The Evening Dip

I was not lucky this time around. The evening before, the sunset was gorgeous. The afternoon which I had the chance to have a dip at the beach, the sunset was more of the cumulonimbus variety. At least, there was no risk of sunburn!

I went to the beach after taking a nap. Anita and the boys were already out when I got up. We spent a nice couple of hours, playing ball and making castle before finally leaving just after the sun was down.

The beach was not too crowded as it was midweek. There was enough room for everybody. Anita wanted to try one of those sand buggy but was put off after hearing how much they wanted to charge. And I don't personally think it was safe as well. They didn't even provide a proper sets of helmet.

I had to drive back to KL the same evening as I had clinic the next morning. After showers, we went out for dinner at the Golf Club. The drive home was a pleasant one. I reached Bangsar just before 11pm.

Run Down Downtown

Over the years, the Port Dickson City Centre had changed a lot. Some for the better, but I personally preferred the good old quiet days. These days, PD during weekends and public holidays was a Mecca for traffic, which spelt an unpleasant outing.

Once we reached PD, we really hated going out mainly due to the sheer number of cars trying to pass through these narrow busy streets. The road around Teluk Kemang was especially notorious!

As for the downtown itself, in the last ten years, a number of malls were built. Today, those malls seemed abandoned. Take Oceanic Mall for instance. If not for the main tenant - The Store - the place would probably been closed. Last weekend, the top couple of floors were shut down. I remembered there being shops opened there before. Back then, you could get some bargain, especially clothing for my boys every time we were in PD. Not any longer now.

A sad story.

Since it was a midweek that I went to PD this time, I missed the Pasar Malam on Saturdays. It was located just 500m away from my apartment, saving me the hassle of driving into town. At least the beach at my apartment was still OK.

A Quick Escape

Found a slot of free time during this busy December stretch. What did I do? A quick trip to PD. Anita and the boys was there earlier and would be leaving later. So, I just drove straight from work - unfortunately there was a meeting until way past 9 pm, and was greeted at the at the Doctor's park with a puncture on my left rear wheel in the C200.

Luckily I planned to drive my Mum-in-law's Peugeot instead and one of my colleague was kind enough to offer me a lift to the apartment. Would have to sort out the puncture on Friday when I get back.

I arrived at the PD apartment well before midnight, had a quick supper with the boys and off to bed. I was sleeping like a baby not long after.

The next thing I remember, it was already sunrise, breakfast was ready and the sun was shining. Snapped a picture of the view before having a post-breakfast stroll on the beach with Puan Anita. Too hot for the sea so Anita brought her selfie stick instead - she was becoming addicted to it now ....

Blissful morning ...

All Packed Up

I would be a single man from today until Sunday. Anita and the boys would be heading to Port Dickson this morning with her Mum. The boys were looking forward to it, a nice end to their long CNY break.

I did warn them that traffic could be a hindrance but they seemed psyched up for that. After all, they would be staying at the apartment - we had a fabulously underutilised seafront duplex top floor apartment there. So, no need to worry about accommodation.

All charged upI would be on call however, so I couldn't join them. I had a few things lined up for the weekend, and hopefully the calls won't be too bad - being a public holiday and all.

They would be back on Sunday - and prepare to leave for Gombak on Monday - before returning to school on Tuesday.

I'm sure they would have great fun. And some tan....‎

The Cool Room

So, then pool was the main attraction to the chalet. But the room as a whole was not bad either. It had a couple of queen-sized bed - enough for all of us without me needing to sleep on the couch. It had all the TV channels - the football was on, but only one Disney channel for the boys. My boys were fascinated by a couple of things about the room.

First was the fact that there was a hole right in the middle of the room floor overseeing into the sea below. They could see the gentle waves coming. And the natural light from there lighting up the room.

The sitting area where we had dinner indoorsThe room from the kitchenetteThe pool at nightThe second was the ornamental lighting in the room. The tables and side desk seemed to glow from the inside. These were part of the room decorations, and plus the LED downlights by the kitchenette, it created a nice aura in the evening. Which explained why it took them past midnight before they finally settled down to sleep.

Free WiFi was included - not exactly blazing fast but adequate. It also has a kitchenette complete with microwave and freezer, plus a seating area for drinking both inside and by the pool. It seemed that even though the resort provided restaurants and took service, they understood that many of the patron there would be bringing in family. Therefore, catering food for everybody may not be possible, and it was OK to bring in some food and use the microwave and kitchenette, as well as the plates and to prepare them. It suited us fine, even though we tended to go for room service. Next time, should we arrived earlier, we may venture into town to visit the pasar malam. We then might bring in some food.

The cosy kitchenette The ornamental lightingWorkout .... anyone?The most important book in the room .... that's where the menu wasThere were a couple of showers at the room. One in the toilet - which was pretty big size-wise and another next to the pool. The pressure and hot water was good, hence should the pool be too cold, we just hit the shower.

Room service, although pretty basic menu-wise was actually better than we expected. The service was also pretty quick, and the main thing was, they got all the orders right, which was a challenge to some other resort this size usually. I ordered a sirloin for dinner last night and it ended up in Idlan's tummy. It was that succulent. My salad was fine as well. Anita's 1Malaysia Fried Rice was a disappointment. Irfan ordered pizza which was nice. It was home made and was still piping hot when it arrived at our door.

I tended to judge the quality of the food by how nice the evening hot chocolate was. Unfortunately, Lexis do not have that on the menu. Sigh! Even Idlan knew I was disappointed.

From the pool peering out

The cool room set us back quite a bit. We also paid form the room from my own pocket this time - last time we came here as part of a weekend event by a Pharmaceutical company. The price was not fixed and it fluctuate depending on the time of year. It was "medium"-priced according to the booking officer when we signed up. So, I would expect to pay more during school holidays and festivities.

Slideshow for the whole stay here