Port Dickson 31st Jan - 2nd Feb 2011 Part 2 - The Pools & The Beach

'Syarat sah' bercuti di fikiran anak-anak Kak Mon ada 2 perkara: -

1. Tempat itu mustilah ada swimming pool yang selesa. Especially children's pool. Senang diorang nak practice skill swimming yang baru nak berkembang tu. In addition to that, haruslah ada wadding pool sebab Adam masih terlalu rendah nak masuk children's pool. Corus has children pool yang agak besar berbanding Avillion and Corus ada wadding pool, but not Avillion. Score - Corus 2 against Avillion 0.

ni kolam kanak-kanak. kedalaman 0.75m. taken on Monday. lengang!

pandangan sisi dari side kolam dewasa. kedalaman 1.2m

2. Tempat itu mustilah berdekatan dengan pantai. Kakak punya hobi ialah mengutip dan mengumpul seashell while the boys boleh main pasir, building volcanoes, castle and main air laut. So semua orang gumbira. Anak gumbira, mak pak pun gumbira sebab anak-anak tak bergaduh2. Nak berebut pasir? Mungkin tidak. Nak berebut air laut? Mungkin jugak tidak kan. Seashell? Tak kot sebab Kakak aje suka kutip, the boys don't. Pantai Corus faaaaarrrrrr way better dan bersih from that overrated Blue Lagoon (which is muddy, banyak sampah and banyak batu) Score Corus 1, Blue Lagoon 0. It's a tie between Corus and Avillion. Maybe kalau hotel's private beach ni terjaga sikit. Blue Lagoon tu all people can access so that explains why tempat tu kotor kot? Ada tong sampah pun, nak jugak buang sampah merata.(adakah masyarakat kita ni pengotor??)

sun down on Tuesday. it was near Maghrib that time. kalau arwah atuk tau ni, harus dia hambat balik. memang pantang besar dia kalau dekat2 Maghrib masih di luar.

sunrise on Tuesday. it was barely after 7am that time.

On the day we arrived, sebaik saja settled in, my kids terus aje terkam 'tong baju swimming'. I have this tong in which I dump in swimsuits, goggles, sunscreen, caps and 'baju tuala' (ala, robe yang cam tuala tu, hapa ke nama ntah).

Kakak dah boleh berenang but not for long. That's why Kak Mon tak berapa bagi dia masuk pool dewasa unless under 100% close supervision abahnya. Dah pun abahnya sibuk nak berenang sama, she ended up most of the time dalam children's pool. Abah boleh berenang, Ummi x perlu risau.

all smile. kalau jumpa pool memang sengih manjang lah dia.

Iman masih belum boleh berenang. He's making progress in the sense that sudah berani menyelam kepala for few seconds. Fully submerged. So keje dia adalah ulang alik from tebing to tebing then menyelam sambil buat aksi-aksi shark. To normal kids it may looks like nothing but for special child, keberanian untuk menyelam is a big milestone.

sedang cuba buat aksi berenang (tengok kakinya)

Adam pulak kat wadding pool. Maybe sebab dia sorang je kat situ, he was not that excited. Main kejap-kejap aje. Tu pun dok 'berenang' kat tangga je.

Lewat petang, me and Tebby menangguk budak tiga beradik from pool. Dah masuk bilik, mandi semua, menggelupur lapar. Tadi time berenang, berendam riang tak ingat nak makan. Nasib Ummi bawak bekal.. lapik perut sementara Abah pegi cari nasi.

Oh ya, Iman sibuk nak 'kelangkung'. In fact dari masa kami menginap di Ulek Beach Resort lagi dia dah merengek nakkan 'kelangkung'. Lagi tak dapat, lagi tu lah dia mengongoi 'nak kelangkung, nak kelangkung' Nasib baik nak, Ummi takde ilmu 'pelangkung' :D. So lepas melawat PD Ostrich Farm (ni Kak Mon stori mai in Part 3 k), we made a pit-stop near Sri Intan (fimiliar?). Dah tak jadi pulak nakkan kelangkung, dia tengok Kakak beli kick-board, dia pun nakkan kick-board. Adam yang beli kelangkung. Lepas tu tapau nasi ayam. With my kids, adalah lebih aman untuk makan di bilik atau di bawah pokok daripada makan di kedai.

Jom tengok foto-foto berenang edisi Selasa pulak.

eldest two. taking off with their kick-board

coming back. see, how happy they are.

see that girl in yellow kelangkung? Iman dok berkawan dengan dia. sorang cakap melayu, sorang cakap mandarin (muslim I think, mak dia bertudung litup and dok panggil this girl 'Azma') After the girl changed and nak balik, she came back, called up Iman and waved goodbye. Adoiyai Iman.. ni kalau nak meminang kena ke Tanah Besar nih :D But I am glad he's making friends easily.

