a couple of days. Good luck to us.

Jonker Time

In 2010 alone, I was in Melaka twice, but the trip I missed was with the KLickr gang during Ramadhan. I was not free on the day and from what I heard, the group really painted Jonker Street that evening. The couple of times I visited Jonker Street this year was always during the day, on the trishaw. I never experienced the fames evening market and all the eateries, plus the photos to be had. Maybe I will try again next year.

However during the reason trip, I snapped away while on the trishaw and I now understand what the place was about. It was filled with vibrant colours and subjects to be photographed. And that was during the day, when the place was not too busy. Imagine the mayhem at night …… 

Happy 2011

Happy New Year everybody. Certainly the new year is the time to start everything afresh while formulating your fantasy about what you want to achieve in the coming year. For me, I wish for good health, better people to run my beloved Malaysia and of course, better public toilet.

For the first day of the year, we decided to make an early start so as not to get caught in the expected heavy traffic jam around Lembah Kelang. We set out for breakfast at The Curve as Anita wanted to do some shopping for our newly renovated bedroom. While she was doing that, I took Idlan and Irfan to the playground. The seemed to be having a blast.

They have another couple of days if holidays before going back to school. The seven weeks really flew by. Idlan however is looking forward to enter Year One in school, although he will be missing some of his good friends who have left to a different school. At least they will still meet up during Sekolah Agama.

Here is to a great 2011. Happy new year every one!

On to Melaka

As mentioned on my tweets and facebook updates, we headed to Melaka after breakfast last Monday. The trip to PD this time brought a couple of Anita’s aunties as well as her cousin. Since our driver was from Melaka, we used the coastal road, via Kuala Linggi, passing by Masjid Tanah and Sungai. That certainly brought back a lot of memories as both Puan Anita and myself went to the same college in Kem Terendak.

On the wayTurn to my old collegeA quick stop for cencalokWe arrived in Bandar Melaka in time for lunch, which we had at Dataran Pahlawan. My mother-in-law wanted to take the river cruise, but since it was rather far to walk, we decided to charter some trishaws - beca - to take us around town first, like what we did the last time we were in Melaka. The trip actually took us a couple of hours.

We were taken to the usual spots, with stops along the way at Stadyhurst. The ride along Jonker Street was quite fun but my children were too restless to stop. When we arrived at the riverboat jetty, Idlan was already asleep and everybody was already tired - in was already past 5 pm then. We decided to head back to our driver, who took us to Sungai Baru for dinner as mentioned in the last entry. I’ll put up the photos of Jonker Street on my next entry.

Seafood at Kuala Sungai Baru

As soon as we decided to head for Melaka, one thing that came out of Anita's mouth was seafood. She wanted to go to Serkam, but that will be out of the way from Port Dickson. Our driver, Pak Cik Sufian, originally from Melaka had another idea. Apparently, he knew of a similar place near his kampung, which is halfway between us and Melaka.

On the way back after our outing in Melaka - which I will blog in another entry - we made a stop at Kampung Kuala Sungai Baru, which is near Akademi Laut Malaysia (ALAM). He grew up there and his sister and relatives still lived at the kampung. The place was only open after 6 pm, so he made some calls, and by the time we reach the place, just before Maghrib, the food was already on the table for us! All we needed to do was eat! Just as well.

Fresh sea prawns. You can taste the sweetness still.Seafood-filled fried tauhuIkan goreng tiga rasa - delish!The place is a small complex, converted from an old jetty. The fish and seafood were brought in the same day, and cooked fresh at the restaurant. Since most visitors liked to pick their own fish, it will involve a slight wait for the food to be ready. Since Pak Cik Sufian sorted the food early for us, we just sat down and enjoyed. The particular restaurant was apparently best at the area - there are a few more fancy ones just across the bridge. It was comfortable, in an open air setting by the jetty overlooking the Straits of Malacca. They had TV, and very clean toilets and surau. The challenge was to drive in, since I must say, I would have probably missed the entrance - all it said from the main Kuala Linggi road - M143 - was ‘Kompleks Ikan Bakar Kuala Sungai Baru’. I don’t think you will find it on any of the GPS system. If you are interested, it’s 2.353887, 102.033762.

If you fancy, you can have your food outdoors.The food were really fresh, and the fish was best enjoyed with some nasi lemak. We had fried squid - highly recommended - and ikan masa tiga rasa. All the standard seafood were there, but it will be at the mercy of what caught on the day. In terms of cooking style, it may lack the variety of Kuala Selangor, but still well worth a visit.

Sorry about the quality of the snaps as they were taken using my iPhone 4. The quality was not as good in low light I'm afraid.