Perth 2012 #throwback

Bila nk sambung citer nz ni isk isk malas benar nk type.
Meh la throwback sket pic lama.
Photobook korea pon x buat2 lagik...travelogue pon x abis tulis hikss.
Byk btol pending tasks.
Nx wk dh koje. Cfmla lagi malas nk ber pb.

Missing everything about Perth. So serene n peaceful. Except that hungary-looking kangaroos kt Currumbin yg berjaya buat anakanda2 acik menanges dan lari bertempiaran kuar menyelamatkn diri. Kenangan sungguh :)

Of currency exchange

Despite Ringgit continues to become weaker mostly against any other currencies, i accidentally has just profited from my previous hotel deal.

Booked a hotel at Aud189 few mths ago at 2.87 exch rate, cancelled the hotel yesterday, and got full refund via my cc for an extra of RM15 at the bank's rate of 2.95, despite the current selling price of 3.11.

In short, jgn risau kalau terlebih tukar duit byk kengkawan. Habis holiday nanti kita doalah RM makin jatuh haha. Lagi satu, nampak tak guna cc lagi untung dari bayar cash? So apa lagi, jom srettt srettt je nanti kat sana!

Thanks Space Hotel for your prompt action. Never expect to see the money been credited within a day. Excellent!

Traveller's tips

1. Know where you are and how to getting around places of interests.
2. Study the map beforehand, always bring the map wherever u go.
3. Locate for free wifi area, tourist i centre, tram stops circle n bus stops.
4. Prioritize prioritize prioritize. Dont be too rigid with your itinerary, be prepare to forgo some of ur favourite places in your quest of hunting ur most wanted items :p

Okla..sambung study map balik. Pening pala byk kena study. Pasrah jela hiks

Food preparation for vacation

This is the part that i liked most when planning for a vacation, that is listing out our family's daily menu (apart from discussing with the girls what jacket to wear so that we can look good in front of camera hiks). I don't even mind updating the list every single day, unlike reviewing an itinerary which is the most tedious, challenging, and takes up lots of reading and blog hoping.

Orang Melayu, tekak harus Melayu. Hence you can still able to enjoy Malay dishes when you are thousand of miles away from home country. Janji tahu apa nak bawa, setel! Nevertheless this time around cooking will take some extra time as i also need to prep for Irfan's. Susah jugak bila pk, especially bila takde blender. Everything has to be mashed (ok masher yg pendek belum beli!). We already bought a La Gourmet food thermos jar which should be able to retain heat for up to 12 hours (tested & verified at home, lega!). We'll be on the road and outside most of the time, morning till evening, hence dinner for him will be on the go, not at hotel. Hopefully mama istiqamah nak bgn awal masak pepagi (dahla nek umi takde kali nih uwaaa), silap haribulan mengharapkan Heinz packed puree je karang isk isk.

ok i shall update more on our prep in our next next entry...till then~

Hepi 6mo my special baby!

Menu arini puree pear..obviously he loved pear more than carrot that i made yesterday. Suka mkn manis ye sayang..tiru sape la ni ek :p

Irfan tdo kt hotel mlm ni. Saja nk amik hati abg2 yg sangap x jln ke mana2 time raya ni. Abg2 bila tahu abah book hotel, masya Allah punyelah excited bukan main. Siap tanya knpe duk sehari je..knpe x duk lama sket? Rasanya dah dekat 7bln kami x bwk derang gi jln2...last tdo hotel before mama lahirkan irfan dulu. Hotel dekat je..15min dh sampai hehe. Tak berani nk bwk Irfan jln jauh2 lg..takut dia penat. Sekarang ni bila dia kalut sgt or excited, stridor bertambah kuat...dan of course byk tenaga digunakan utk breathing.

Hepi 6mo sayang mama. Moga sayang membesar dgn sihat. Moga dgn izin Allah  sayang akan sembuh sepenuhnya suatu hari nnt...amin.

Kembara Khazanah New Zealand

Tiba2 masa tgk Mad Markets semlm Idlan sebut pasal NZ. Mama tanye, berani tak nk wat bungy jump? dia sebut.. dekat Kawarau River ke? Wah mama impressed! mana dia tahu nih??

