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

Another upload but from a different computer - please indulge me

Sunset Dip, originally uploaded by Haris Abdul Rahman.

This picture was taken on Labour Day near our apartment @ Bayu Beach Resort. Port Dickson. Check out the golden hour sun, it was simply juicy.

This was taken after a good hour spent on the beach and water. Unfortunately the the tide was low and caused the sand to be rather muddy. Weather was gorgeous though. If features my two boys Idlan and Irfan getting rather cold. You can click on the link to see the rest of my flickr post!

Arrived in KL

Finally made it to Gombak in one piece. The traffic was smooth but we did take our time. After breakfast, we went for a drive and stroll in Telok Kemang. The weather was not too hot and it was pretty windy to keep everything bearable. No ice-creams for the boys ..... and Daddy though because all of us got runny nose. We had a ride on a horse-cart though. We then drove to Eagle Ranch, about 5 km south of Teluk Kemang. It is a cowboy-themed park. We just hang around for 20 minutes as it was time for lunch.

We went to the Golf Club for lunch and left PD around 2, dropping my Mum at Bukit Antarabangsa on the way back. Nice day all around.

I managed to upload most of the pics already. You can either follow this link or to my Flickr page

Time to Head Home

Well things definitely was not going to plan yesterday. During breakfast, they ran out of food and we had to wait long for our order. Then during lunch, the usual place where we had lunch don't serve buffet anymore. My poor Mum had to endure all that plus the screaming kids.

That did not stop the shopping spirit though. We shopped in the afternoon, then we hit the pasar malam in the late after noon. Since the boys went to sleep I went to the beach alone, then back for some more shopping at night. This time at a night market. The good news is good old ManYoo won at a canter at Middlesborough. We are all set to win the league now!

I went out early this morning to buy some breakfast. It was raining most of the night, but it is bright sunshine this morning. I finished sorting out the pics but due to bandwidth issue, I'll post it later when I reach KL.

The Trip Down to MRSM Terendak #2

I know I won't get lost with Toad reading the GPS

I left at around 3.30 and decided to take the route via Port Dickson. I thought it would be a nice drive. The drive up to PD was great, but I should have just taken the highway via Seremban rather than up through Morib, Banting and Kelang. I only arrived in KL at 8pm because of the detour.

Inside Kedai Kopi Pak LangAfter a quick goodbyes, I headed back to Lubok China, taking the federal route 5. I arrived in PD before 5 and stopped for tea. I had Asam Laksa and tea at Kedai Kopi Paklang, right i the middle of PD town. Been meaning to give it a visit after going there a couple of years ago. The Asam Laksa and roti bakar was good. The building is also quite nice, as even though it serves Malay food, the interior is Chinese influenced in the Baba/Nyonya style. It also have a traveller's theme, with clocks on the wall indicating time at the big cities around the globe.

Entrance to Kedai Kopi Pak Lang in Port DicksonI then set off towards Morib. On the way there I drove across a sign for Bakaugruv. It is now a motivational camp and resort near Tanjung Sepat, Morib. When I was in Form 4, I was invited to attend the camp for a week. All the top students from MRSM went for a stint there. We were thought study skills. What I remembered most about the place was the food. It was delicious, and with every meal, we have to take a portion of tempe, a Javanese food made from soybean. It is full of protein and supposed to be good for the brain. I just gobbled them up. It's free food!

I got to Banting before Maghrib, and drove on towards Klang. I then joined the KESAS highway. Caught in the rain near Kinrara but safely home in time for dinner. In retrospect, it has been a tiring day and I should have joined the highway off PD rather than driving on. There was nothing much to see and I didn't have the time to stop to look. Maybe next time when the light is better and I am not too tired.

Rock on my cuddly little friend!