Finally I am back to work after a long holiday. Last week I was in 3 places/states, maybe 4 places. I was at Ipoh (Perak) for lunch, Cameron Highlands (Pahang) for Church camp, KL (WP) for visiting my parents & shopping and Melaka to taste the Kampung life. A lot of driving here and there.

3N/4D in Cameron Highlands
My children absolutely love it up there although there is no TV or swimming pool. Maybe it is the cool air there. I just love the scones and fresh vegetables there.

We had a fun treasure hunt game organized by one of the camp committees. I tell you, I never walked so much in a day. I was walking up and down the street looking for answers. My team came in 2nd, one mark away from winning. Aiyahh…but it was good. One member went up the hill to find a funny looking chimney but the chimney was just on top of where we were standing, we need to go across the street to see it. In the end we did spot it after receiving a clue from the organizer.

Every day, I had a least 1 plate of vegetables for meal until my motions were green. Of course, if you are up there, you cannot miss doing steam boat. We had steam boat at the final day wearing sarong.

You must try the scones in T-Cafe in Tanah Rata, opposite the bus station. It is very delicious. Only strawberry fruity scones in Cameron. It goes well with hot tea…yummy! Both my children loved it!

My kids wanted to pluck strawberry but most of the farm didn’t have much strawberry left. I just treat them strawberry ice-cream. Last day, I went to shop for vegetables. It was cheap, RM10 for 8 packs. I bought broccoli, cauliflower, brinjal, Japanese cucumber, pak choy, choy sum, Chinese lettuce and lots of corns. Corns were RM10 for 10. Since I was heading to KL, I cannot bring any back to Penang. I gave it to my mom and aunt’s family.

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy!! Next post Melaka…

Nutritious Food, most of it is vege:

The Farm:

Miserable Half Ripe Strawberry:

More Food Choices That Goes With Strawberry, my friend said, you should try the green butterhead juice.

More Plants:

Yeap, my children had so much fun that they are burned. Burnout and sunburn. On Sunday, we headed to the new Penang Hard Rock Hotel. I managed to get a package deal but it is not cheap. It took a long time for us to check in, maybe because of the school holidays crowd.

Check In
Fortunately we went up at 2pm. However, I sent the kids to the swimming pool to have some fun first. They were eager to jump in. I got the room about 2:45pm and they upgraded it to a sea view room.

The Room

It has a beautiful view of the sea. The room was spacious and clean. The deco, nothing to shout about. The bathroom was a little small and does not have a bath tub. Thumbs down from the children. Imagine I came to the same hotel in 2006 under a different management and brand. The charge is almost double, I guess now better service. Most of the staff working there are fairly young. I will blog about this in parkbay.net.

Some rooms are directly connected to the pool. You can jump straight into the pool from the room. Very cool! I don’t advise kids to do that as it is deep.

Too bad the room does not have any Cartoon Network. If not, they probably ask me to stay another day. They only have Disney Chanel.

The Pool
The swimming pool is the major attracting for kids. There are 3 slides. The depths of the water near the slides are deep for younger children. Even Emily could not touch the floor. She is over 4 feet. If you are bringing your kids below 4 feet, make sure they have arm floats.

Emily and Tim spend 2 hours on Sunday and Monday in the pool. The sun was scorching hot, yet they didn’t want to leave. Fortunately for me, I can go in to the kids’ playroom which is air-condition and look through the glass window to monitor them. Ended up both was sunburn!

Kids Playroom & Teen Club
They also have kids’ playroom where they offer babysitting and a teen club to play Xbox, PSP, billiard, 2 computers with Internet…etc . However there were a crowd of kids hogging them.

Meals
The package came with free breakfast and lunch. The breakfast was good, I loved the nasi lemak and so did Tim. Emily had bake beans, hash brown, cornflakes and juices.