Rupa2nya tahu dr komik nih. Haishh bagus jugak komik nih...byk benda yg Idlan tahu pasal NZ..termasuk burung kiwi :)

So geng2 Nz sekalian...silalah beli komik ni ok. bole tambah ilmu :) hiksss

Review: Vistana Hotel Penang

We had a chance to stay at Vistana Hotel Penang for 4d3n accompanying my hubby for his annual conference. Vistana is one of the conference's panel hotel, and because of its close location from the Penang International Airport (10 minutes) and USM (where the conference is held) we chose to stay here.

The hotel is located in the vicinity of Bukit Jambul, Penang, within close proximity to business and leisure environments. There is complimentary transfer services operate daily from the hotel to the Queensbay Mall (7 minutes), which we took on our 2nd day for a quick shot on Big Hero 6 movie..what a breeze hihi. Finding good eatery places is pretty easy, there are several restaurants located nearby the hotel such as the Original Penang Kayu Nasi Kandar (about 5 min walking distance), Zul's burger, food courts, malay restaurant, etc. 

The room has been refurbished recently if i were not mistaken, hence the better overall look. We stayed in executive deluxe room with two single beds. Beds are comfy however is rather small (not a super single size bed) for the 5 of us. Toilet is nice, housekeeping service is tip-top, hotel staffs are very nice n friendly. There is free wifi (speed is quite ok) all over the hotel, as well as 2 laptops provided at the hotel lobby for guests' convenience. Rate per night is RM250++ incl breakfast (however this is a conference rate). 

Overall, 4/5 for this hotel in terms of location, room condition, service, rate, etc.

Angan-angan Melbourne - NZ

Memasang angan-angan bersama travelmate ku si Farra

Bila ada masa free je terus update ke excel takut lupa. Rough itinerary dah ada...cuma tiket murah je belum muncul haha Takper berangan itu free :p Yang penting nawaitu kena ada...baru ada motivation towards accomplishment betul tak? Hubby memasing sure pening tgk wifey berangan2 tak sudah :p

A short stay @ The Everly Hotel Putrajaya

An adhoc decision made otw back from Kedah enroute KL. Purely because both of us were just too lazy to go back home, what more to the office on the very nx morning. Hence the hunting process begins while hubby continued with his driving hehe. At last we decided to just stay at Putrajaya, Everly was the choice taking into considerations the nicely-decorated rooms n most importantly fit with our budget.

We made the reservation via booking.com, paid rm189 for a superior room (b/fast not included).

Overall review- room was nice n clean, with 2 super single beds n a sofa, toilet n shower are clean, the bed n pillows were vry comfy. It took us only 2 min to walk to Alamanda, passing thru the TGIs Friday n the cinema. We had our lunch at the Burger King, bought some breads n snacks at Cold Storage, let the kids had some fun time at the playground nx to Parkson, went for dinner at the Alamanda's food court and wrap up the day with 2 slices of cakes at 50% off bought from the hotel cafe. There are 1 adult-size infinity pool at 1-1.2mtr deep and kid's pool at 0.5mtr. The pool was super crowded in the evening but we almost conquered the pool ourselves on the vry nx morning..sgt best!

Our one-day weekday getaway ended with having lunch at Homst, a Chinese Muslim restaurant located in Bangi Getaway. The food was super delish! We ordered fried kuew tiow, Msian fried rice, wantan mee, buttered soft shell crab (highly recommended!!) n 2 sets of dim sum. Sgt kenyang okehh sbb portion besar. Nx time we surely will come again :)

 

Everly Hotel - the lobby

 

 

The room

 

 

Kids spent most of their time at adult's pool 

Trip Jeju-Seoul Day 3 (Part 1): Hallim Park - Jeju World Heritage Center - Sangumburi Crater

By looking at the title, our 3rd day was not as tight as the second day. Well considering what has happened a day before, we tried not to be too ambitious and were just filling up the day ikut tahap kesihatan org yg sakit kaki tu hihi. After all he was the only person we can count for to drive us to our destination, jadi kena jaga dia betul2 kan :) Hubby's leg was still not ok obviously, of course you cannot expect magic to happen and his foot to cure within just a day! Bertabahla sayang!!

Hallim Park became our first destination of that day. Looking at his condition, I suggested hubby to just stay inside the car or mingle around the park entrance. Too much movement definitely was not good and makes the healing process slower, but upon arrival at the Hallim Park, hubby decided to join us to tour the park. I iz of course la happy, sebab kesian kalo hubby kena tunggu lama2 dlm keta. Plus hallim park tu sangatttt besar, sure hubby bosan banget kalo just stay dlm keta kan!

