Our short National day holiday to Port Dickson

We managed to get a last minute short trip to Port Dickson this National day break... seriously last minute... but it was fun... especially seeing my kids enjoying the short trip so much!!  but super expensive trip... hahaha... like I told my kids, sorry, this will be the only time we are enjoying such a luxury stay for a short trip!  next time you guys will have to give mummy a good overseas trip...

As usual, hb was asking if we wanna go for a short trip during the short national break, and guess where he suggested? Malacca!  Yes, a place which I always love to go to, for food and visiting, shopping, whatever... so long am there, am happy!  So, throw me there anytime, huh!??!  the thing is, we went there like 4 or 5 years back during this national break, and guess what?!! All the places we wanna go, were jammed along the way!!  Horrible time to visit Malacca, as lots of Singaporeans were there for a break too!  And everywhere we go, it's always jammed and wait & wait... so nope, am not going there during this time of the year!! So, i did a random search for staycation anywhere near Malacca & landed on Port Dickson on my search engine!!

Again, this was a place with lots of childhood memories for me... we would head back to Malacca and then, gather all our cousins, aunties & uncles just to go to Port Dickson beach for some picnics & beach swimming... And since, it's been like ages since I last came... so thought a new place for us to explore... And some how, I landed on this Hibiscus Lexis hotel!!  And since now we have 3 kids, there's no hotel room which could accommodate all us in, especially when we each need a bed now!  And I don't think my 3 children can sleep alone in a room without us... so I went & look for a suite!! Ah hahahaha... Crazy Rich Asians?!!??... well, nope... am not there yet... far far from there... but, it's good to get pampered once awhile, since I been working soooo hard all these years!!!

Ok, back to my staycation... yes, I managed to get a Imperial Suite for my family and helper during this short trip!!  Wow... Impressed!!!  So, hb did a 4+ hours drive there... and the last leg of the road trip, about 45mins before we reached our Suite, my kids were wondering if I had book them a kampong room for this staycation!! Hahahaha.... Cos the road after the highway to the hotel, was super dark, there's no street lights, and houses were really sparse, about 1 or 2 houses in every 200meters or more!  And the houses were very badly lit or there were no one inside or they had slept due to no activity available at 8pm!  So... along the way, this was the conversation between me and my 2nd baby:
Ad: Mummy, are you sure we are going to stay over at this place?
Me: Yes, son, I had booked a place for us to stay over this 4D3N!
Ad: Can you tell me what type of hotel you booked?
Me: Well, since we stay in an urban area, I thought it would be good for all of us to be back and near to nature... and we shall live with the minimal this time, you guys may need to walk out for toilet breaks... no air-con, no wifi... yes, back to basic staycation...
Ad: Are you serious? Oh Sh*t! Oh My God!....

Hahahaha... My 2 other babies were just listening to our conversation and waiting to see what I had planned for them! Hahahaha...

So, here's the view of our suite and view of the sea!!!  3 nights were not enough for them, but I can't afford any more nights!!  But the man and boys had a rare chance to go on a short helicopter ride around this area... so, trip well spent!  And along the way back, we decided to drop by Malcca for a sumptuous lunch and durian chendol!!! Yummy!!!

Our first kukup trip

I had been wanting to go Kukup for a long time after seeing some of my FB friends photos... many were photos of fun with family members especially with extended family or with a few close family friends! Mainly, photos of food prepared by the host and time for mahjong and karaoke sessions and foot massage at night followed by fire works on roof tops!!!

And this year, we finally had the chance to make the trip happened!!!  Taking the chance to celebrate my mum's 60th birthday with a short 2D/1N trip!!!

Our transport was here to pick us up at about 630am... driving us into JB thru Woodlands causeway... lucky no jam and we were able to reached JB for breakfast at own expense at a local coffee shop!  And along the way thought we can buy some durians to feast in kukup... but the so-called durian plantation was not impressive and the price quoted was not much cheaper... thus we decided to head straight to kukup!

Upon arrival, it was about 11am and we were brought into our ' resort ' by the host!  I must say, the resort was not fantastic, just the basic necessity and tidy.. not something very nice as I had seen on some online photos... thus we took some rest before heading out for our seafood lunch at 12+.

The restaurant we went was the only air con big restaurant in the small kukup village.  Food was more than enough for all of us...

After our lunch, we walked around the village doing some mini shopping at the row of non air con shop houses!  And my dad managed to buy some local durians here.  We managed to laze around the resort eating durians and some mahjong sessions... At about 3+, the host informed us that the tea break is ready! And we were so surprised to see a table of fried bee hoon, chicken curry, fried prawn crackers and green bean soup with sweet potato and tapioca! All were soo yummy!!!