We had lunch at Hard Rock Café. The food wasn’t very good. The fish and chips were over battered. Make it very “jilat” for me. Tim ordered pizza and he didn’t like the square pizza. He kept telling me that pizza is not like the picture shown. He was really disappointed.
Overall, the children have fun. Will I go back there again? Maybe. I am hoping they will reduce the hotel membership so that we can use the pool without the hotel room.

I found this pasta place called Pasta De Waraku in Singapore. I must say it have the most variety of cooking pasta. I have thoughts of opening a business like that.

I ordered a Seafood Cabonara Pasta, the portion is very little for me but the bowl is huge. Bad choice of bowl selection because it makes the portion smaller. The taste, not bad but I still want MORE.

Besides that, it has kids menu. The kids menu is not bad. It has 2 selection of pasta with a juice, some sides with fried stuff and ice-cream. On top of that, they get a toy to goes with it. I believed it was SGD6.90++ for the meal. Emily was very happy with her doctor set and Tim got a car set.

If the portion is bigger, I will certainly go back there again.

I signed up the HippoTours where they provide open top double decker bus to go round the city and certain heritage places in Singapore. It was a great deal, buy 2 get 2 free. Included in the tour was the Singapore Flyer, ducktour that take us on a river cruise, night river cruise, Sentosa island transfer with return trip, totaling 11 tours for 2 days pass.

The Singapore Flyer was the highlight. Currently it is the world’s largest giant observation wheel. It brings you up to 165m from the ground. It gives us a breathtaking view.

I was a little phobia when I went into the capsule. I sat there enjoying the view from above. After a few minutes, I tried walking towards the window but it gives me goose bum. I did make it. My children, they were making a lot of noise in the capsule, both playing, telling stories and I had to lower their volume.

It took about 30 minutes to make the circle. It was worth it and a good experience. By the way, I heard that you can even dine in the capsule. It costs SGD$199 per couple with 2 rotations.

My family and I went down to KL during the Raya holidays and we got back today. It was a smooth drive with not much traffic. On the other side of the road, traffic was bad. We intended to stop by Ipoh for breakfast but we missed the turning. Well it was not a turning but we need to keep left if we want to go to Ipoh. Some wise guy split the road into 2. It was rather confusing for us. We had to drive about 5 minutes to Simpang Pulai make a U-turn up. Today I saw that they painted the road to Ipoh and with lots of signs.

We decided to make a trip to the bird park. It was like ages since we went there. I think it was before we had children. Yeap, it was once where my hubby and I dated. Anyway it was not a good time to go because there were lots of people. I couldn’t find a car park. They should have opened the car park at the memorial but they didn’t. I had to park quite far away.

The park was huge. We managed to catch the 12:30pm bird show at the amphitheatre. It was almost the same as the one in Bukit Merah. Bird racing on a bicycle, bird doing math, bird finding the ball, bird putting the rings, eagle flying and bird recycling.

Next, Tim and Emily wanted to feed the fish and we went to a place where there was a nice pond with waterfall.

Lastly, Emily got a little gift from the bird that is a splat of papaya juice. I believed it was near the feeding area where the bird carried the papaya and flew above her. She pretty much had it at the point and wanted to go home. She told me she didn’t like bird park because of that. Poor Emily. Fortunately it is not bird droppings. Later she was willing to carry on after Timothy covered her with an umbrella.

It was a good exercise for us under the hot sun and we ended up soaking wet with sweat. I wonder why foreigners can still eat lunch outside while the locals want to eat inside where the air condition is.

Front & Back of A Peacock

First I have a lot of annual leaves to kill because I have touched last year annual leave yet. Next I also have a lot of useless non value add krisflyer miles to use. Why do I say non value add? Because I still have to foot out airport tax and surcharges. Anyway, it is better than nothing.

With the miles I have I can go as far as Sydney for 2. But I cannot leave my 2 children at home. Now I just have to figure out where to go for four. I have to start planning now because if I book now, things will be cheaper. The vacation will be in December. The only worry is the H1N1, I hope it will stop by then.

