Damai Laut - Part II

View of the nearby Pulau PangkorI actually got up before the morning 6 am morning call! An achievement. I realised that there were a few mosquitoes in my room as well when I got up. I slept like a baby even though the bar was still belting out some disco numbers at the time I took to bed. My room was near the main reception, where the bar was situated and I can hear the music coming in through the windows. Shower, got dressed, took my 7D and went straight to breakfast. It was still too dark to go out for snaps at the time.

It was nice to be valued, especially just before being covered by swarm of jellyfishYup, it was SaturdayWalking up to the main lobbyBreakfast was pretty basic, and on the whole considering this being a four star hotel and the form of last evening’s barbecue dinner, I was expecting more. There were the usual assortment of continental, English and local breakfast, but they lacked variety. I settled for some omelette and cereals. Had a chat with the other delegates and introduced myself to the speaker - Mr Raja Badrul from UPM, the other being my friend KT Chua. I then had around half an hour to explore the hotel with my camera. The hotel was facing west, and it was still overcast, so no beach pictures yet. I snapped the facilities and the pool. Had a walk around the compound, before heading back into the room to get ready. I was chairing the session that morning, so had to be on time.

Felt like dropping everything an just lay there

The morning session started early, and was wrapped up by 10. However we were not finished yet as there were more activities later. The organiser had arranged a kin of paperchase for the delegates - which I will talk about in the coming entries. That was the time when we managed to explore the resort further, having the chance to sample archery and the lot. Being a sensible photographer, I took my camera along. Suffice to say that we came last …..

One of my junior colleague, Helmi, checking out the poolYes! I got the idea.The room provided for me was the sea view deluxe. It had a couple of balconies - one facing the sea, an another facing …. a wall. Due to the short stay, I never really had the chance to sample what the resort had to offer. From the limited time I had, I found that it was what to expect from a four-star resort. The food was reasonable, with a good selection for room service. The ambiance was very soothing. There was a comprehensive spa service, a karaoke lounge, herbal garden and sports facilities, such as archery, watersports, beach volleyball and soccer. There was also a tennis court and for the avid golfer, there is an 18-hole par 72 nearby. If you fancy an apartment, or even bungalow villas, there were a few units, which you pass through on the drive to the resort.

Karaoke anyone?Or for some ice-cream?

The swimming pool looked tempting, but the sea front was quite small, and there was a big warning sign about jellyfish. I think, I would recommend sticking to the pool. The was also a wading pool for the kids. Will I come here again? For the price of around RM350 and if you don’t mind a lightly disappointing - at least to my standard - level of food selection, it will be worth a visit. The danger of staying more than a couple of nights would be you might be left with nothing much to do, unless you were on your honeymoon of course. Personally, I was willing to give the resort another chance. When? Not soon I don’t think. We were planning to go down south for the next holiday.

For more information on the resort, please click here. I have also uploaded the slideshow of the visit here.

Damai Laut - Part I

I had the pleasure to stay at this four star resort, in a secluded bay near the port town of Lumut last Friday. I was invited to give a talk there for a pharmaceutical company on a topic was very familiar with. I took both Thursday and Friday off, even though I went to he office on Thursday. As I mentioned in a previous entry, it took 4 hours for me to drive my way up there. I left KL after breakfast, but had to turn back since about 10 minutes out, Puan Anita called me to tell that I had left my laptop bag by the door. I was lucky that it was realised very early on. Imagine if I was already half way out! Not exactly a disaster because I stored one copy in the cloud and another with the organiser. But I will have to suffer the inconvenience of not being able to use my Mac. That would be unprofessional!

Entering my roomAt the end of a long corridor. The lift was on the other end.I reached Lumut just in time for lunch. Checked in and got myself organised. There was not much to miss outside since it was drizzling all afternoon. I was surprised at the distance to the resort hotel from the main road. It was 8 km of narrow road, driving past palm oil plantations and then the golf course and the resort apartments. The resort hotel sat right at the end of the route.

