The Ferry Home

There were plenty to reflect. And one of them was how fast my children has grown. They are their own men now. And I must make it a point to spend some time on holidays twice a year.

I had a good time with them although they had their diva moments of course. Just the four of us out in the sea was great fun.

The front compartment was quite fullBest not to leave the camera bag unattended!It was tiring though especially when I was still carrying my rhomboid spasm. The ultrasound session at the physio certainly had helped tremendously but it was something I could do without. I had to take the Arcoxia this morning to make sure that I can drive later.

They would be back to school tomorrow while I had to do my taxes for last year's submission. It would be a long night... But it was worth it!

Leaving Tanjung Rhu

I must say that I was pretty impressed. And it was not just because we were the only Malaysian there.

The hotel had been under renovation for the last four years and for the last couple there were hardly any work going on. According to the staffs, since the hotel was doing OK despite the reduced number of beds, it didn't make much sense to disrupt business and cause problem with the guests of the renovation was going on.

So, a substantial portion of the hotel remained closed but the essentials were running well. And the number of staffs were more than I thought and they seemed to have time for us whenever we went for drinks, swim or dinner.

Our suite was definitely a delight. We felt like just sitting in the room enjoying the stay - in fact we decided to have dinner in the room last night and the staff actually came to ready the table, and served us.

The boys also had their breakfast in the room yesterday. The staff came complete with a toaster! We also enjoyed a boat ride, feeding fish, looking at eagles and mangroves. All organised by the able staff members.

And did I mention the food? More than adequate and the sight and ambiance was really great. Even our boys were impressed - those little divas!

It was kind of sad to leave today but unfortunately the school will be opened tomorrow and I have a six hour drive ahead of me. We shall be doing a bit of shopping at Pekan Kuah later as the last couple of days we had just been sitting around the resort. Time to return to reality I supposed.

Checking out soon...

Driving Home

It was hard to say goodbye to Smokehouse when we were finally done. The boys were relieved obviously now that they were heading back to civilisation, but my in-laws would have preferred to stay an extra day. The combination of cool weather, nice room and great service made them wanted to room again and there were already talks about our next stay before we departed.

We left just after noon, deciding against staying for lunch since we had a heavy breakfast. We would later stop at Kuala Kubu Baru for a quick stop, and we did just that. I used the Hulu Yam route again, bypassing Rawang and Serendah, cutting the journey by about 30 km. We reached Gombak by 3.15, and then continued on to the apartment via Great Eastern Mall to do a bit of groceries and take-out for dinner.

We were worried that our MPV would play up, but luckily everything went smoothly. I might take a few days off in early January after the Xmas and New Year break, just before the school reopened for the boys. Maybe it would be to PD.

Gone Miniature

We did that on the last visit and this time around, Idlan insisted on doing it again. A quick stop by the miniature golf course in the middle of town, with Irfan on tow of course.

The course was maintained well and everything was prepared for you for a small fee.

We only did a couple of rounds because it was threatening to rain. This was followed by push-bike session around a circuit, before calling it the day. The bed and scones at the hotel was so inviting ....

This entry was part of my trip to Fraser's Hill last December.

Around Town

There had not been much change with the town center since our last visit. If anything, it had gone quieter. And we were talking December here, at the peak of the school holiday season.

At lunch, I spoke to the store owner. Apparently, business only picked up during weekends and even then it was pretty modest. During weekdays, she only served a la carte. Compared to last year, business had really suffered.

Visitors tended to stay only for the day, not spending the night. After all, you could reach KL in under 3 hours from here. Those who came, tended to bring their own food and had a picnic, skipping lunch. Business at night depended on those who stayed and on one of the evening when we went out for dinner, the food court was practically empty.

Visitors also spent less, only coming for photographs and then head off home.

We drove around the smaller roads up the hill where the corporate holiday bungalows were. They were either empty or not maintained. Some of them were in really sad state. Even the roads were not paved well and clearly lacked maintenance. The golf course also looked empty.

One would expect that with the economic downturn, those who usually spent their holidays abroad would try something closer to home. Clearly that has not caught on. For a place which depended solely on tourism, this was worrying. It would be a shame should the situation deteriorate further as it would start a downward spiral .....