If anyone knows how I can make use of my krisflyer miles besides using on SIA, do let me know. I really hope SIA will give more discount soon!

Durian season is here in Penang. My SIL & BIL invited us to a durian feast at one of the durian orchard in Balik Pulau called Chang Huat Choon Nursery. Well everyone in the family loves durian, yes Emily and Timothy too. By the way, today we just had durian for dinner. No joke.

The place is up a small hill which is very steep to drive and it is a one road up. I wonder if 2 cars were to come face to face, what they would do. There are so many durian trees in the surroundings and you can see from the pictures that they tie a string to the fruit. If the fruit falls, they can just pull the string to get the fruit. They do not have to climb down steep slope to pick the fruit.

Believe me, even their pet dog and cat loves durian.

We got to try all kinds of durian, too bad they don’t have my favorite Red Prawn (Ang Heh). We tried D11, D604, Yah Kang (Lipan), Ang Sim and etc. There were 5 adults and 3 children. We ate more than 10 fruits. It was about RM8- 12 per kilo.

They served us Pu Er tea to reduce the heat. I read the Pu Er tea (aka Black Tea) is good for health and reduces stress. I love sipping my tea hot.

After durian feast, we stop by at the viewing area to watch the sun set. It is so beautiful and splendid! How I wished my hubby carry his DSLR with him, sigh. Probably next trip. I took the pictures with my iPhone.

 

A Christmas message “It will be a mess without Christ in Christmas”. I was too lazy to bring out the Christmas tree. Emily scolded me saying, “Mummy, see no Christmas in the house.” Tim and Emily thought the Christmas tree or presents are Christmas. I told them that Christmas is Jesus Christ’s birthday. It happens in the heart. This morning, Emily started singing birthday song to Jesus. She is also learning the song “Joy To The World”.

No presents opening this year too because they are already playing with their presents from Hong Kong. Tim got 2 huge transformers, Emily got a Hello Kitty house, hubby got Apple Wifi Router and I got a diamond & pearl pendant. It does save me time from putting up the tree, taking it down, wrapping all the presents and unwrapping. Meaningless….

On another note, I bought the children to Teluk Kumbar, a fisherman’s village. I have not been there but I got to know there is a beach there from one of the brochure I picked up. I did some searching in the Internet to find out where it is.

It turns out that there is a very beautiful beach with not many people. I guess not many people know the hidden beauty and untouched. It has a lake there too. It is a good place for fishing and clam digging. At some parts of the beach, the sand is like powder. My children love it there. They played sand and water for over an hour. There is a malay store by the beach where Tim, I and papa had delicious laksa with a sea view. Simply Delicious!

I will certainly go back. It has a big area where tents can be set up or hammock. We can spend the whole morning and afternoon there. One thing missing is there are no toilets there.

Here is a map of the place:

My friend told me that Gertak Sanggul is even more beautiful with a river stream. I hope to explore that in the future. There are many undiscovered places in Penang. When the kids are older, I want to bring them to Pantai Kerachut to see some turtles. It involves some hiking.

Suddenly I felt like a kid when I walked into Hong Kong Disneyland. I must say I enjoyed most rides. Many will say that it is smaller than other Disneyland but it is the right size for my children. At least I do not have to queue for long time on most rides. More about the rides and videos in parkbay.net.

Transport
We took the MTR from Central to Sunny Bay and switched to the Disney line. It was free as we got the Airport Express package. It has 3 days unlimited MTR ride. I thought it was 3 consecutive days but it turned out if I didn’t use it on the 2nd day, it was free for 3rd and 4th day. Amazing or there is a bug. 😛

The Disney line train as Mickey shape windows and that excite my children. They love the short ride. It wasn’t very pack either. As we arrived at the station, there are pickup shuttle busses to the hotel. We got that pretty early, drop our bags and straight to Disneyland Park. If you cannot get an early check in, you can leave your bags at the hotel.

