The cable car ride

Made it up. And made it down. It was quite the experience. Unfortunately the weather was cloudy and breezy when we got there. Even the platform was wobbling. With its spaced plank, you can look through in between and at times, that can be scary.

I went out with a group after the lectures when I was in Langkawi. I had the choice of either going to the town to shop or to the cable car ride in the north part of the island. I couldn't decide on what to do until late on. It all depended on the weather. It was bright and sunny at the hotel but looking at the horizon it was very clear that it could turn at any moment. Time to make the choice. Cable car it was.

After a 30 minutes bus journey, we reached the place. It was still sunny. Queued for another good half hour before getting onto the cable cars. Luckily we were in a groupi of six, the right size for the ride. We had a couple of photographer in the gondola, so they can't help but to stand at snap pictures. To be perfectly honest, the ride was steeper than I thought. There were a couple of stops. The first, being about three quarters of the way up - not much to see there. It took a good 5 minutes to teach this stage. Just a simple platform. We had to queue up again for the other stop. This second part was not as scary.

The magic was all on the second stop. A hike downhill took me to another platform, but this one arch between a couple of summits, making a great panorama. This was the scene I described in the top paragraph. The parabolic platform stretched for a good 100 meters. I was sure the view would have been amazing if the weather was right. Unfortunately as you can see from the photos, I was surrounded by clouds instead. Great fun if that was what you were looking for.

The journey down was actually nauseating if you compare to the ride up. The hiking from the platform to the station on the top stop was actually quite punishing. I would nit recommend it to elderly visitors or anyone not wearing the right footwear. There were more than a hundred steps to negotiate and the stairs were carved into onto the rockface. The handrails helped of course, but I can imagine it being slippery in the rain.

Would I recommend the ride to everybody? Definitely not for the elderly and those not fit. The cable car ride was scary for young kids I'm sure, and there were not enough warning beforehand to tell the patrons what to expect. Everything seemed to have been taken for granted. The safety aspect and the instructions on what to do during emergency. I expected charts and leaflet, or even video shows about what to expect being shown whole we were queuing. But, if you are a keen photographer like me, I would most definitely go again, but I will pray for the right day to do so.

Colmar Part II

For today, as we arrived just after 1 pm, we headed straight for lunch. There was a the main hotel restaurant which did a buffet spread, which we decided to give a miss. The next choice was a slightly more up-market restaurant which only had set menu for lunch. Nope to that as well. Fret not. There were at least four more cafes which did a la cart dining. We took our lunch at a French-Italian restaurant, and ordered pizza, pasta and salad. The food was surprisingly good, although price was a bit on the expensive side. There were entertainers coming to our table, singing Mamma Mia for Idlan and Irfan. Unfortunately, Irfan freaked out to that!

The singers were singing ...... and Irfan don't want to have anything to do with it ....We spend the next couple of hours exploring the main hotel area. The boys stopped for some games at the play nursery, before running around with the clowns who were on hand to dish them some balloon sword. One was blue and one was green of course, being Obi-Wan and Anakin. After his sword pierced, Idlan asked for a red one and turned into Darth Maul. How appropriate. We then walked around to the swimming pool and fed the swan.

Unfortunately it soon started to drizzle, and stopped by at a boulangerie for coffee. The boys wanted to stay for the night, but we did not bring our clothes with us. Even though I volunteered to drive back to pick them up, with the rain and all, we decided otherwise. The rain also meant that we were not able to visit the botanical and Japanese gardens, or the rabbit farm. A good excuse to return I think. Idlan wanted to ride the pony, and I wanted to try some target practice using a paintball rifle. I can see myself reading a book in the room with the windows open letting the time pass by. I can’t really comment about the rooms or the hotel lodgings at the moment. I will hope to be able to do so one day should we spend an night here. So far, the ambiance and the food has been good

Throughout the afternoon, I can see the place as a popular spot for couples to have their wedding portrait done. We sow at least four groups doing that, despite the overcast weather. There were many enthusiast with their dSLR lugged around as well, myself included. A good chance to take out my new lens for a spin. Yes, the photos were sharp as advertised - all the photos on this entry was from my EOD 7D and the new Canon EF-S 17-55mm f2.8 IS. The IS definitely helped the indoor pics, and the 7D seemed to be handling the high ISO very well if needed. 