At about 5pm, we proceed with a short boat ride at the fish village going onto a kelong....

We were able to see some nice houses along the coasts and many kelongs too!

View was simple and nice... especially when we are seeing this in Malaysia...

Shot of my baby having superb fun on the double decker bunk bed with his cousins!

We were served BBQ dinner at abt 7pm by the host... sorry forgot to take some shots here... but it was really lotsa food!!!  And had our cake cutting done but no more stomach to down the cake! Hahaa... But we were so busy after dinner as we need to go to the rooftop for fireworks and 天灯! After which, foot massages had been arranged in the house!!! And at about 10pm, supper was served!! We asked for simple barley with beancurd dessert! But was not able to finish all too!! Hahaha...

The next morning, breakfast was ready by 730am or 8am, but we were to tired thus did not wake up even when the host came in and wake us up!  But we were told that we need to leave by 10am to go to Pontian town for our arranged lunch!!

After lunch , we headed back to Singapore!!! So see, our trip was mainly eat and eat for a full day!!! Hahahaa...

Our first DIY self drive tour at Ipoh/Cameron Highlands (5D/4N) -- Day 5

 Finally, we have reached our last day in Ipoh... And decided to skip the buffet breakfast included by the hotel, to go for this famous Big Tree Yong Tau Hu here in Ipoh!!!  We got up really early, as we need to allocate time to get ready and reach the Railway station in time to return our rented car!!

Lucky for us, seems like this place had recently been refurnished into a cleaner food court!

    Besides the famous store, they had included many different stores... Impressive!! But we were too early, so only a few stores were open...

  



    

    As usual, my boy and his cars.... So long these can keep him happy and quiet while we take our meals, am happy... :p

We have got a table full of food... hahaha... And daddy ordered a chicken curry chee cheong fun to try!  Some thing new... 

My son was really funny here... Half way while eating, he suddenly got up and went straight to the store and grab the item he wanna eat!!!  WL quickly got up and ran to him, asking what was he doing?!?!... Hahaha... He must have thought this is a buffet food court for him to grab the food he likes and head back to his seat and enjoy!!!  Hahaha... ok, too much buffet for my kids?!?!... :p

After our breakfast, we decided to go and pack our baked salted chicken and head to the Railway station... BUT, WL saw this Funny Mountain beancurd store was open!!!  So, he quickly find a parking lot and went to buy the famous bean curd!!!

See who's been here before!!!! Our Singapore artists!!!

Sad to say, we need to wait for another 30mins before the bean curd arrives... So, while waiting, I activated my hubby to go the Kaya puffs store, which is about 4-5 stores away, and buy 2 more boxes to bring back to Singapore!! Hahahaha... So happy to be able to grab all these last minutes goodies back home!!

    While waiting for the lady to come and collect the key and the rented car, we decided to enjoy our beancurd!!!  Yummy.... It was really soft and nice... 

                                 

                                     

Time to get onto the train to start our LONG journey home... First try for the kids to take a train back home... Can you guess how long would this train take to bring us back to Singapore?!?!... 10 hours!!!  Are you ready!??!...

Comfortable seated... with air con and big leg space... and some 'scenary'... hahaha...

Our hungry daddy, can't wait to try the Kaya he got from Old Town... 

My boy with his chocolate donut he got from Aeon Mall last night...

                                   

My 2 children with their snacks and handphone games...

                                   

Just next to our cabin, is the canteen cabin... serving food throughout the journey...

The children and daddy enjoying their nasi lemak and fried rice in the canteen...

A visit to the toilets on the train... hahaha...

Finally.... Finished my entries for our June trip!!!  We did alot of things during this trip, self drive is a big thing for me!! Cause I hate to do DIY trips... though we can have more time at the sightseeing places, but there are many things which are unknown to me... 

Our first DIY self drive tour at Ipoh/Cameron Highlands (5D/4N) -- Day 4

Our stay at Ipoh is inclusive of breakfast... SO, our first breakfast to be taken at the Hotel throughout our trip!!!  As usual, my baby with his car on any dining table!!  Jie jie and kor kor with their cornflakes!!  Typical breakfast found in hotels... happy and full before we start our own walk around in the town!!