Adam (he, he). Masa kami semua ke pool dia nap. Dia bangun aje terus melalak. Sampai kat pool melalak lagi. Hantar balik bilik pun melalak lagi.

Kalau dah ke pantai, haruslah bersuka ria di pantai jugakkan. Kakak sibuk kutip seashell. Dah berkotak-kotak dah kat rumah, dia pi kutippp lagi. Sebagai ibu, Kak Mon sokong aje minat dia as long as benda yang dia buat tu tak salah dan tak menyusahkan orang lain (eh, tiba-tiba ayat skema). As I've said, pantai kat Corus tu lebih bersih dari Blue Lagoon. Cuma pantainya pendek aje. I'd rather pantai pendek from having to move around litter di pantai yang panjang. Jom layan gambar.

the kids. main kat tepi lagoon. ni directly depan bilik. convenience kan. but here no beach.


this beach is on the left side of the resort (our rooms belah kanan).

Acara mengutip air laut (bila nak habis Iman??)

Acara mengutip pasir (again, bila nak habis Adam??) Sampai termuncung-muncung mulut tu :D

Iman, writing his name in the sand

Sedap-sedap aje mengata Avillion lah, Blue Lagoon la, jom tengok Kak Mon punya stori masa pegi piknik kat Blue Lagoon di sini and bercuti di Avillion di sini. Kalau nak tau cerita pasal Ulek Beach Resort, sila ke sini ye dek non dek non sekelian.

8-4-2, Dari Kijal Ke Dungun

Last-last kat Ulek Beach Resort Dungun!

To summarize them all, it was a '8-4-2' holiday.

8 for RM800 per suite per night at Awana Kijal. This was our initial booking. Bibik was still with us at the point of booking. Demi menjaga kesopanan dan kesusilaan, we usually book a suite (with bedroom inside the room). Little that we knew she planned to run away (*^$#!$% - I am still holding grudge). Before I could cancel, Awana called up apologizing cause the suite we booked earlier, udah masuk air, banjir sebab hujan berhari-hari non-stop. We got another room.

4 for RM400 per room per night at Awana Kijal. The room we were transferred to. She asked if it was alright. I said okaylah since my Bibik baru je lari dik, so we don't need a suite no more. Sempat lagi dia gelak before apologising again.

And there we were, all packed in 2 suitcases (I'm a heavy traveller due to my pathethic-ness), 2 plastic boxes (filled with toys, books, crayons, swimsuit, goggles, bathrobe) and 2 bakuls of food ration. And sepeket diapers pet-pet yang masih belum dibuka. Kalau boleh nak bawak tilam dengan bantal sekali, seriously because I rarely tidur lena other that at home. The kids made sure I pack along their swimsuits, goggles, bathrobes and sunscreen. They even brought along kain selimut dari rumah. Need not say whose trait that is kan. Pretty obvious. And off we went.

Remember that wedding we intended to attend? Well, we did attended. Tebby met a friend there, who was staying in Awana. He told us the swimming pool is closed sebab masuk lumpur. With all swimsuits, bathrobes, goggles and sunscreen, what is life without pool right? We made a confirmation call to Awana (on the swimming pool) and later cancelled off our booking. We then frantically searched for another hotel, further back to Cherating (none - Impiana, Holiday Villa, The Legend and the likes fully occupied). Then we searched further up and found Ulek Beach Resort on the net. Masih ada kosong and we booked a room right away.

RM200 per room per night in Ulek Beach Resort. Small resort and sangat tak ramai guests. Okaylah jugak, quite nice.

The room came with a queen bed, TV, fridge, aircond, fan, tingkap boleh bukak (it's like a house actually), water heater and a jacuzzi! The door near that jacuzzi can be folded and we could 'jacuzzi' while menghirup udara luar. The kids done that. I dare not, despite the wall.

anak-anak ku, depan bilik kami, MS 02

jacuzzi you ols. sambil gosok gigi. sampai nak melimpah2 air dengan buih depa kerjakan. pintu belakang tu la buleh bukak.


permandangan sebahagian dari bilik. excuse the mess, baru masuk bilik, anak-anak dah sebok korek beg, korek mainan, korek makanan

Item paling penting.. swimming pool. One adult pool (bukanlah saiz olimpik yer, kecik aje) and one kiddy pool. Kakak and Tebby in adult pool while the other two in kiddy pool. Ummi hanya menonton while resting atas kerusi kayu yang tak berapa nak selesa. Sebenarnya bulan baru mengambang, I dare not masuk berendam.

puteri kolam renang. makan hati ai tengok dia dah pandai swim


kuak lentang lah pulak...


