Weekend Trip to Johor

Two weekends ago, we drove up to Johor for a short weekend getaway, to celebrate our 9th anniversary as well as testing my new GPS receiver to Malaysia.

We stayed at Cinta Ayu All Suites Hotel [ note: Cinta Ayu, not Cinta Laura :P :P ], a nice apartment-type hotel located in the vicinity of Pulai Springs Resort. This resort is located on the outskirts of Johor Bahru, along the main road leading to Pontian.

Although the resort is meant more for golfers (since it's surrounded by two 18-hole golf courses), it also provides quite good facilities for families as well. Other than the hotel's swimming pool which is located on the second floor, we can also use the main resort's facilities, including the swimming pools which have nice views over the golf course and mount Pulai. One of the swimming pools is also equipped with a slide, which Irza enjoys very much.

We chose a 2-bedroom type of apartment for S$170 per night, which is booked online from AsiaTravel and includes breakfast for 4 persons. The 1-bedroom type is also available for S$128 per night. The breakfast is provided at the Cinta Terrace restaurant and the food is quite nice. There's also a spa facility at the sports centre, and the price is quite reasonable. Quite worth the value for money, in my opinion.

We were not only making use of the hotel's facilities, but also made some side trips to couple of locations in and around Johor Bahru, either for food or sightseeing.

On Saturday (12/4) afternoon, we went to AEON Tebrau City and had lunch at the JUSCO food court located on the second floor. This was our third visit to this biggest shopping mall in Johor, and other than the food court, we also went there for the amusement centre for the kids (which is located just next to the food court) and, of course, the Breadtalk bakery shop and its popular spicy chicken floss buns, which is halal in Malaysia.

In the evening, we visited Danga Bay and had dinner in one of the BBQ seafood restaurants there. The food is superbly delicious, and the price is surprisingly reasonable.

We had our dinner in an alfresco seating environment, with trains passing by giving amusement for the kids. We actually could ride the train however we were not able to find the location of the station where we could buy the ticket and board the trains. :( The kids were disappointed for not being able to ride the train. Will have to find the exact location of the station when we go there again. Anyone knows? :)

On Sunday (13/4), after checking out of the hotel, we went to Gunung Pulai and since the main recreational forest park is closed, we went to a less-visited attraction spot located south of the main park. My GPS told me that there is a waterfall on that spot as well, however when we went there we couldn't find it. Just saw some parked cars and some food stalls, and some locals having a bath in the river there.

Another thing I would like to share is that now we do not have to fill in the Malaysia immigration cards when we pass through their immigration, making trips to Malaysia much easier now.

More pictures can be found here and here.

Sentosa Flowers 2008

Another part of our CNY holiday itineraries in Singapore, on the first day of Chinese New Year, we went to Sentosa to visit the Sentosa Flowers 2008 event in the morning, prior to our visit to Aa Duddy and Teh Ellen's place in Tampines for a reunion lunch. Sentosa Flowers 2008 is an annual flower festival held at Sentosa, spanned from Imbiah Lookout to the Beach station.

Having visited the earlier Sentosa Flowers 2007 last year, I found that this year's festival is a bit disappointing. The "blooming" quality of the flowers is not as good as last year's event. I feel that last year's event is more blooming with more variety of beautiful flowers throughout the Imbiah hill. Nevertheless, for the first-timers, this event is quite worth for a visit.

It opens between 9am and 10pm, until 17 February 2008. The admission to the event itself is free, although of course you would still need to pay for the entrance fee into Sentosa ($2) and the transport ($1 using Sentosa Express or Sentosa bus). I would suggest you start your journey from the entrance near Imbiah station. From there, you can explore the flowers park around Imbiah Lookout before heading to the Merlion, and passing through the Merlion Walk all the way to the Beach station.

I agree with Mbak Susan that the best time to visit the event is early in the morning, not only to avoid the hot baking sun, but also to avoid the crowd as well. Different from last year, now they open until 10pm every day, so it might be a good idea to come in the evening.

More pictures can be found on my wife's Multiply site here.

Related links:

• Sentosa Flowers 2008
• Lunar New Year - 7 Feb 2008
• Sentosa Flowers 2008

Festive Street Stalls at Chinatown

As I have mentioned here (in Indonesian), this is the first of our itineraries in enjoying Chinese New Year holiday in Singapore.

Wednesday, 6 February 2008, on Chinese New Year's eve, I got half day off from work. After picking up my kids at Clementi (my wife is attending a gathering with her friends there), we went to the Chinatown area, just to see the hustle and bustle of the street stalls around Pagoda Street and Temple Street during Chinese New Year's eve.

Since the Chinatown area would be closed to traffic in the evening, we parked our car at The Central in Clarke Quay, and we took the North-East Line MRT train to Chinatown.

Both Inka and Irza got themselves some CNY-themed souvenirs from the market.

More pictures can be found here.