This is the main entrance of our hotel @ Ipoh... A very new, comfortable and affordable place to stay in... and I must say, we like the convenience of a mall just next to our hotel lobby... but there is no supermarket in this mall!!! How sad is this... haha... But with the restaurants and small cafes there, I guess one won't go hungry?!?!... :p

Our first place to visit was the Funny beancurd, BUT it was not open when we arrived!!!  Initially we thought it was not opened yet, as it was like 9 something, close to 10 when we reached...  And WL remembered there's a Kaya puff bakery nearby, upon my GPS search, it's just the shop house in front of our car park!! So off we went... & ta-da... this is it!!! Hahaha...  We only saw a long queue outside of the store and reckon this must be the place for the famous kaya puffs!!!

Spot me in the Queue? Hahaha... I was lucky as there were 3 aunties who left after about 10 mins of queuing... reason being, the queue does not move!!! Hahaha... We were practically waiting for the puffs to be out from the oven!!! And each tray can fetch about 7-8 boxes (each box containing 10 puffs)... And there was a lady in the queue getting 3-4 boxes!! So can you imagine how long you got to wait IF 2 customers ordering 5 boxes each!??!... hahaha... Anyway, we have a whole day to waste, so I insisted on queuing for it, have a try and decide if it's really worth the wait!!! :P

Our next stop was the coffeeshop famous for it's Ipoh White Coffee and kaya roti!!  BUT, there was not a single parking lot available!  So, my hubby had his voice control on... "U get down to buy take away!" & off I went!!! Hahaha... Sorry, I didn't get to take a pic of the scene in the shop, cos it's really crowded and hot and every eyes were on ME cos am the only one walking around in the shop! I ordered 2 hot white kopi & 4 sets of kaya roti & decided to buy a small bottle of the kaya back home too!! :p

In the car, we decided to open up our kaya puff to enjoy... :p

My girl super likes it!!! Had 2 pieces at a go!!! It's really yummy, puffy and not too sweet!!! NICE! :p

Our hotel reception passed us a Mural art expedition brochure yesterday while hubby try to get more info on where to eat and what to do in Ipoh... Since we got nothing to do, we thought to drive around to look for them... and I can tell you, it's a real TOUGH job!!!  Lucky I still have my GPS with me...

The HUMMINGBIRD....

This should be the EVOLUTION...

GIRL with the bird cage!

A tiny map showing where are all the Mural arts...

The KOPI-O...

The OLD UNCLE WITH COFFEE CUP...

Jiejie & Xiao-Jie decided to take a shot with the UNCLE with his kopi cup while waiting for daddy to shift the car into a correct parking lot!!! Hahaha...

                                   

PAPER PLANE...

TRISHAW...

Alright, the search for the Mural art was FUN... lucky for us to have a rented car... it's so much more convenient to move around in our neighbouring country with a car... And my kids were in the comfy of the air-con and FOOD... so not much grumbling... except arguing along the way... And, I need to get my fix on SHOPPING... So, GPS my nearest Aeon mall so I can have my fix and we can have our meals!! Hahaha...  So off we went to this BIG Aeon mall... I really got no idea how far are we from our hotel and where is this Aeon... but so long we are in a BIG mall, am happy... :>

My baby with his CARS... and even with those cars on display for sales purpose does not dampened his mood to have a pic next to them!! Hahaha... Yes, he did insist on getting into one... but I told him, it's for sales and he's not allowed into any of them...

Yes, this scooter is another victim!!  It was on display with the mannequin in a fashion shop.. hahaha...

After some shopping, we went in to check out the rates of a ticket for a movie and guess what?!?!... We can catch our Jurassic World first hand here in Ipoh!!! It's supposed to have it's first sneak previews on Thursdays, but they have it available at night for Wednesday!!! So, I told hubby to just grab the tic as it's really cheap with the super high exchange rates now... and so, we went for our early dinner and follow by our movie!! Hahaha...

Our comfort food... my kids favourite, wantan noodles and porridge!! And we decided to have a try on their special dumpling!!

 Hahaha... Another selfie of US... Ok, time to confess... We took this as I was really impressed with all the Bags made out of a pair of JEANS!! Maybe I should start working on one of my old pair of jeans and put it in better use than to store in my storage bag!!

Decided to take a shot of the movie display we were going to catch!!!  And my baby was hiding behind my back... 

Very happy to be able to catch the latest movie with a fraction of the price we would be paying if our whole family were to catch it in Singapore... The seats were really big... my baby was sleeping thru the first half the movie and got up in time to watch the action packed 2nd half!! And by the time we are done and back to our hotel, it was abt 10:30pm!! A fully packed day and need to pack for our return trip tomorrow!!! :D