Iman says 'I can swim'.. more like menggelupur sebenarnya. it took him ages untuk berani selam kepala dalam kolam.

my boys

Next day, before checking out, pegi beach depan resort. Kakak nak collect seashell and the boys made 'volcano' out of sand. Yang tak bestnya pasir kat sini kasar-kasar. But easier to get rid off from baju anyway. Then we had one more dip in the pool and later checked-out.

seashell collector. she secretly wished to stumble upon dino fossil. really? well, you never know..


Iman, always busy


Adam

the boys and their volcano

their father and suspected someone's silicon implant! :D
i told the boys, ni hingus ikan paus ni, besar amat. they went 'euwwww'!

Awana Kijal.. Here We Come

It's nearing end of school holidays already. We haven't gone anywhere yet. Budak-budak dah restless, especially Kakak. Kawan-kawan dah merata pegi, kami masih terperuk di KL. Takat ke MidValley, Mines, IKEA tu semua tak masuk definition as holiday. We have to go somewhere, with swimming pool to be exact. That's Kakak's definition that we all have to comply to.

En Tebby pulak ajak balik kampung. To make everyone happy, plan nak singgah di Awana Kijal, overnight. There's a wedding we would attend in Kemaman so kira almost perfect la plan tu. Lepas wedding, check in. Then terus serang swimming pool.

Anyway, now that we don't have a bibik anymore (and yet), I acquired back my middle seat for long journey. Perfect. To manage the other 2 at the back seat and to layan the driver in front. Not forgetting Adam whose seat is beside me.

Ladies and gentelmen, our 'on-board' movie for today is Tinkerbell. Kakak immediately lighten up. Iman *yawn*, Adam *otomen* *otomen*

En Suami, you nak air? Would 100Plus be okay? Some more cheezel? Want roti kaya? We also have cheese sausage if you want it.

Adam yang tak puas hati he has to sit in car seat. Sori Dik, tiket kat belakang for 2 persons only. Dia nak join Kakak and Iman kat belakang. Please remain seated and fasten your seat belt at all times. See, muka masam, hisap puting comforting himself.

Two at the back seat. Cosy huh? Kept on ordering keropok la, air la, suruh tukar CD la.

Will update more. Tunggu ya.

Fibrecomm's Family Days 2010

Pinjam belakang suami sapa ntah ni. Sorry ye bang, kak..

Dates: 23rd - 25th July 2010

Venue: Bukit Gambang Resort City.

Event: Family Day Fibrecomm Network (the company Tebby works for la, I am not working kan now ni)

All Fibrecomm staffs were given a day leave on Friday but we departed KL well after Jumaat prayer. Iman's class ended at 12.30pm and as usual, only at 12.45pm was he 'released' out. We could not departed any earlier than that. Journey was OK and after cleaning up Adam's vomit somewhere near Karak hiway, we arrived in BGRC at almost 6.00pm. The pool closed down at 7.00pm sp my kids just drooled from the balconi.

First event was BBQ Dinner. BBQ-ed udangnya sangat sedap okay. I just had to have more and more. Got BBQ-ed lamb as well. My kids gawked at the whole-lamb being grilled. Food? Terlalu banyak untuk dihabiskan. Entertainment on the first night was a karaoke competition inter-house (depa siap ada rumah merah, kuning, hijau bagai u olsss) and a clown doing that balloon thingy. We all tak tunggu sampai event habis, anak-anak dah tangkap lentok nak tidor.

menu.. yang panjang berjela..

Ada one girl tu siap order camni 'badut, badut.. anjing putih satu'. The clown had hard time (but he was patient enuff, I must say) coping with demand. Kids from other events swarmed him as well hu hu.


Second night dinner was nasi putih with lauk-pauk. Entertainment was Fuyoo Magic, specially brought from KL. Dik, your last show tu kan, pretty obvious sangat tangan hijau tu tipo punya. Tapi yang lelain tu was really entertaining. I like your dotted card most. There was also live band (comprises of staff and children of staff). Rendition included lagu-lagu dari seberang (ai loikeee) and dari tanah air kita jua.

Atas - Baju belang tu anak ai. Adam.

Bawah - Ni semer harta peribadi staff. Jimat belanja..