Housewarming Event at Om Bagus and Tante Luki's New Residence

On a nice Sunday afternoon, we went to Anchorvale in Sengkang, north-east of Singapore, to attend a "housewarming" event at om Bagus and tante Luki's new residence there. The food is all wonderfulicious, with the hosts preparing sambal goreng, fried chicken, tekwan, siomay for lunch, with all the desserts such as fruit jelly and watermelon fruit cuts thrown in.

Inka and Irza were very happy playing with all their friends there, both in the house and at the playground outside the block. Irza even took some pictures of the event, together with other photographer-kids Kanaya and Fresha. All the three little photographers were using their respective parent's cameras, and they ended up taking pictures of each other. :) :)

Irza, as well as Kanaya, were fond of and a big fan of Naurin, tante Lenny's baby daughter. That explains why Irza took quite a lot of her pictures. Irza were also taking pictures of om Yuwono who were trying to take pictures of the three little photographers. :) :)

Well, some of you might asked, why Irza prefers to play with the girls (especially pretty girls like Fresha or Kanaya :P :P) rather than with the boys? :) Because Irza always tend to fight, and not play, with the boys, hahaha... Which reminds me or another thing, sometimes Irza refers himself as a "playboy". Of course, his definition of playboy is "a boy who likes to play...."

More pictures during the event can be found here, while the pictures taken by Irza (which some of them has been cropped and edited by me for your pleasure viewing) can be found here. Other pictures can also be found here (thanks to Mbak Ati).

Another Trip to Sentosa

We are not going anywhere for holiday during this school holiday season, since we already went back to Jakarta during Hari Raya festival last October. Therefore, last Saturday (23 December 2007), I took Inka and Irza to Sentosa for a short half-day sightseeing.

We reached Sentosa at around noon, and after parking our car at the Beach carpark, we took the yellow line bus straight to Dolphin Lagoon.

There was a promotion for Singaporeans and Permanent Residents only, the combined Dolphin Lagoon and Underwater World admission fee is only around $13 for adult and $8 for child (compared to the usual $19 for adult and $12 for child). Inka and Irza also attended the "meet and greet" session with the dolphin after the show, where they had the chance to touch the dolphin.

After the show, we took the red line bus to Imbiah Lookout for lunch. The red line bus we took is an open top-deck bus similar to the Hippo bus, so Inka and Irza were having the great time enjoying the view from the top deck of the bus.

We had our lunch at Sarpino's Pizzeria, located in Imbiah Lookout. After lunch, we took the blue line bus to Siloso beach bus stop. Our first stop is Fort Siloso. We took the Fort Siloso tram from the tram stop near Underwater World to the entrance of the fort complex at Fort Siloso Square. Inka and Irza were having a great time playing at the playground and explore the tunnels there.

Our next stop after Fort Siloso is Underwater World. The entrance fee has been paid together with the entrance to Dolphin Lagoon, so it's a waste if we skipped it. There's an interactive pool where we can have a close encounter and touch stingrays. Inka and Irza were also having a great time in the acrylic tunnel inside the giant aquarium.

From Underwater World, we took a leisure stroll along Siloso beach, before going back to the Beach carpark using the beach tram. Unfortunately, the tickets for the Songs of the Sea shows has been sold out for the day, so we had to skip it. Will schedule to watch the performance another time later. :)

More pictures can be found here.

Inka's 8th Birthday

Inka was having her 8th birthday on 11 December 2007, and we celebrated her birthday by inviting some of our Indonesian friends over for BBQ gathering at our apartment's BBQ pit and club house, on Sunday evening, 16 December 2007.

My wife ordered the birthday cake from her friend Syanti, and the theme of the cake is dinosaurs, Inka's favourite creatures. More pictures of the birthday cake before delivered to us can be found here.

Similar to Irza's BBQ birthday party last August, we ordered the bulgogi chicken satay and black pepper beef satay from Seoul Garden. For this event, my wife also ordered the famous Braddell satay from Hany, which is a hit for the kids. My wife also made her special home-made macaroni schotel.

Some of the kids also had the chance to swim at the swimming pool, which is located just next to the BBQ pit. Unfortunately, it was raining near dusk, and we had to move the party to the club house, which is located behind the BBQ pit. The kids were also having fun playing piñata.

Some of Inka and Irza's friends who came include Aidan, Hanan and Haifa, Marsya, Fazil, Naira and Fauzan, Annisa and Nadia, Nadira and Adam, Titis, Zahira, Ivan and Rayna.

More pictures can be found here.

The Last Two Friday Nights

Fireworks Display at VivoCity

On Friday night last week (30 November 2007), we went to VivoCity to watch the fireworks display at the Sky Park, located at the rooftop of the huge shopping mall. I watched the fireworks display with Irza, while my wife accompanied Inka to have dinner at Banquet on the basement floor. I specifically brought my tripod for this purpose.