And so we walked at a slower pace together and tried our best to enjoy every inch of the park...together with Semah's family. Aini memang dah sampai lama kot..well semua tempat mmg Aini sokmo sampai dulu hehe. Here's an extract from the Visit Korea website for ur reference:

Hallim Park, located western 33km away from Jeju City and west of Mt. Hallasan along the beach in Hallimeup, is one of the most popular tourist spots on Jeju Island. It faces the pleasant scenery of Biyangdo Island, Hyeopjae Beach and Geumneung Beach. The park was established on barren land in Hyeopjaeri, Hallimeup, and covered with tons of earth and began planting assorted subtropical plants in early 1971.

Hallim Park, almost 100 thousand square meters, has a variety of gardens that can be enjoyed in any season. Visitors can enjoy checking out Palm Tree Road, Jeju Stone and Bonsai Garden, Water Garden, Subtropical Botanic Garden and much more. The most famous tourist sites in Hallim Park are Hyeopjaegul and Ssangyonggul Caves known to be the only two-dimensional caves in the world. In addition, a folk village, children's amusement park and outdoor resort facilities make it enjoyable for both children and adults.

Our review - highly recommended especially if you plan for a short stay in Jeju.  It's because Hallim Park has almost everything that Jeju can offer, and it was actually a summary of few other attraction places in Jeju. Very well planned indeed! You can see the famous grandfather jeju stones, flower garden, bonsai and cactus garden, fish pond, folk village, caves (ohh u can just skip Manjanggul Cave if u plan to come here), children's park and many more. We spent half of the day here but still couldn't cover the whole park. Sangatttt besar dan memenatkan! The caves in my opinion is better than Manjaggul Cave because it has some lighting which makes walking much easier, plus the pavement is not that difficult. The cactus garden is amazing, you can see lots n variety of cactus species, some of them are very tall ( i mean taller than us the human!).

muka2 terpaksa kena posing

kaki hencot2 pon tetap nk posing :p

giant jantung pisang..penah nmpk kat mesia tak? hehe

cactus garden..mmg cantik!!

dlm gua. pavement ok senang nk jalan :)

bonsai section..memcm jenis ade!

grandfather stone yg merata2 ada muka dia kat Jeju nih! dh lupa apa salah silah pakcik nih..kena google yer!

folk village

 i spotted emu!

muka2 kepenatan...rasa mcm nk heret kaki badan sampai ke entrance...mmg penat sgt!! ohh Hallim park awatla hang ni besar sangat ehhhh

anak2 kami yg almost sebaya semuanya...moga ukhwah berkekalan yer bila besar nanti anak2!! Ika cepat suruh mama tambah adik paan bole geng ngn adik ammar :p

lunch isi perut dulu. heaven giler dpt pekena nasi goreng dan smoothie grape. lepas mkn ni bermula lah episod kami sesat barat di bandaraya Jeju haha...mmg stress woiii...tukang driver lagiklah stress banget!

There's a vending machine outside its souvenir shop (near the park entrance) where we got the best yet very cheap grape smoothie, so refreshing when u got to guzzle cold water under the hot sun! So my take, if you come to Jeju, pls come and visit Hallim Park. The entrance fee is quite expensive but it's all worth it :) Pre-caution, sangat memenatkan yer!

TIPS: Make sure u bring enough plain water, snacks, sunglass and umbrella (optional hehe).

Cost update:

Hallim Park entrance adult 10k, child 6k, total 32k
fridge magnet 2k
grape smoothie 2k

Trip Jeju-Seoul Day 2 - Jeju Feel House

Once our room is ready, hubby brought our 20kg luggages from my mom's room to our room (which is only next door). Suddenly we heard a loud noise, and the moment we looked outside hubby was already lying on the grass, luggage tercampak..kasut pulak tercabut. OMG hubby ku jatuh tangga!! To cut it short, he sprained his left foot quite badly and was put on bandage the whole night. Mujur ada doktor in the house, mak ude la yg tolong balutkan bandage and extend her advice where necessary. Hubby was quite lucky because he didn't injure the ankle, if not he definitely will be on bed-rest and not being able to walk at all...syukur Ya Allah. Kebetulan minyak urut dan ankle guard memang tak bawak...nak dijadikan cerita cuma bandage jela kaki tu. Esok tak tahu apa bakal berlaku...pasrah jer :( Malam tu mencari jugak ankle guard dekat nearby supermarket..malangnya tak jumpa. Si mama pulak, keje mlm tu sibuk meng'hair dryer' kasut si ammar yg dibasuh sebab kena air kenc petang tadi tu kan...aduss mmg serabut sgt otak mlm tuh.