Other than that they held telematch and paint-ball. Telematch tu we all pegi tengok aje, tak join. Anak-anak pun taknak join. Paint ball Tebby pegi, while me and kids had a dip in the pool. I am all burnt and dark.. pasni kena tempel lah segala krim pencerahan dengan gigih sekali heh heh. Kali ni tak pegi pon wet-park nya walaupun dah dapat tiket. Main kat pool hotel jekk.

Tangan Iman.. besau kan?




Iman dengan Kakak, sempat lagi bergaduh kat pool *sigh*

Adam. Berenang la sangat tuuuu!!

We departed BGRC after lunch. Stop kat Temerloh for short family affair. Then headed to KL at 6.00pm. Jem sangattt.. sampai BTHO at almost 9.00pm already.

That was our second Family Day with Fibrecomm (probably the last as Tebby's contract is expiring soon). Last year they held it at Pangkor Laut Beach Resort. I did not blog about it for I just had a miscarriage soon after the event.

But anyway, read our short vacation end of 2009 at BGRC here, here, here and here.

First Leg - KL..Kedah..KL

Done with Leg-1 of cuti sekolah kali ni. KL-Kedah(Sungai Petani)-KL. Keluar semalam jam 8.00 pagi, sampai KL semula jam 8.30 malam tadi. Perjalanan yang panjang dan memenatkan. Jauh satu hal (kira-kira 800km to-and-fro), traffic yang heavy satu hal lagi.

Saya, kalau kata nak bertolak jam 8.00 pagi, insyaAllah by 7.30 pagi semua luggage dah beratur tepi pintu. Jam 8.00 pagi tu bermakna dah naik kereta dan bertolak, bukan baru nak bangun tidur. The night before selalunya saya pastikan kain baju dah simpan elok, yang belum basuh berada pada tahap minima. No dirty dish dalam sinki or any leftover atas meja makan. Anak-anak saya dah pesan awal-awal untuk bangun awal dan bersiap cepat. Alhamdulillah depa memang jenis early birds so takde masalah sangat bab tu. There's a Bree (go figure the character here) in me, yes I admit (but I am definately not a 100% Bree okay) Makanya, hari Sabtu, jam 8.00 pagi, kami bergerak dari rumah menuju ke utara. My parents, yang sepatutnya bertolah jam 8.00 pagi dari Temerloh, bergerak dari rumah kira-kira jam 10.00 pagi dan adik saya pulak tiba-tiba nak ikut sama, which made them to move at 11.00 am.

Singgah breakfast di Restoren Jejantas Sungai Buloh. Banyaknya kereta, ramainya orang.. masyaAllah. Nak parking satu hal. Nak cari tempat kosong untuk makan pulak, satu hal lagi. Sudahnya makan kat kopitiam sebelah KFC. Food OK, servis pulak, seeeelllowwwww. Dah tau cuti sekolah, ada 2 orang je manning the whole outlet. Orang tu lah nak ambik order, orang tu lah jaga cashier, orang tu jugak nak pi toast roti. So... lamalah beratur kan. Kena plak ada minah kat depan tu, masa beratur lama tu tak reti-reti pikir nak order apa. Sampai kat depan barulah sengih sana sengih sini nak pilih makanan. Tolong ya, sapa-sapa yang ada sifat macam ni, anda menyusahkan orang lain ok. Irritating. Sejam gak lah kami kat Sungai Buloh tu.

Masuk aje PLUS highway, kereta dah mula banyak.. kira dari KL ke Sungai Petani tu memang on-off jam. Most of the time kena slow aje. Paling laju boleh tekan minyak cuma 120km/j saja. Sejak kawin 10 tahun lepas, ni journey paling jauh by road saya dan En Tebby. Nasib baik saya memang kaki stock-up makanan kalau nak bertravelling. So budak-budak tak grumpy lapar or haus. Selalunya soft roll, some junks and juice. Jangan tak tau sepanjang KL-Kedah-KL, anak-anak saya menghabiskan 16 ketul soft roll! Tu tak kira lah jajan lain or berapa botol juice yang habis.. layannn...

On the way terserempak Geng Caldina tengah konvoi. Berpuluh-puluh kereta. Bersusun-susun kat lane tengah. From the sticker, it says Drive For Charity or something like that.

Kami singgah R&R Sungai Perak untuk re-fuel kereta saja. Tak singgah makan sebab
1) Anak-anak kata masih kenyang (sebenarnya depa tak sabar sampai hotel untuk meng-spash dalam swimming pool) as Tebby put it, depa lapar nak minum air pool je tu.
2) ramailah amat orang, no free parking lot.

