Kuantan Visit - Part 1

Kuantan

Kuantan is a beautiful place. It is a small town like Port Dickson or Melaka but the beaches are gorgeous. I didn't know Malaysia has this beautiful beaches also. I had been a fan of Phuket beaches and the island beaches that surround Phuket. The beaches that I have gone here in Malaysia (before Kuantan) were only in Port Dickson, Damai Laut and Melaka.

They weren't really inviting and besides there were a lot of stings I get everytime I dip into the water. The beachside of Kuantan was so wide. The kids were running around as much as they could. It was a very relaxing break for me and Peter as we didn't really have to run after our kids, worrying they might suddenly go into the water and drown themselves.

The Food.

The food was awesome. We had seafood on our first night, and we only paid 52RM for grilled fish (you got to choose which one you want to grill from the aquarium - means they're fresh), buttered prawns, fried rice and plain rice, plus two kinds of fruit juices. It was cheap, compared to having that kind of food in KL.

We had Swiss Food on our next dinner which was worth having. I had this huge serving of mixed grilled meat (fish, lamb, chicken) with french beans, broccoli, cauliflower and 2 medium-sized potatoes and peter had a huge serving of grilled lamb chop that came with the side dishes like mine and two glasses of iced lemon tea. Guess how much we paid... 54rm! It was sooo cheap it took us long to get over the fact that it was cheap. Hehehe. Worth going there. The restaurant is called Sherwood, in Kuantan town. It was the best. We had cendol (the photo on the left) and rojak too.

Other resorts:

We went to visit Cherating also since we were there already (just 40kms away from Kuantan town). Saw the beaches there, but I like the Swiss Garden beach better. We also visited Chempadak which was quite amusing because they had McDonalds and KFC on its parallel by the beach!

The Monkeys:

We thought we wouldn't see monkeys this time. But lo and behold, monkeys were everywhere. They were free to run around and free to visit McDonalds also. We had fun feeding and watching them when we had our lunch at McDonald's.

for previous trips we had, see also:

• elephant ride in thailand
• mahkota parade, melacca
• avillion, port dickson
• philippine trip
• phuket
• genting highlands
• kuantan visitdamai laut visit
• singapore visit

visiting damai laut again - part 3

the next day:

woke up and went for the buffet breakfast. it was a real treat as they served emmental cheese. yum. i just love emmental cheese. dh is not a big fan of it... but i did indulge in it. after breakfast, we went swimming in the pool. schenker stayed at the kiddie pool most of the time and samantha was in the grown up pool most of the time. we basically spent the rest of the day in the pool and at the beach.


my boy said towards the end of the day that he wanted to go home already. we asked him why. he said he's "full of swimming already." hehehe. he probably meant he's had enough of swimming already.this was how they looked like after a full day's swim. good for them. it was the first time for both to stay in the pool and played at the beach for a very long time. they truly enjoyed their time.


the jacuzzi and sauna:
i went into the sauna room before finally going into the room. i brought with me all my spa materials... spent an hour inside just dumping myself into jacuzzi and having my skin burnt from the dry sauna. hehehe. brought some sea-salt scrub too which i bought from the philippines last year. it was a truly rejuvinating experience. the children activity center is just adjacent to the sauna room so hubby and kids waited for me there and take a peek from time to time. (no photos to be posted here though - all personal. hehehe)
the bath:
since hubby wasn't able to do the sauna, i prepare an oil bath for him. mixed some dried flowers (lavender, rose, marigold and chamomile), olive oil as a carrier oil and some essential oils. i am very careful in choosing essential oils coz there's a lot of fake ones available in the market. you would know they are fake when they don't give you the desired result. i bought mine from the body shop.

the end:
that went our day and the rest of the days we were at damai laut. we were planning to go to taiping to visit taiping zoo there... they have the best zoo in malaysia, i've heard... so i wanted to visit and for the kids to visit too. but we enjoyed damai laut too much we didn't think of going out to go to other places anymore. maybe next time.

the credit:
i just want to thank God for giving us this holiday package for free. imagine staying in a 4-star hotel room for 4 days and enjoyed its facilities - for free. it was awesome. God is awesome. i thank Him for blessing us with friends who gladly bless us too. :) thanks drs. swee ming and kok moi.

the next trip:
and watch out for our next family trip... it's gonna be soon.

visiting damai laut again - part 2

damai laut trip - part 2

the beach:

samantha and schenker had a blast there. i realized the girl could spend hours just playing with the sand. she doesn't normally sit in one place doing one thing, but here she was, spent most her time alone, playing on the sand while we were at the beach. the boy and i tried building a sand castle as was promised but we never get to build one.

the contrast:

Can you tell the contrast between the two? Samantha was playing with the sea-wave, fearless; Schenker stayed at the farthest from the wave as he could, careful. hehehe. if you have a hard time finding where schenker was, he was the one at the back, in blue shirt. both aree very different. both are smart... just in different ways.

