14th February 2011

DEAR HUSBAND,

THANK YOU FOR THE GREAT ONE YEAR.

CNY @ Penang Makan Trip

It's common sometimes to find local who knows very little about their place. Well, ME INCLUDED! ;) Since we married, husband been bugging me to bring him to Penang and try those heavens (food, beaches etc) but i soo had no clue esp when all you know your last, nice visit was 10 years back! Only recent CNY, the whole family able to gather & spent our great 2 nights together in Penang. All arranged by our parents & theme for this trip was non other than LOTS OF MAKAN! :D

We stayed in Copthorne Orchid, Tg Bungah - the last few left with friendly budget as most hotels were either fully booked or too expensive given CNY is peak season. But I didnt recommend for it has worst bed so far.


All makan places we went were from my abah's best ratings, apparently those are popular among tourist too :) First we stopped by for lunch was Restoran Kapitan. I've been here few times before, no doubt my favourite was their Ayam Tandoori! Very tender and the spices very well blended, except this time i wished the ayam more crunchy ;) The boys must have rice in their menu, so all of them ordered Briyani Claypot - one of signature here in Kapitan!

Went to Padang Kota Lama for dinner. It's food-court kind by seaside & one of my fave place when i was kid. We had almost everything that night - sotong bakar, sotong kangkung, pasembor, laksa penang, char koay teow, cendol etc! Except charkoay teow, the rest were all good. Recommended for those wanted to have all kind of Penang food everything under one roof :) But expect to pay extra for decent plate as the place has all the way been commercialized.

We had late lunch at this one Malay warung the next day. Sorry no pics, everyone like angry piranha when the food came! Warung macam nak roboh je tapi the food here amazingly all sedap & pedas!! Tomyam, ikan 3 rasa, ikan stim, kerabu mangga, sotong tepung etc...cant remember how many trip of nasik tambah we had here LOL. Highly recommended esp when you dah boring asik makan mamak je. Unfortunately they dont have signboard, but the warung just opposite Royal Hotel i think..

bumped into drive thru atm..my first time!

Finally that evening, we tried parasailing for the first time! Price RM80/px & RM150/couple for 15mins ride. We could barely see the jellyfish and as we flown up, these creatures made beautiful sight when viewing from far top..impressive! We also tried the jetskii (rm70/ride) - cursed my husband all the way as i almost terpelanting sbb laju gila dia bawak.....sumpah lagi scary dari parasailing ok! He said only jetskii je you can merempit sesuka hati & nobody will ever saman you..yea rightttttt !!!!

Later that night we went to Gurney Drive for dinner. We were entertained by this mamak who prepared pasembor sambil menari...no wonder he can stay in shape LOL!

After checkout the next day, abah brought to local's fave of kedai Kari Kepala Ikan for lunch. The kedai only opens 11am-3pm daily & very tricky to find (bawah flat). Their curry memang terbaek, and according to owner they about to launch their new branch at Damansara Perdana this week :)

We thought the curry was the closing. No, NOT YET! Next food station was Salwa Mee Udang in Teluk Kumbar. To everyone their mee udang worth the waiting, with thick gravy & all served are udang laut. I just wished the gravy is more pedas. We also had ketam rebus, sedap gile cicah air asam - a must TRY here :)

Tandoori & Briyani. checked.
Pasembor.checked.
Char Koay Teow.checked.
Laksa Penang.checked.
Seafood.checked.
Cendol.checked!

The only souvenir we brought back was tee for Hana's baby from HRC. I'd love the baby romper, but Hana prefer the tees ;)

We're looking forward for next family trip cos somehow we missed Nasi Kandar earlier! :p

p/s : We're ONE YEAR today by the way!

(Belated) Birthday

I haven't updated anything about my birthday and now it's already February, which means I'm almost a month being 27 ;) Nothing extraordinary, just this 2011 marked my first celebrating as a wife.

Husband had nothing planned actually, until the wife came across a promotional stay by the newly opened Villa Samadhi which just a stroll away from KLCC. For this soft launching promo, all rooms were offered at 50% discount and after checking Agoda, they discounted further making our total payment alot lesser than original promotion! :)

Villa Samadhi

Little info on Villa Samadhi; it's actually a new sister hotel to Japamala. They have altogether 21 rooms, however only 8 rooms currently available for stay. Located just opposite U-Thant Residence (or if you know where US Embassy is) made a perfect location for weekend getaway without having us to leave KL. We noted the ongoing construction of remaining rooms, so we put aside all the high expectation we used to have about this new hideaway...

siap cucikan kereta..too bad the car not ours! hehe

Check-in was smooth, we were brought to our room which just a level above the lobby. The interior was rather basic, with small plunge bed overlooking the pool. We didn't fully enjoyed the view as it also facing this one, huge guest villa opposite down there. Each time we took off the blind, we saw the opposite guests conciously looking back at us, as if we going to skodeng them..hmm not their fauly anyway, the villa design that caused it. Malas nak drama, kitorang tutup je blind dan layan DVD! Feeling dengar pool fountain je la uols :p

dream shower rain

marvelous night view..

lagoon access room still in progress

to lobby

Not long after we checked in, the staff came handy with kuih bingkang ubi. They used to serve this too at Japamala by the way, sempatla keep the tummy happy while waiting for dinner ;)

After maghrib, we left for birthday dinner at nearby Rama V, a fine Thai restaurant. They suggested us private room (they have few if you're planning for closed function), but we thought extra RM100 for the privacy is abit steep...so we forego the idea and picked the normal tables. Here we had typical Thai dishes; tomyam, green curry, lime steam fish and softshell crab cooked in lupe dah nama masakan tu :p My favourite obviously the crab, unfortunately the portion was too huge for couple eaters and in fact, by the time the food came our tummy dah full dengan deep fried platter yang agak besarrr la jugak before tu. The price no doubt on high side; but given the good food, service and right ambience, we overall satisfied for what we paid :)

the starter

The next morning, we breakfast at their in-house restaurant, Mandi Mandi - the latest addition to Tamarind Springs family. I was expecting something like Japamala; a semi-buffet where guests can have the basics from buffet line and order some from kitchen...sadly here, no. Only omelets/scrambles made to order. Buffet choices? Lots to improve unfortunately.

Mandi Mandi at night, only for in-house guests

We then went to check out their rooftop bar, Bumbung. Very cozy, since it was still early the bartender will only be there upon request. All we did up there was enjoying as much the view, i bet the bar must be a lot better at night with all the lightings.

We couldn't extend the checkout as the villa was fully booked that day. Took some pictures before we left, and not forgetting, some words in their guestbook.... :)