Enjoy some of the pics of Jeju Feel House, hotel that we spent on our next 2 days in Jeju before leaving for Seoul. Hotel room overall is ok, it's just that the kitchen and toilet is so-so, still cannot beat Yilin Pension. But as mentioned by Fara, tengok harga la kan. Feel House is much cheaper than Yilin, hence suit the price we're paying :)

my mom's unit

ours - 1 queen, 1 single and 1 toto

kids with a pergola. All pics taken from nek umi's...kami mmg tak snap pic langsung..maklum lah mmg takde mood sbb byk masalah yg berlaku kan :(

Comparison on the cost:

Jeju Yilin Pension - 140k per night (RM448)
Jeju Feel House - RM369.89 per night

Tips:
1. sila bawa segala minyak angin/urut dan ubat yg berkaitan
2. bawa medical kit (i.e. bandage, guard, plaster, etc)

Trip Jeju-Seoul Day 2 (part 2): ICC Jeju - Seopjikoji - Seongsan Ilchulbong - Manjanggul Cave - Gimnyeong Maze Park - Hamdeok Beach

From Seopjikoji, we headed to our next destination i.e. Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak. Registered and recognized as one of the UNESCO World Heritage, here's a sneak peak of its description taken from the Visit Korea website:

Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak rose from under the sea in a volcanic eruption over 100,000 years ago. Located on the eastern end of Jejudo Island, there is a huge crater at the top of Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak. The crater is about 600m in diameter and 90m high. With the 99 sharp rocks surrounding the crater, it looks like a gigantic crown. While the southeast and north sides are cliffs, the northwest side is a verdant grassy hill that is connected to the Seongsan Village. The ridge provides an ideal spot for walks and for horse riding as well.
The sunrise from the crater is magnificent. Also the Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak surrounded by bright yellow colored rapeseed flowers in the spring is truly a sight to behold.

It was around 12.30noon when we arrived at its car park area. Matahari sangatla terik, hence we decided to just have our lunch onboard the car. Best jugak picnic dlm keta, pekena nasi lemak telur rebus bersama rendang ayam dan bilis goreng...perghh heaven! Ammar was still sleeping after we finished our meal. After a short discussion, nek umi and the kids had consensus to just stay inside the car rather than climbing the Seongsan under the hot sun! So me, hubby and mak ude proceeded to its entrance, taking obligatory pictures at its UNESCO's mark, etc. Then mak ude decided not to proceed further and joined the kids inside the car, so there u go only me and hubby menguatkan semangat menjejaki Seongsan! akakaka

The first few minutes under the scorching hot sun, we took selfie pics together sepanjang menaiki tangga Seongsan tuh. Ohh for those with small kids, pls do not bring a stroller yer. The pathway is rocky and unflat, for sure stroller is a bad decision to proceed. We went up and up until halfway through the peak, and later found a descending trail and signage to another side of the route. So lepas diskas, both of us sebulat suara decided to descend and walked faster to catch up the Jeju woman diver performance scheduled at 1.30pm. You need to descend further towards the sea cliffs to watch the show...jenuh turun tangga, tapi bab turun ok lagi bab nak balik nanti...OMG macam nk pengsan kena panjat tangga2 tu balik mmg nanges!!!

The Jeju woman diver show began as scheduled. The show started with opening remarks and song from one of the diver (who probably tells a story about life as women diver,  how difficult it was for them mencari rezeki for their family, etc). The tone of the song was quite interesting and very entertaining but at the same time i bet some of us were quite touched by her story...sedey jugakla huhu. Imagine they are average at 60s, memang dah tua baya nenek2 kita...masih sibuk turun ke laut mencari hasil laut...tak ke sedih? :( The song lasted for 10-15min before all of them started to wear their swimming equipment and dived into the sea bersama pelampung putih yg sangat tradisional tuh. Bubye Jeju woman diver...i hope u guys stay strong and persevere! We waited until they went far from the seaside, and then put all our effort to climb up the stairs and headed back to join the rest that had waited inside the car. Memang rasa nak nanges uols panjat tangga tuh...rasa macam nak heret2 kaki pun ada! Again kalau kat Mesia, konfem takkan mengader nak turun panjat naik beratus-ratus anak tangga di tengah panas buta! Mujur tengah fefeeling vacation kan terpaksa gagahkan diri lah jugak :p

we cheated yes!! tak berjaya menakluki Seongsan peak...takpelah gunung kinabalu pon mmg tak sampai lagi..apetah lagi puncak Seongsan kuikui

