Greetings from Port Dickson - Day 2

Irfan and his castle

Pasaraya Mesra - for all your towel needs!It was stormy the night before. All our towels outside were soaked. The first order of the day is to buy fresh ones. After that was settled, we decided to do some shopping in town. My mother-in-law's maid has a relative here in PD, so we let her go for a visit.

After shopping we headed to Thistle, a newly refurbished hotel just south of Telok Kemang. The last time we visited it, it was still in it's earlier incarnation, the Guomon.

After a quick walk around the place, we settled at the creche. We spent nearly 2 hours there, watching DVDs, playing ping-pong etc. The boys had some ice-cream by the pool. The weather was overcast and dull. The best place to stay was indoors.

We never stayed here before, so I can't comment about the rooms. The pool was nice with a separate area for young kids with waterslides and shades. The whole place was designed to be child-friendly. My main gripe was the lack of lifts. There was only one that we can find, to serve all six floors. Waiting for one can be an eternity. We therefore used the stairs instead. But imagine if you have a pram or carrying some bags, that can be an issue.

The creche was nice and cozy. The walls and floors were covered with foamy mats for protection. There was a room filled with balls were my boys were practically swimming in it. The entrance fee was however rather steep at RM15 per child. You can use the ticket the whole day however. The toilet and changing facilities for kids at the creche was also very good. By about 4.30, we went back into town to pick up the maid.

After a quick change and shower back at the apartment, we returned to Thistle for Berbuka. The buffet spread was very good and the price was way reasonable if you compare to KL. Apart from the usual Malay dishes, there was also barbecue, salads and plenty of sweets. Unfortunately the waitress messed up our booking went we came earlier to book a table. We were surprised to learn that there was no table under our name when we turned up. Luckily, the duty manager was nice enough to arrange for one even thought the place was fully booked. The manager will get an email for this .....

After another walk post-food, we headed back to the apartment content. The boys were still jumping until almost midnight, but all in all, it was a nice day for everyone.

* more picture will appear as they were uploaded into flickr

Greetings from Port Dickson - Day 1

PD Day 1-15 - Lonely at the beach, originally uploaded by Haris Abdul Rahman.

Has been occupied with the kids during the weekend with the trip to our beachfront apartment there.We came here Saturday, and will make our trek back to KL later today. But not after another trip to the beach of course.

We left KL pretty early on Saturday, and were already settled in PD by 1 pm. Since the last time we came here was during the Labour Day, the apartment could do with a bit of a clean. After that's sorted, it was my job to scout for a place for iftar. We decided to have it at the PD Golf Club, the place where we normally go for breakfast usually.

After the buffet was booked, it's time to hit the beach. It was very sunny that day, and we had to wait until around 5pm before we venture off. The boys occupied themselves by playing the Wii till then.

Suits, checked. Sunscreen, checked. Caps, checked.A welcoming sight!A bliss!We had to leave the beach early since the table was already booked. We got to the Golf Club about 15 minutes before iftar. Settled into our table. The spread was basically Malay themed, with barbecue thrown in for good measure. The main surprise was it cost us RM60 for everything! You can't get that kind of price in KL. And the food were pretty decent too. By the end, the boys were already getting tired. After a quick trip to 7-Eleven, we got back home. Chilled, while I picked up some food for sahur at our resort as we were too tired to go anywhere else.

That was the first day ......

Some Haagen-Dasz is always nice

Some Haagen-Dasz is always nice, originally uploaded by Haris Abdul Rahman.

After Berbuka last night, I had to drive Anita and Irfan to Bangsar Vllage. She had to return Idlan's baju Melayu. It was too big. We managed to exchange for a smaller one. But boy, was Bangsar crowded. It was Friday night after all.

The packed foyerWe reached there close to 9, and the shops will be closed in an hour. In the foyer of Village 1, there is an open market. There are stalls selling Raya clothes and hampers and the likes. The hampers were particularly nice, though they are not cheap. I suppose you get what you paid for. The acid test was whether the Raya cookies in there was as nice as it looked. Therefore, we insisted on trying some. Surprisingly they were good. Enough reason for Anita to splash on one. I'm not sure who she plans to give it too.

A cousin of ours used to do hampers and deliveries in the last few years. I am not sure if she is doing it again this year. She said that the return is good, but it was hard work, especially the delivery part. She was still making deliveries on the evening of Raya.

I have taken both Tuesday and Wednesday off. Coupled with Monday being 'Merdeka Day', I will have 5 straight days off work which is nice. Initially we wanted to travel to Penang, but in the last minute we decided otherwise. We will be heading for Port Dickson instead later today. A couple of days holidays for the boys. That would be nice. Planning to do a bit of street photography while I am there. Shame that I can't go for my Assam Laksa and Teh Tarik in the town because of Ramadhan. The stall might be opened at night though.

Another Night Out

Kota Darul Ehsan, originally uploaded by Haris Abdul Rahman.

For the last 3 nights, I was not able to put my boys to bed. Tonight, I attended a talk at the Le Meridien at KL Sentral. There was a buffet for berbuka as well. The speaker is a Haematologist from Nantes, France.

It was a mistake on my part to initially drive back home, then having to rush back into town in time for Berbuka. Initially I did not want to go out, but I did promise the Pharma rep that I would go, plus I was meant to give one of my doctors a lift. I just managed to get there in time for Berbuka.

The Berbuka was at a Arab/Mediterranean restaurant on the 8th floor. It was a nice cozy area, but unfortunately the buffet was a disappointment. There was just not enough variety on the food. I just grab some basic stuff and then desert. On the way back, I actually stopped at a gerai for some more food. That was how bad it was.

The talk was quite interesting, but the mistake was to have it right after Berbuka. Everyone was falling asleep. I just had some more nasi goreng from the gerai. Time to catch some zzzz.

Tried to Leave Early

Jam coming out of University Malaya, originally uploaded by Haris Abdul Rahman.

Was on call yesterday. Managed to get home for Berbuka, then came back to UMMC for my evening rounds. Luckily, the bed situation was reasonable. We did not have to struggle too much except from the usual difficult cases. I reached home at around midnight.

The queue at the DUKE toll plazaWas rather late getting up this morning after a heavy sahur. Sorted out my referrals in the morning as I will be tied up in the afternoon. We had our two-monthly 'Transplant Meeting', followed by the Medical Department Meeting. This will be the last for Prof Wan Azman as he is stepping down from the end of the month. The meeting finished just after 4.30, and I went straight home, thinking that I will be early enough to escape the traffic.

Unfortunately the traffic has started building up. However, I still managed to reach home, have a shower, then went to Pasar Ramadhan. After Berbuka, I went out to Bukit Bintang to pay up my credit card bills at branch of UOB there. The crowd was quite heavy, and surprisingly, the majority was from the Middle East. I would have thought they like to stay back during Ramadhan since there are feast almost every night. Sorted out my bill, and felt peckish. Had coffee at Starbucks, then some ice-cream, and before I know it, it was already 9.30. Time to head home. In the meantime, I managed to do some window shopping as Anita's birthday in coming up on 9/9/9. Better get something good for her.