Some of you asked what were the schedules of the fireworks display. Unfortunately, it seems that the fireworks display was only held on that very one night, to celebrate VivoCity's one year anniversary. And to answer Mei Che's question, I knew about the event from an advertisement on the Straits Times newspaper of the day. So, my advice is to lookout for those advertisements on the newspaper, you might find an idea on where to bring the kids for the weekend. :)

More pictures can be found here.

Dinner at MacKenzie Rex Restaurant

After my experience with MacKenzie Rex restaurant during Indo-Sing mailing list moderators' dinner event last October, I went there again and took my family there for a dinner last night (Friday, 7 December 2007). This halal restaurant is located at Prinsep Street, off Selegie Road, around Bencoolen area of Singapore, not far from Dhoby Ghaut MRT station.

Both Inka and Irza are already fans of shark fin soup since our dinner at Mak's Place last month, so they were very delighted when they found out that it's also part of the menu that night. They really like it very much. Some of the other dishes we ordered include chicken with dried chilli, hotplate beancurd and baby squid.

More pictures can be found here.

Boat Quay

Last Saturday, 17 November 2007, on a pleasant afternoon, while waiting for my wife to shop at her favourite beads shop along Carpenter Street, I took Inka and Irza for a short walk around Boat Quay. The weather was very pleasant that afternoon, it was cloudy but not raining, so the weather was not very hot as what it usually is.

From the junction of South Bridge Road and Carpenter Street, we walked towards the Singapore river and crossed the Elgin bridge. We then walked through the promenade along Singapore River towards Raffles Landing Site, located on the other side of the river from Boat Quay and the CBD, just beside the Asian Civilisation Museum. Turned out to be that this place was the starting point of the Amazing Race Asia 2.

Inka and Irza were having a great time walking along the promenade, watching the bumboats passing by and also taking pictures in front of the Raffles statue there.

More pictures can be found here.

Irza's Graduation and Concert Day

Last Sunday (18 November 2007), we attended the PPIS Kindergarten's Year End Graduation Ceremony and Concert 2007, at the auditorium of Spring Singapore building, Bukit Merah Central. PPIS Kindergarten is a kindergarten where Irza is enrolled in the past couple of years, and it's managed by the Young Women Muslim Association. One of its centres is located in Bukit Batok, only 5 minutes drive away from our current residence.

Abhy, the son of Iko and Hera, one of our neighbours, is also enrolled on the same school. This year is their last year in the school, since starting next year, both of them will start studying in a primary school, which is also near our residence, Bukit Timah Primary School (BTPS). BTPS is also the school where Inka is studying at the moment.

Irza and Abhy were being dropped off at their school at 8am in the morning, since they were taking the school bus from their school to the venue in Bukit Merah Central. We (myself, my wife and Inka) went together with Iko, Hera and Kanaya, and we reached Bukit Merah Central at around 9:20am, 10 minutes ahead of the schedule. This is for us to get the best seats, especially for me and Iko to put our tripods for our cameras. :)

After attending the event, we went to Far East Plaza on Scotts Road, near Orchard, to have lunch together with Iko, Hera, Abhy and Kanaya. We intended to have lunch at KFC there, but the place is full since it was during busy lunch time, so we instead went to Long John Silver's and had our lunch there instead.

More pictures during the event can be found here, while the pictures at Long John Silver's can be found here. Some other pictures can also be found here, thanks to Tante Hera. Her article with regards to the same event can also be found here (in Bahasa Indonesia).

Mak's Place Hawkerant

Last Sunday night (4 November 2007), I and the whole family went to Tanjong Katong Complex in Geylang, not far from Paya Lebar MRT station, to buy Inka's traditional Malay dress (baju kurung) for her school's event. After which, we went to Mak's Place Hawkerant for dinner. Thanks to Teh Ellen for guiding us to go there over the phone. The "hawkerant" (restaurant with hawker's cheaper price, as they claimed) is located along Changi Road, not far from Kembangan MRT station.

If you drive along Changi Road from east (Bedok) towards west (Geylang), the restaurant is located on the right side of the road, just after you see Kassim mosque and Hotel 81 (Changi) on your left. You can park along Changi Road or in several carparks nearby, although sometimes it's a bit difficult to find a carpark lot during evening peak time.

Inka specially ordered sliced fish porridge while Irza ordered shark fin soup for appetizers. We ordered fried butter squid, hotplate spicy chicken and mixed vegetables (chap chay) for the main dishes, ice milo, ice barley and ice green tea for the drinks, and some ice creams for the kids' desserts.

The service is quite efficient, served by mostly Indian servants, similar to Al-Ameen or Al-Azhar. However, it took quite long for us to wait for the food to be served after ordering, perhaps around 20-30 minutes? Luckily there's a stray cat there which amuse the kids and they kept on following the cat wherever it goes... :)

More pictures can be found here.