Do remember to pick up the daily schedule for shows, parade and firework. It changes from time to time.

Disney Hollywood Hotel
I got a free upgrade to the room with a sea view with no extra charge. In additional, currently there is a promotion to get 1 day park ticket for 2 days visit. We stayed there for 2 nights.

By the way, Chooi Peng discovered that if you get the annual pass, you can also get 30% discount on the hotel rates. I wonder whether we can get an annual pass for child and still get the 30% discount. Check it out and let me know.

Child ticket – HKD$210
Annual Pass for Child Ticket HKD$460 (Difference of HKD$250)

Min Room rate HKD$1200 per night
*Discount 30% – HKD$360, savings of $110 (Do check the discount % as it changes from time to time)
Another night of bookings, savings of $470 if I do my math correctly. Plus other benefits that comes with the annual pass.

If the above works, be sure you get a Disney souvenir for me and Chooi Peng. :giggles:

The room was spacious and it has a nice view of the sea. The only thing that my children complained about is the missing Cartoon Network channel. They have 3 channel showing Toy Story II in Cantonese, Cars in Mandarin and Incredibles in English, repeatedly. Or was it Toy Story in English, go figure. Day 2, the same movies.

Disneyland Park
First day, we wanted to cover all the shows first. However my children are eager to ride The BuzzLightYear, so we headed to Tomorrowland. We saw Buzz! We took some pictures with him. There wasn’t any queue for the Buzz rides. We went on it 3 times.

We completed Tomorrowland and Adventureland on the first day. We managed to see all the shows except the 3D show in Fantasyland and rides in Fantasyland. Second day, we took the train to Fantasyland and finished it off. My personal favorites are “It’s the small world” ride and the 3D Mickey show.

The parade was ok but the fireworks were superb. It comes with background music.

Food is pretty pricy in the park, it cost at least HKD50+ per meal and drinks cost HKD10+.

Here are the pictures you been waiting for….

Here is what you get at the end of it all…

I am back with my family from a week vacation in Hong Kong. Happiness is so short-lived when you are having a good time. I would say my family had a great time in Hong Kong, to be precise Hong Kong Disneyland. I will share some tips with you if you are planning to go there. More pictures when I get it sorted.

Plan
My planning started way back in July when I discovered that SIA is offering a promotion for flights to Hong Kong. Actually, I was planning to bring my family to Bali because I had SIA frequent flyer miles to consume. I ended up finding a better deal to Hong Kong.

Next, the hotel bookings. Hotels are very expensive in Hong Kong especially for a family of four. Most hotel will required you to have 2 rooms because at most they can accommodate 3 in a room, 2 adult and a child. Fortunately for me my company had corporate rates for Hong Kong hotels. I had a great deal with Park Lane hotel and I stayed in the most happening place too that is Causeway Bay. Their service is superb. They even gave me an extra bed without any charges in a Deluxe Room. By the way, Ikea is just next to the hotel.

My children wanted to stay in Disneyland too. I booked Disney Hollywood Hotel for 2 nights. Now they are having a promotion, if you stayed any of the 2 hotels in Disneyland, you get 2 for 1. You pay 1 day park tickets for 2 days in the park. Trust me, if you want to enjoy yourself in Disneyland without the rush, you need to spend 2 days in the park. You need to walk, queue, walk, queue and walk. Talk more about Disneyland in the next post.

Transport
Taxi is pretty expensive especially when you have to cross over from one island to another. It is about HKD$350-400 to go from airport to the hotel.

I chose to travel by train. I got the Airport Express tickets which allow us to travel from airport to Central. From Central, it cost HKD$50 for taxi to the hotel. Airport Express return tickets cost HKD$300 (with $50 refundable deposit). It also includes 3 days of free MTR rides. I can use it to travel from hotel to Disneyland free and other MTR rides. MTR is a great way to travel around. It is fully connected to most places of interest. It has a good display on every train unit on the current and next destination to minimize confusion.