the dinner surprise:
it was a buffet dinner at the garden terrace but we wanted an ala carte dinner. so we went to the blossom courtyard restaurant. it had a very romantic ambiance. and as we were having our dessert (mango crumble they named it), there was a band that came and sang just for us. it wasn't hard to tell they were my kababayan (from the philippines). it was a real treat for us. we were treated very special. plus the food there was to die for. they have a very beautiful presentation for their main course. to see the food we ordered, click my weekend snapshot.

that was about it the day we arrived at the hotel. more post coming up later.

visiting damai laut again - part 1

the drive:

we left our place with a sunny weather. halfway through the drive, it started raining heavily. so we decided to take a slow drive. it took us 4 hours to reach the place... which would have taken us for only 3 hours if it didn't rain. but we enjoyed the ride. both the kids were asleep. so hubby and i had a peaceful talk while driving. it was a cozy ride coz it was raining. we knew then that our trip was blessed.

the seasoned travelers:
here they were, sleeping almost through the trip (both of them are used to traveling now so it's easy to travel even with two kids in tow).
the monkeys by the road:
one of the highlights in going to damai laut was to see monkeys by the road. there would be monkeys waiting to be fed on the way to the hotel at a certain time and we were timely to pass them by on our way. good thing the kids were awake by the time we got to reach the monkey place. we saw them too last year when we went to the same place. so i was hoping to see them again this time.

the hotel:

it's called swiss garden golf resort and spa. it's a 4-star hotel, in damai laut. damai laut is not a famous place it seems coz there are still malaysians that don't know where it is or if there's such a place (which made me wonder also coz there were some westerners who stayed there also.). if you know pangkor island... it is on the way to pankor island, situated on the coast of lumut. there you go.

the excited kids:
you can tell the kids were very happy when we reached the place. they were very excited, especially the boy coz we told him we were going to the beach. so after settling down in our sea-view room, we went straight to the beach.

more on the beach on my damai laut trip - part 2. will post about it tomorrow. for now, i'm gonna lay down my head and get a good sleep. zzzzz...


posted june 1, 2008

Swiss Garden - Damai Laut - part 2

... continuation

When we woke up the next day (which was very late), both of us smelled so creamy... hahaha! Actually we smelled like babies. And we were so hesitant to shower coz we wanted to relish our body scent. But we showered anyway.

Then we went to the pool.

Met the Snyders there.

Viv got her heel cut while playing at the beach with her kids... Poor woei... she was limping the whole time. Our boy was very shy... Didn't wanna shake hands with Sophie although she really wanna grab his hands and kiss him. She looks so gorgeous and adorable with those two huge eyes...

We went to recreation centre afterwards and discovered that the children playroom was next to the jaccuzzi and sauna rooms. So convenient... So Peter and I took turns to use the jacuzzi and sauna. That completed my spa.

It rained in the afternoon so we stayed in our cozy room.

Our Schenker boy watched a kids' movie in Disney Channel called "James and the Giant Peach." It was his first time watching the whole movie at once (including the ads)! He loved seeing the animated worms, ants and spiders. Hahaha! He was fascinated by the spider singing a song. The movie was a mix real and animated characters. So I think it was different so he watched until the end of the movie. Of course, he has other faves too... like Hi-5 (which was given by his friend Tricia) and his all-time favorite is Barney.

We were really feeling cozy in the room... It was a nice feeling after jaccuzzi and sauna.

Since it was raining the rest of the afternoon... we didn't wanna go out even for dinner. So like what we always do when we're too lazy to go out (or cook)... we ordered ...

PIZZA! Yum Yum... Hehehe :)
Our holiday was only for 4 days... we requested for one-hour extension of stay coz we got up very late. So we checked out at 1pm only after our breakfast.

On the way, Peter bought some goreng pisang or fried banana (which I didn't like coz it was too oily), sugar cane juice for him and coconut water for me.

This pic really cracks me up... Doesn't she look funny and adorable? There's one cool boy behind.

Now, let's make a comparison:
Peter before:



And Peter after:



Can you tell the difference? ;)

Our best holiday so far... as a family... very fulfilling and yet... I want sommore!!!! Hahahahhahaha!!!Now I can't wait to go to Selesa in Port Dickson. They should have tubs too... 4-star hotel mah! I loved the milk bath. Peter loved the oil bath. So if we have time in between the conference... we'll do both. We're gonna stay there for 6 nights it seems...

So... what do I love in this holiday?

• I love the fact that we stayed in the apartment and in the hotel... tasted the best of two worlds.
• I love the fact that it was only 3.5 hour drive from home.
• I love the fact that we went with friends and yet not restricted coz we did our own things... and we met when we met.
• I love the fact that I could do spa for Peter (and for me).
• I love the time we spent with kids.
• I loved their room delivery pizza.
• I love the fact that they have tub, jaccuzzi, and sauna.
• I love the fact that it was a well-deserved holiday for Peter.
• I loved it when I saw the surprised look he showed when I took out all the things to be used for spa (candles, oil burner, essential oils, dried floral leaves, and other spa equipment).
• I love the fact that when we happily bless other people, God will use other people to bless us in return... with even greater blessings!