All in all, it was a grand day out. Yes, the food may be expensive and with a big crowd, it may not be as comfortable, but for a quick day out, it was not bad at all. We wished that the weather was better. Even though the drive up was windy at times, it was well worth it. After all, it was only 45 minutes from home. Please click here for more information about the place.

Colmar Part I

Irfan ready to go with his hoody!We were grumpy as a group all morning. The boys wanted to go out. I wanted to go out after the fall I had during my jog this morning. Thankfully it was just cuts and bruises. My iPhone was banged up pretty badly, but luckily it was in a case. The cover was scratched real good! Suffice to say, we needed to get out of the house.

My banged-up iPhoneI told you it was cloudy ....Puan Anita decided maybe some fresh air would be great. We headed for Bukit Tinggi. Colmar Tropicale, just 45 minutes drive from our house, driving toward Karak on the Highway, taking the Bukit Tinggi exit. I remembered being there back in 2004 when Anita was pregnant with Idlan. We were there again the next year when Idlan was barely a year-old. Irfan have never been there. So why not.

The drive there was longer than I remembered. How I wished that we had an MPV rather than our saloon. More room for the boys to maneuver. The weather was unfortunately rather overcast by the time we reached the top, threatening to rain. Five years back, they were still building a convention center next to the main hotel. It was ready now, and that was where we had to park. I remembered paying more than the RM12 per adult we did today. I guess some price came down. The car park was only a 5-minutes walk to the main entrance to Colmar.

For the uninitiated, Colmar Tropicale is a tourist destination built by the Berjaya Group based on a French theme. There were French restaurants here - well, plenty of pasta and pizza from what we saw. It housed a hotel, complete with suites and swimming pool, a piazza with shops and cafe, all in the nice cool surrounding of Bukit Tinggi, high up on the mountains. I might be wrong, but it was at least as high as Genting Highlands, but less hectic. From the main hotel, there were surrounding attractions for activities and sight seeing. There were pony rides, botanical gardens, a Japanese tea garden with a Japanese restaurant - at the botanical garden, which was separate to the tea garden. There was also a rabbit park, team-building facilities for the corporate-types to organise events, with top-notch convention facilities. 

The place was definitely family-friendly with, many activities for children. The boys enjoyed the day with a play area, kiddy playgrounds and clowns walking around the place entertaining them. All for the RM12 per adults and I think RM8 for kids - both my boys got in free of charge. We did enquire about lodgings. There were suites and hotel room going at a reasonable price. Young couple might be concerned about lack of activities in the evening - definitely so compared to Genting Highland proper. But for a family like us, the cool weather would have been enough to keep us going. I promised the boys in the end to take them for a couple of nights stay later in the year.

To be continued in Part II tomorrow.

Pumpkins at Marche

It was Friday evening. My in-laws were in Kelantan due to a family funeral. It was us and the maids at home. So everyone was out. Where to? After some thought, we went out for dinner at Marche, The Curve. Just a quick in and out. Nothing fancy. But we noticed that Marche was transformed for Halloween. There were pumpkins everywhere. Even the famous cow at the front entrance was dressed up with a witch hat.

It seemed that Irfan was not in a good mood. Anita said that his friends in class have been coughing all day in front of him. We were worried that he may be down with a flu. A bit on the grumpy side, but that all changed the moment we stepped into Marche. He noticed all the pumpkins around and convinced us to get him pumpkin soup instead of his usual mushrooms. It was actually quite nice. It was chunks of pumpkin with mild pepper and onions. Next came the pizza, which he preferred as margarita. No pumpkin there. There were also pumpkin juices, pumpkin caramel etc. Puan Anita tried some of those. Never actually caught on. The decors were nice. Reading the pamphlets, there will be Kids Fancy Dress Party for lunchtimes next weekend. Sad news as I will be in Langkawi giving a talk instead.

After dinner, we took a quick stroll towards e-Curve. There were some live band playing but with Irfan being grumpy, we did not hang on for too long. We also noticed that the central foyer at The Curve was taken up by Pantai Hospitals for their Pink Ribbon Campaign - for breast cancer. There were talks and forums scheduled but on the evening, there were just essentially booths and informations given out. Maybe Irfan’s mood will improve.