Money Changing
I was very fortunate to get a good rate for Hong Kong dollars. The day after I changed, the Hong Kong dollars went up. Phew. You can start to monitor the Hong Kong dollar exchange rates before you go and start changing when it is a good rate. Do not wait else you will regret. In July, I got 2.3 and in Nov, I got 2.15.

I heard from my mom that the money exchange from Mid Valley gives a very good rate. Always ask the agent to give you a good rate and sometimes they give a better rate than what it is publish on the board.

Interesting Places To Visit
Disneyland – A place when your dream comes true and your pockets go dry.

The Peak – A place when you get a good view of Hong Kong. At this time, it is pretty cold and windy up there, be sure you wear thicker clothing. Bring your gloves, tripod, good camera and patience. There was a long queue when we went up but the train came pretty fast. There is also a wax museum which we didn’t go because my children were not interested. After you come down the peak, take the double-decker open top bus to travel back to Central Station.

Ocean Park – We didn’t go there but another good spot for children. You can see dolphin show, panda, rides and cable car. Most rides are for teenager and above.

Mong Kok Ladies Street – A street full of bargain-able stuff, just like Petaling Street. The trick to get a good price is always survey what price you can get by asking a few stores. Do not start bargaining at the first few shops because somewhere down the street, the price will go down. Do not act desperate to buy but stay cool. Try to ask the price of other items too. When they cannot give you the price you want, don’t say anything but walk away. If they can go lower, they will call you back. If not, that is the price you can get. Try to use that price for other stores.

There was one item when I ask the first store, the seller told me the price was HKD150. I didn’t say anything and was looking at other things. She offered HKD120. I asked her for the best offer, she said HKD100. As I walked away, she shouted HKD90. I went to another store and I got it for HKD85.

Mong Kok also has a street full of food. You must try out the beef tripe noodles, steam Hong Kong Kai Lan, the stinky fried bean curd, fish/meat balls and other good stuff.

A Symphony of Lights – You can watch lights and sound show at either sides of the Victoria Harbour. The best view would be along the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront at Avenue of Stars.

Ferry Ride – We took a ferry ride from Central Pier to Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront. My children adore the ferry ride.

Sai Kung – Good place for seafood especially lobster. Yummy :)~~~

Causeway Bay – A good place to shop! It has Sogo, Times Square, Sasa, Causeway Bay Plaza and others.

Windsor House has toys r us on 7F. I got 2 huge transformers optimus prime and megatron that make sound for HKD299.00. It is 2 for the price of 1. One cost RM200 in Malaysia.

Dim Sum Places – You must try the dim sum in Hong Kong, superb! Again food is expensive but it is worth it. :P~~

Apliu Street in Sham Shui Po – Electronic stuff.

Tips

1. Do not be over ambitious when traveling with young children. A lot of places required them to walk and they can only walk so much.
2. Do not go to MTR station during peak hours, it has lots of people.
3. Hold on to your children because all day long on the street, there is a crowd.
4. Remember to bring extra memory card for your camera and backup batteries. We used up 8G of memory for video taking in Disneyland.
5. Pack light so that you can carry more stuff home.
6. Purchase the Octopus card. You can pay anything with it and get discounted MTR rides. This way, you do not need to dig money out and end of with a lot of coins. The airport express card can be used as an octopus card too.
7. Get a good Hong Kong map from the airport. It is free! If you want more maps, email me.
8. Bring plenty of cash because food & drinks are not cheap. If you are going to shop in the flea or street markets, cash is preferable.
9. Get rid of your remaining HKD by paying the hotel bill. You do not need to carry any HKD back to Malaysia. Remember to keep some for taxi fare if you are taking the taxi to airport.
10. Have Fun!

More post about the trip later. Now I need to clear 120 emails, work never go on vacation!