Unfortunately it was raining outsideThe first couple of session sailed by and it was time for mine. We planned to start things later than planned due to the traveling, and it was almost 7pm when I was done with my slides. A quick shower and it was time for dinner. The organiser got all of us a sumptuous sunset barbecue dinner on the waterfront. It has since stopped raining. Nice dinner, with nice music, good company. I was surprised by the lack of seafood on serve, as I imagine Lumut and Pangkor being a port, we will get some nice fresh seafood. There were some prawns and crabs, but they were hardly fresh. The chicken wing and ribs were aplenty. The venue may not be suitable if you were bringing kids however. Getting there include negotiating a steep back and the aisle and spaces between the tables were pretty limited. Then there will also be an issue with food, as it was mainly barbecue, there might not be food for the kids.

Nice, violet sunset. After the cloud had cleared.I think I must have gained 2 kgs by the time I was done. There was also a cultural show, featuring local dances. But then, out of nowhere, came an Iban dancer doing a demonstration on how to use a sumpit - a traditional jungle dart thrower. It was essentially a long hollow bamboo pole, where a long and slender poisonous dart was spat out by blowing one end of the weapon. Sounded basic, but oh my God, the dart just rocket through. The target were a few balloons on the ceiling and it was not hard to hit those! SHame that I did not carry my camera there that evening. It was too dark to use my phone.

Yup! My session was over! But look at the way my name was spelled! Haris Abdul Rahman should suffice.Someody clearly enjoying some nightswimmingAll that was left was some football. Even the waiters wear football jerseys in this bar.Dinner was done. It was time to settle in for football. Brazil was playing Portugal that evening. The game was not shown in the rooms, so we congregated at the main bar enjoying it on the big screen. With drinks flowing of course. Nobody was drunk, so everyone was well behaved. I was pretty tired at that point, but football kept me going. Got there a bit late since I had to make a few phone calls. My colleague, KT Chua was also just arriving from UMMC. It was close to 11 when he finally got things settled. We thought the surprise was over, but then came the half-time. There was a live band playing, and they were damn right tacky! The girls were belting out dangdut numbers in tight, football-theme outfit - half funny, half surreal! The next number - Lady Gaga! I rest my case.

Time to catch the zzzzzzMercifully the second half started. A bit slower tempo-wise compared to the first. I went straight to bed after the final whistle. After all, the morning wake-up would be at 6! The slideshow for the trip can be found here.

Trip to Lumut

Spend the afternoon giving a talk at a workshop in Lumut. It will just be an overnight stay. Expect to be real tired by the time I reach KL tomorrow.

Upon reaching Teluk Intan, I was surprised at how many more kilometers I have to driveI left KL just after 8. It was a 4 hour drive up. I left the PLUS highway off Bidor, then headed towards Teluk Intan and Sitiawan. The drive was not that bad. At least not as bad as I imagine it was going to be. It was raining when I reach the venue - Swiss Garden Damai Laut. First order of business, to check in. The organiser did the sensible thing in outsourcing the event management to the professionals. The checking in was smooth, everything went through like clockwork.

It had been raining all afternoon.... but the pool still looked temptingThen it was lunch. A pretty standard affair. I was starving anyhow, so I can't really complaint. It was really raining heavily then, so I just stayed in my room until it was time to register for the talk. I'll blog about the talks at the UMMC website rather.

So, it was just after Maghrib. It was too cloudy for a sunset pic. Waiting for dinner at the moment. Will blog more later.

Birds @ IKANO

We have our school reunion coming up next weekend. Unfortunately I will be in Lumut at the time, but Puan Anita was keen to go. Yes, we went to school together. We were what you might say, childhood sweetheart. Yup! It is sad. We first went out in 1987, got married 1997, then got Idlan in 2004. We decided to enjoy our time in UK first before parenthood. It did not turn out half bad after all. Back to the reunion.

Yup! They brought the cages in

Since I will be able to make it, she will be going with a few of her old friends. You guessed it. New clothes, new bags, new make-up and most importantly, new contact lenses!. So, we went out to IKANO yesterday to get a new pair for her. When we stepped in, Idlan shouted out, “Hey! That’s the bird park in here!”. Apparently, for a couple of weeks, the KL Bird Park was doing a promotion at IKANO. They brought over a fair few of their prized possession and the main foyer were filled with birds inside a makeshift tent. The boys were not very keen to go in, so I was not sure how much we would have had to pay to get in. But if you spent more than RM100 at the centre - which we did - we were entitled to a special discount.