Sudahnya singgah di R&R Gunung Semanggol. By this time kami mak pak dah lapar.. budak2.. biasalah... in anticipation nak mandi pool, manjang tak lapar. Terpaksa makan kat bawah pokok aje pasal meja penuh. Ada yang makan kat tepi-tepi walkways aje. Kami nak park keta pon makan masa dekat 15 minit gak. Nak buat cemana kan, dah nama pon cuti sekolah, semua nak keluar time ni.

Sampai Sungai Petani jam 3.00 petang. Check in kat Emerald Puteri, very near to tol Sungai Petani Selatan. Lepas tol, di simpang yang mula-mula, belok kiri. Convenient la pasal dekat dengan kedai-kedai, senang nak makan. Saya book Puteri Suite, cukup besar nak accomodate kami 5 beranak plus sorang bibik. Bilik OK, it's a 3-star and room-wise, lived up to its number of stars. Kena pulak bilik kami kat tingkat 8, paling dekat dengan swimming pool.

Exit 168 yerr... ambik SP Selatan

Emerald Puteri, end of shop lots. Belakang tu ada Parkson Ria. Bilik pulak, living and bedroom separated by a sliding door. Bilik ayaq luaihh hat dalam bilik.. ada 3 stall, shower stall, toilet and a bathtub. Hat kat area living tu ada sink sama toilet ajaa..

Swimming pool, walaupun kecik, okaylah. Takde tiles yang retak or tercabut cam kat Impiana Cherating. Me, as usual kat kiddy pool je lah melayan Iman dengan Adam. While I was there, ada 2 orang budak kecik lost footing and jatuh tertiarap dalam air, floated but face down. Mommies, while at tempat berair cam tu, always look after your child. Seconds kita terlepas pandang macam2 boleh jadi.

Ingat nak ambik gambaq budak-budak bawah nih, tak dan apa-apa depa dah terjun pi dalam pool.

Anak jantan chek. Note Iman's new swimsuit. Hat lama dah tak muat dahh... Baju 'kwebb' katanya.. pasal ada gambar kecik crab kat dada belah kiri nun..

Kakak, tengah dok pasang goggles. Tu pun swimsuit baru pasal yang lama dah sendat.

Room service pun cepat dan efektif. I use their 'bell boy' service, mintak extra laundry bag and order food. Semuanya memuaskan hati. Drawback? Food (except for its kuey tiaw which I ordered via room service) and buffet area. Food tak banyak variety and rasa cam kurang sikitlah. Buffet area ada lipas kecik dok bersantai-santai buat lintas langsung.

My parents sampai jam 8.00 malam. Esoknya jam 12.00 tengahari bertolak ke Tikam Batu ke wedding adik my SIL. Waktu tu baru lepas hujan lebat so the weather was just nice. Tak panas, tak sejuk. Food sedap (to my tekak lah, En Tebby kata biasa je). I like rumah parents SIL tu, banglo setingkat, tak kecik tak overly besar. Just nice. And beautiful landcape too. Sayang tak ingat nak ambik gamba sikit...

Kami bertolak balik jam 2.00 petang. As expected, perjalanan balik pun sama sesak macam perjalanan pergi. Singgah di R&R Juru untuk solat dan salin baju. Minta maaf lah.. walaupun saya selesa ke ofis berbaju kurung, untuk perjalanan jauh dan lama, saya sanggup salin baju pakai tshirt dengan seluar panjang. Next stop selepas Juru was R&R Tapah. Mak aihhh... ramai sangat orang. Waktu kat dalam toilet pun ada orang ketuk-ketuk pintu.. to which Iman said 'ada owammm! ada owammm!' Kat pavement macam pasar malam! Sempat jugak makan aiskrim kat Baskin Robbin and beli jambu sikit. Kalau difikirkan ramainya orang, rasa macam tanak singgah tapi kesian anak-anak nak lurus-luruskan kaki dan hirup udara luar sikit kan. Especially Adam yang strapped in his car seat sepanjang perjalanan. Sangat membantu guna car seat ni ya puan-puan. Selain for safety, senang nak manage the kids. Tapi kena start awal. Sedari infant dah kena ajar dok dalam infant seat, then car-seat. Lepas Tapah, tak singgah mana-mana dah. Terus balik KL dan sampai jam 8.30 malam.

Tol Juru. Ada musykil sikit, pasal apa kena lalu tol walaupun belum exit PLUS hiway ek? All the way to utara is under PLUS kan? Or different concession?


Esok nak start 2nd leg pulak. Another 910km to go.. Cherating... here we come...