Our fourth destination of the day is Manjanggul Cave, also recognized as one of UNESCO World Heritage and became the National Monument No. 98. Here goes some description taken from the Visit Korea website:

Manjanggul Cave (만장굴) is one of the finest lava tunnels in the world, and is a designated natural monument. A lava tunnel is formed when the lava that was deep in the ground spouts from the peak and flows to the surface. Manjanggul Cave has a variety of interesting structures inside including 70cm lava stalagmites and the lava tube tunnels.
Only 1km of the 13,422m Manjanggul Cave is open to the tourists. The inside of the tunnel sustains at a temperature of 11~21℃, creating a comfortable atmosphere. There are rare animals such as bats living in the tunnel, which makes this tunnel valuable for researchers as well. The stone pillars and stalactites are widely spread and the tunnels shows off the cave’s topographical features. The Stone Turtle is especially eye-catching because it is shaped like Jeju-do Island.

 nak masuk cave kena turun tangga. Kat jeju ni mmg koje nya asyik turun naik tangga..semput okehhh

 its entrance! gelappp 

  ok dlm cave mmg tak byk gambar...sbb kami amateur lagi gambar yg diambil sumer jadi gelap haishhhh...kena cilok gambar fara la nampak gayanya kalo nk wat pb hehe

 senyum terpaksa...sebenarnya mmg dah penat sgt...especially mereka2 yg tadi panjat Seongsan :p

Our review - the cave was so damn cold that the kids shivered and couldnt stand the temperature (so did i huhu). The pathway inside the cave is very rocky and tough, it was very dark that we need to walk assisted with torchlight (guna hp jer hehe). Stroller is strongly not advisable, so as visitors with small babies. Ammar and Firas didn't like the murky environment, and kept on insisting to revert to entrance. In conclusion, we didn't cover the whole 1km and decided to return halfway :) Nonetheless, it was our first natural cave experience and we glad we entered it...prinsip saya..janji sampai dan jejak!

We later proceeded to Gimnyeong Maze Park together with Semah's family. To make it more interesting our family decided to split. Kids paired with their paksu, while me, hubby, nek umi and mak ude went on a separate way...konon bertarung sape berjaya carik jalan keluar dulu. Alih2, team kami duk pusing2 dlm tu sampai 3x..mmg sangat hampeh. Map was given, but it was not helpful (ke kami yg tak reti baca map haha). The kids with their paksu rang the bell tanda kemenangan...pastu sibuk jerit2 ajar kami masuk situ la..sini lah..but still we failed. Dah combine dgn family semah pon tetap gagal? haha mmg sangat pathetic! Finally we gave up and cheated ...masuk kot entrance...dan hubby dgn poyo pergi la ring the bell kikiki...sian kami! Anyway, the maze park was quite interesting (and challenging for us!) as compared to the cave...kids memang happy dapat lari2 menyorokkan diri...fun la walaupun panas tapi mujur pokok2 dia merimbun so kurang sket exposure to the sun.

ika yg setia bersama mak ude nya :)

ohh maze park...how i hate u!

bell tanda kemenangan. jiwa terseksa tgk bell ni sebab tak berjaya haha

lakonan semata-mata!!!

muka2 frust sebab sesat barat :p

 simple yet entertaining games for the kids at the maze entrance

Before checked in to our 2nd hotel in Jeju, we stopped by at Hamdeok Beach which is already otw to Jeju Feel House. I just stayed inside the car since Ammar was already asleep. Upon arrival at Jeju Feel House, the owner somehow couldn't find my reservation and i was like arghhhh. Situation got worsen since i've paid for the booking and reservation was made via Agoda. The person couldn't speak and understand English well, hence it added up to the stress. Ammar woke up from his sleep, stood next to me and cried as if he wanted something, while his mama was in the middle of argument, trying her level best to explain. Sgtla tension time tuh, until finally that person called another person (probably her husband i dont even bother to know) for rescue. They managed to sort out one of our room finally, and so we brought all our luggages to my mom's room while waiting them to get ready for another one room. Oh before that, Ammar created an incident! Kencing dlm seluar masa tengah nangis2 tadi tuh...adusss rupanya dia nk cakap nk kencing kott time mama tgh gaduh2 ngan owner tuh...haishh habis basah jeans dan kasut dia!