Irfan waiting for it all to cookRaw fish slices before being boiledIdlan contemplating his kind of lunchThe World Cup fever hitting the The CurveWe ended up having lunch there at the steamboat joint down there, then after a quick walk across to The Curve where we parked, it was time to go. Our new maid looked tired from her journey in the day before. We bought her toiletries and the kind then was back home.

More scouting

The unmistakeable Kompleks Dayabumi - Petronas used to operate from here prior to the Twin TowersNow that we sort of like had the general idea of where to head for on the upcoming Kelby’s Photowalk, it was my turn to do another scout, to avoid any surprises so to speak. All in all, it was a very promising route, but it will need some refinements, and luck for good weather.

The starting pointAs proposed, we will be setting off from Central Market. I imagine on a Saturday morning, at 10, CM will still be quiet. I will later scout for a restaurant for us to congregate. Maybe some of us will be having breakfast there. There was a small market there today on the main walkway. Apparently according to one of the vendors, it happens there every weekend morning. From my observation, there was not very much to see there. Maybe we will walk around the area for a start before setting off to the train station.

The weekend market next to the CM.... selling all sortsFor there, we will cross a small bridge towards Kompleks Dayabumi where we will pass throguh the car park. I suggest we park there. It was indoors and costs RM2.50 per entry. The entrance is rather tricky since you have to be driving from Dataran Merdeka to get to the entrance. Through the car park, into the small shopping area at the Kompleks, we will emerge on the other side. A right turn from here will take us to Dataran Merdeka. We will instead take a left towards the old Train Station. It has now been converted into Komuter station, and part of the terminal building has been renovated int a hotel, Heritage Hotel. I will need to talk to the hotel management to see if there is any worthwhile access through the hotel, in case it leads into anywhere near the old platform. If so, that will be ace!

There is a beaten path from CM to Dayabumi, along an underpass, then across a pedestrian bridgeThis will take us straight into the carpark - I propose we park here, but public transport is of course would be betterAn exit from the carpark will lead us here. Straight down would be Dataran Merdeka but first we will head in the oposite direction.We will then reach the old train stationAn underground pass will then take us towards the KTM office right opposite. We will then move towards Dataran Merdeka, passing by Masjid Negara. Maybe more photo op there. Past Bukit Aman, we will soon reach Dataran Merdeka, Bangunan Sultan Sallehuddin - the old High Court - and the famous flagpole. Maybe we will spend a few moments here.

Fancy a quick drink?Brought back childhood memories this. Used to take the train from Penang to reach KL, and this was were we alight.Under another pedestrian underpass to reach the KTM Office buildingPassing by Masjid Negara, we will then head towards Dataran MerdekaA short walk round the corner will take us towards Lebuh Ampang. This is where the old KL meets new, with plenty of restored shop front. There will be a few Mamak restaurants, McDonald’s, Burger King and 7-Eleven to stock up or stop for lunch. We will also be passing by Masjid Jamek - the real centre of Kuala Lumpur for more photo op! Central Market - where we set off was also just round the corner.

Dataran Merdeka and the famous clubhouseThe pole needed no introductionThe Masjid Jamek forming the real center of Kuala Lumpur - where Sg Kelang and Sg Gombak met. There are plenty of restaurants near here for lunch.From here we might linger around a bit longer around Lebuh Ampang or head towards Chinatown, depending on our mood. We might already be tired by then, or filled up our memory cards …..

There will be a lot of things to photograph. A renovated shop front.Colourful and contrasting buildings - disclaimer, taken with a 7DFreedom of expressionCongregation of foreign workersKuala Lumpur welcomes youAll this scouting was done in under an hour believe it or not!I will need to scout this area more specifically to finalise the route to take to Chinatown, or even if it will be worth the trip considering the time we will be arriving there which will be right after lunch. Will update more as the time nears. Everyone are welcomed to join in on the photowalk scheduled for Saturday 24th July. For further information about the walk and how to join, please visit here. A more thorough walkthrough can be seen on my flickr set. Slideshow for this scouting mission can also be seen here. Again, all the photos here were taken using a mobile phone unless otherwise indicated.