Looking forward to going to our next destination. Selesa.

Till next spa! errrrrr... blog! hahahaha!

posted june 21, 2007

Swiss Garden - Damai Laut

Swiss Garden - Damai Laut

The Drive

Damai Laut is a 3-hour drive from KL. The drive was very smooth.

Schenker and Samantha were asleep almost all of the time… Thank God we have 2 car seats now. I can at least rest and take photos in the car while traveling.

(The happy and comfy travellers)

(The Happy Driver)

Our friend told us we’re using the 1-bedroom apartment (2 units -the other one was for the Snyders). So we checked in straight to their Holiday apartments. When I saw the place, it was quite simple, with bungalows here and there… small pool, small playground for kids, and other small facilities. I was a bit dismayed actually coz I was expecting to arrive in a grand place… a 4-star hotel.

I told Peter “like this ah” when I saw the place. But of course was thankful coz we’re staying there for free.

But the amazing part was... when I went inside the apartment and looked out the window, I discovered we had a spectacular view from our apartment! There was a lake in the middle of the golf course and a huge river (?) that one could see from our view.

They have a tub! Hehehe. Every time Peter and I would stay in a hotel, the first thing that we look at is whether they have tub or not. If they don’t have… we really get disappointed. But this time, before we came here, we asked whether they have tub and they said all the rooms have one.

Father's Day
So the night I was waiting for: SPA! As I have mentioned in my previous blog, I brought along some ingredients for my d-i-y spa. I did an oil body soak, with mixed essential oils (orange and lavender) and mixed dried floral leaves (bought from Carrefour – marigold and lavender). It was awesome. One could fall asleep while in the tub. Actually, Peter fell asleep in the tub… for 2 hours! It was very relaxing. Good for Peter coz he badly needed this one. I am so happy I could do this for him… my father’s day gift for him.

The Monkeys

The next day, we drove to Sitiawan (another town, 25-minute drive from the hotel) to buy some groceries. We wanna make our own food coz we have cooking utensils (kitchen) in the apartment. And milk for the body soak and for drinking too.

When we went back to our apartment, here's what we saw:

(Monkeys waiting to be fed!)

The Beach

In the afternoon, we went to the hotel area to go to the beach. It was very beautiful. The boy really enjoyed his time at the beach, playing in the sand, running away from the waves and making foot prints.

The Hotel

Then we came back to the apartment lobby to connect to the internet. They have broadband. Peter has to be online coz of work. Then, here’s the twist. We found out we’re not booked in the apartment… But in the hotel itself. Should I be happy? Or frustrated coz we have to move rooms? Hmmm… I think I felt both, happy and frustrated. But then again, I was reminded to always be thankful in everything. After all, the holiday was already a blessing!

So we moved to the hotel room. And our room wowed me. Nice cozy room… and yes, bath tub!Hehehe

(The Seaview from our window)

So, I did another spa, this time, I included a yoghurt scrub. So I did a yoghurt srcub for Peter… and MILK bath!!! Now I know how Cleopatra felt when soaked in the milk bath. I added some dried flower. It was awesome. I asked Peter whether this was a luxury. He said yes straight away without thinking about my question. So I told him… maybe it’s a luxury… but cheap luxury... coz if we do this outside, it would have cost us hundreds of Ringgits!

There went our 2nd night.

The next day, when we woke up, both of us smelled so creamy... hahaha! Actually we smelled like babies. And we were so hesitant to shower coz we wanted to relish our body scent. But we showered anyway.

Then we went to the pool and met the Snyders. They were there for awhile already. Viv got her heel cut while playing at the beach with her kids... Poor woei... she was limping the whole time. Our boy was very shy... Didn't wanna shake hands with Sophie although she really wanna grab his hands and kiss him. She looks so adorable with those two huge eyes...

We went to recreation afterwards and discovered that the children playroom was next to the jaccuzzi and sauna rooms. So convenient... So Peter and I took turns to use the jacuzzi and sauna. That completed my spa.

After that, that thing that women-get-it-once-a-month came. Glad everything was over when it came. I felt so fulfilled.. and yet I want sommore!!!! Hahahahhahaha!!!

Now I can't wait to go to Selesa in Port Dickson. They should have tubs too... 4-star hotel mah! I loved the milk bath. Peter loved the oil bath. So if we have time in between the conference... we'll do both. We're gonna stay there for 6 nights it seems...

Till next spa! errrrrr... blog! hahahaha!

(still under construction -will post more photos next time)

posted june 20, 2007

for previous trips we had, see also:

• elephant ride in thailand
• mahkota parade, melacca
• avillion, port dickson
• philippine trip
• phuket
• genting highlands
• kuantan visitdamai laut visit
• singapore visit