The Pool is Cool

This place is a blast. In not talking about the food, nor the activities you can get your teeth into, but just the venue. A quick escape from KL by the highway - checked. Nice spacious room - checked. Nice pool with separate area for kids - checked. Kids play room - checked.

So, what more can you ask? More about that later. Let's now concentrate on the positives.

As you arrived at the main lobby, you leave your luggage and then drive your car to the carpark located round the corner - quite far from the main reception area unless you are a VIP. Like anything else in Melaka, VIP get separate treatment re Ali Rostam.

While you're checking in, you were given a fresh towel to clean up and a glass of nice drink to quench your thirst. Argh!

Checking in was straight forward as we had already paid online. The room we got was right on the opposite end of the resort. The honeymoon area I supposed. We should have gone for the villa rather than a standard room. For the price we already paid, the extra wound make much difference.

We were really impressed with the room. It was all timber, with a comfortable bed, a verandah with nice breeze. The tall ceiling with a fan made the room feel cool, and the lighting brought the ceiling window made for an airy feeling. You have a dressing area, a couple of sofa in the room and more seating at the verandah. Once you get into the room, you just wanted to stay indoors and forget about what's going on outside.

But we had to go out, and off the the pool we went. Was it worth the venture out? It was. The pool was real nice. Separate main and wading pool. Nice afternoon breeze on an overcast day. They have small pavilion for you to chill if you just wanted to sit down and nap. We had a whale of a time by the pool and only got out near Maghrib.

Walked back to our room, hit the shower, and then off for dinner.

More about the dinner as unfortunately that was a drag. Suffice to say, the room was excellent. Clearly a lot of effort was put into the built and ambiance. Unfortunately, it lacked a full package to be worth the excess of RM 600 we paid for the stay.

Tokyo Street

I had read the posters about Tokyo Street every time I went to Pavilion but was never really bothered to ask what that was about. Finally, on New Year's Eve, after visiting the Buddy Bears, we all went up to the 6th floor looking for food. Finally, I found out what Tokyo Street was all about.

It was rows of stalls, Japanese-theme right at a corner of Pavilion where an interior design shop used to be. The stalls were arranged in streets with an open lighting system coming from the top for the spaces between the stalls or "street" giving the feeling that you were outdoor. It worked.

The cafe that we had some drinks in. Hmm! Can't recall what it was called.This lychee soda was heavenly!Something you would expect here - a ramen house ....The white light coming from the ceiling gave the impression that you were outdoors, much like in an open street.I couldn't help but felt that I was actually out and about in a street, going into one shop to another. And all these stalls sold food and ornaments from Japan. They had sushi and snacks of course, ramen, toys, chocolates and of course desserts. The staffs all wore kimonos and Japanese-styled costume. Nope! There were no anime characters on display.

Anita was hounded by this cuddly mascotThis was chocolate heaven!We soon settled at a Japanese bread shop, and had tea and seaweed potato chips there. It was nice and relaxing. For drinks, I had lychee and soda. On a hot day like it was, it really hit the spot.

I would definitely be visiting the Street again.

Colmar Part II

The first stop when we arrived t Colmar was to have lunch. Pizza and pasta it was. The boys wanted to have a walk about, play with some sand art and play some of the games at the stalls. This game needed token and the token were rather expensive actually. It was especially expensive when we did not win anything in return.

Following the trip up and down the hill towards the Japanese Garden, we decided to get back into the car and headed for the Rabbit Park. The park was a five minutes drive away.

Welcome to the Rabbit ParkIdlan trying out a spot of old school games. Nah! Did not catch on ...I think Anita was rather wary of the rabbits. She was hiding away behind Idlan.Come on fluffy little thing ...Sharing is caringIt was great fun there with Irfan especially adventurous. The weather was also gorgeous, and we ended up spending close to an hour there. Next, trip back in time for dinner. We had some Chinese food at KLCC as Anita had to do some quick shopping.

Come on. Eat more fatso ...Irfan wondering if they eat carrotsIt was still sunny by the time we leftA quick trip, just 45 minutes away from my home was the tonic I needed. Great fun it was.

Return to Colmar

It is such a relief to know that a quick escape from my house in Gombak was only a half an hour drive. A quick drive up the Karak Highway, a left turn after Genting Sempah stop. The next thing you know, you were already halfway up the hill towards the destination.

And the destination was of course Colmar Tropicale. The last time we went up there was almost a year ago when we spent the night there. Apparently, the hotel had been refurbished and new attractions were opened.

Nice blue skyYoung couples mingling aboutA rather interesting looking statue. This was new as I couldn't recall it being there the last time we were here.Close-up revealed quite an inrticate workThe service to go up towards the Japanese Garden was also revamped. There was now a car park halfway up should you wanted to do your own driving and then do the short climb to the garden. The botanical garden had also been reopened. The buggy which took you up the hill from the hotel now only climbed to the new carpark. So, regardless of whether you drove yourself or took the buggy, the final climb was the same.

Colours everywhereAs well as street singersAs a result, we took the buggy up, and then straight down.

More in Part II

Christmas Eve

It was a actually a great day out for us for Xmas Eve. After work, I took everybody out to Bangsar Village, where we had lunch and did some shopping. And shopping we did. I got myself a few shirts as well as hanging around with the boys while Anita tried out some clothes.

My boys went berserk on these Lego. Luckily they were tucked away behind a glass shield.A mountain of Ninja-go!The Dude and the Duchess. Our new favourite clothing shop!Very trendy clothes they areTime to murder some ice creamIdlan doing the murdering. With a bib of course!The messy aftermathAfter a stop for ice-cream, and then we went to the park. Ran around, for close to an hour before heading for an early dinner. We were lucky since the the place we went to - Delicious at Dua Residences - were filled to the brim by the time we left. There were Christmas Eve dinner as well as parties going on at the venue. And the food was great. I decided against roast chicken however, and had some steak instead.

Time for Christmas Eve dinner!TIDAK HALAL!By the time we reached home, everyone was tired. I was asleep at the sofa well before 10 pm and the boys had to wake me up to get back to the bedroom.

It was a full day indeed!