Park Avenue, Sg Petani

Yes, the name itself conjoured an image that one is in New York. Alas, the hotel was in Sungai Petani, and it was no where near as posh. That was the hotel we stayed in during our four nights stay at for our balik kampung.

Initially Puan Anita wanted to stay in Batu Feringghi on the island itself but since my Mum was staying at my sister’s in Sungai Petani, we decided otherwise. It turned out to be a blessing since the Penang Bridge was closed for a couple of hours due to an electrical fire, causing a huge tailback on the day we arrived up North. Traffic to Sungai Petani was smooth instead.

The hotel itself was strategically located, right next to the Sungai Petani (South) exit o the PLUS highway. Apart from the queue to settle the toll at the exit, getting in was a breeze. Thank God for Smart Tag! The hotel was previously own by the late mogul Tan Sri Eric Chia. According to one of my Uncle, the Tan Sri actually passed away here during his long illness. While he was around, the hotel used to be the premier in Sungai Petani. Since then, things has as they said …… been different.

The room that we ordered was one of the Senior Suite. It was very nicely laid out, comfortable furnitures, nice lightings, sensible decors. The room have a separate study by the entrance - where I wrote the draft for this entry. There as a couple of toilets, a living area and bedroom. The main bath have a separate shower and bath, and a huge area for changing and Puan Anita putting her make-up - a very important requirement.

The room has free wifi! A big bonus! Did I mention free? Hotels were stingy when it comes to wifi, but not Park Avenue. The speed was in access of 20Kb/sec. O it was not lightning fast, but more than adequate. Parking was straight forward as well at the basement. The only problem was the lift did not go to the basement. Had to take the stairs down there instead, but still not a major problem. The room included free breakfast and newspaper. Both Idlan and Irfan really enjoyed the room. We initially planned to stay for three nights, but extended as my sister arrived from Melaka, and we wanted to spend an extra day for the kids.

The hotel also had a nice pool on the third floor with generous space for deck chairs. There was a separate waddling pool for the kids. Apparently there was also gym and spa, but I couldn’t be bothered to check them out. The hotel also had a huge lobby, and three separate food joints - main bistro where breakfast and dinner were served. There was also a bar and a Japanese restaurant - yes, you heard it right!

The main lobbyNice wood paneling on the floor lobby leading to our roomThose were the plusses - and considering you are now 500 words in on the review, there were a quite a few of them! The negatives were plenty as well I am afraid. Even thought the room was nice, maintenance was a bit lacking. There were only a single TV in the suite with limited Astro channels. We had to go to my auntie’s house to watch United drew with Everton on the first night. There was no children channel, we were served with terrestrial, Discovery and a few news channels. There was Movie Max. There were no DVD player provided in the rooms as well. There was a fridge but it was connected to the mains rather than a dedicated outlet. So, when you leave the room, the power were cut off and the ice melted! There was no iron provided. We had to call for one, with an ironing board missing a leg. 10 minutes later, we got a call with housekeeping coming back to pick the iron away since they did not have enough of them.

The breakfast area packed in the morning

The main entranceAnd now for the food. Allegedly there was room service to order, a separate menu until 10pm and a simple microwave list after that. The food took a solid hour to arrive at our room when we ordered upon checking in. The second night when we ordered for a late meal, apparently nothing was left. We were talking about a simple microwave pizza here, not a full meal of steak and the likes. The funny thing was, the order went through, and five minutes later, the phone rang to say that they were out of even noodles! Funny! Oh, did I mention that the kettle was dirty? 

All in all, it was a mixed bag. With a good manager, the hotel definitely will come good as the rooms were very nice. Would I recommend it to everyone? Yes. Make sure you ask for government servant rate if you are one. The rate for the master suite that we stayed in was around RM300 per night which I think was reasonable. If only the support service was much better. WIll we come here again? Maybe, I will try other hotels here before I make our mind up to answer that one!

The hotel website is linked here.E-1 Jalan Indah Dua, Taman Sejati Indah, 08000 Sungai Petani, Kedah. Tel : 04-431 7777 Fax : 04-431 8777