Mid-week trip up north

I applied leave yesterday. Needed a break after my office's conference plus hubby needed to do something in Taiping. He said since we're going north, might as well go and tryout a food joint that is famous in Ipoh, its called "Nasi Kandar Ganja".

Last nite we decided that we will drive up north, eat and come back. But this morning, quite suddenly, we thought, why not drive up to an even further north...to Penang perhaps?! Yes!!

We just quickly packed up basic needs (just in-case) and started our journey around 10am.

We reached Ipoh just in-time before the rush lunch-hour. We managed (i meant hubby) found the place. The place were kinda full but we managed to get a seat. The nasi kandar stall is actually inside a chinese restaurant. We buy our food from the nasi kandar stall but only ordered drinks from the shop. This shop is an old shop with 'kopitiam' concept.

I just ordered the 'ayam masak merah' which were said to be famous with curry gravy ontop. Hubby ordered 'kari sotong'.

What do we think about it? It was sorait....don't quite like the rice texture and the curry were okey lah. Was it really 'ganja' that i will want for more? Ermm...not really. We give it a 5 out of 10.

Later we made our way up to Penang. Reached there at 3pm. Tried our luck at Cititel and they were not full, so we checked-in.

In the same evening, hubby said he wanna take me somewhere. I don't know what he has on his sleeves....but it was a pleasant surprise.

He took me to 'Taman Kota Lama'.......wahh!! Its been ages since i last been to Padang Brown lah!! He read somewhere that the best mee goreng is found here.

The last time i came to 'Padang Kota Lama' was when i was a kid!!....didn't know this place still exists, hehehehe...sorry ya Penang people.

Have you all heard of 'Mee Goreng Pata'??

OMYGOSH!!!! The mee-goreng is REALLY REALLY SEDAP!!! SANGAT SANGAT SEDAP!! Not only its cheap, its really authentic and delicious. Accompanied with ABC & Ice Syrup...pergghhhh....nice!! Hubby ordered 'Mee Rebus'....and it was quite allright. But not as nice as the 'Mee Goreng'. Thanx Bee :) "tak menyesal datang sini".

Later on we were so full that we can't take dinner. We only shared a plate of maggie goreng from a nearby mamak shop...i forgot the name of the shop.

The very next day, we had 'Nasi Lemak bungkus' for our breakfast. Hubby said must find Nasi Lemak Ali (famous for its sambal). They have a few types of Nasi Lemak but hubby took Nasi Lemak Udang and I had Nasi Lemak Telor. The rice is soft & the sambal is not too sweet nor too hot.

For lunch, we stopped by "Kassim Nasi Kandar" but no 'telor sotong'. So we decided Yasmin Restoran to have our nasi-kandar with telor sotong!! We left Penang after that. And the next day, back to office.

It was a nice mid-week trip fot the both of us :)

Lumut for CNY

It was a short-planned trip & both of us decided to go Lumut for the short public holiday. Such a nice road-trip as there wasn't many cars on the road....traffic were a breeze. People said its gonna be jam...but there's NO jam at all!!

Been quite some time since the last time we both went to Lumut. Not much of changes but the place has been maintained nicely. Its a small town of Lumut but i guess its also a tourist spot as its clean & many places were u can take pictures.

Watching the sunset.....

Didn't do much, juz jalan-jalan & lepak-lepak & makan-makan.

I had a good time just doing nothing & be with my other-half :)

2009 Countdown at Cherating

Bee asked me 2-3days before the end of December 2008. He asked, where do we wanna celebrate the countdown, just the two of us. Hmm... I suggested the beach and he's ok jer. But at the same time i do not wanna go to crowded places or destination that requires long driving.

We thot of Cameron Highlands (no, its raining season, i'm scared of landslide). Thot of Genting (no way, too many people). Not Penang cos we just came back from there. Malacca is not a good idea too cos that place is always packed with people. I thot of Cherating beach....straight away bee said make a booking!! Yeah rite, with school holidays and all.

Nevertheless, i attempted and made a few calls to some hotels in Cherating, so far 4 hotels were full. Alas, Holiday Villa was available tho the rate wasn't cheap. Quickly made reservation, one nite only cos I'm working on Friday. Since new year's eve is a half-day working day at my place, i only need to apply half day leave.



We left Shah Alam at around 9am. Bee said no need to rush cos we wanna take a leisure drive. But with the traffic and all, we got out of Gombak toll around 10am. Used the new Pantai Timur highway which cuts at least 2 hours driving if u use the old trunk road. Sceneries along the way were nice and greens and not many cars. The weather was nice, with blue skies and white clouds.



I made breakfast cos we don't like making stops when we travel together. I made sardine-in olive-oil sandwiches, fried some chicken tempura nuggets and chicken hotdog. Made hot black-coffee and packed some tid-bits.



Pity bee cos on that day itself, he suddenly got flu. Since our flu medicine is out, we decided to stop by Kuantan town and find a pharmacist. After having a simple lunch at a mamak restaurant, we reached Cherating safely. I just loved the beach. Its been a long time since i last visited the beaches. I guess around 15 years ago....that's a long time.



Alhamdulilah, the weather was good and we were able to have our beach-walk in the evening and breathe its non-polluted air, enjoying with the sound of the waves and took pics.





Countdown were at the beach and the hotel has kindly provided some small fire-works.





Breakfast was held at a coffee-house by the beach. Then later bee and i drove to check out other hotels nearby. Just in case we wanna go again to Cherating. The hotel we stayed were okey-lar but it needed some refurbishing cos weather and time has taken a toll on some of its structures.



Before leaving for KL, bee said we must check-out Kuantan latest mall. After checking out at 12:30 noon, we made a quick stop for some Keropok Lekor...memang sedap makan panas-panas. Kuantan's latest mall was said to be the biggest in Pantai Timur, East Coast Mall.




Found the place, it is quite big. They have 2 anchor tenant, Parkson and Carrefour. When i was studying there, there were only Teruntum. Now there're a lot of changes, few malls were open and a lot of new township opening. After jalan-jalan, we had our lunch at Pizza Hut.




Left Kuantan town around 3:45pm. Alhamdulilah, reached KL safely 3 hours later. It was a short drive and i thoroughly enjoyed my stay at the beach. Thank you bee for making it memorable.

Road Trip to Penang

Last friday, bee and i made a road trip to Penang. Wanted to have a break during the weekend. Actually the break is more about eating. We've been craving for authentic nasi kandar for some time oredi.

This time, everything has been arranged by my beloved other half. He arranged for accomodation, the trip and the food!! I think this is the most fullfilling trip to Penang ever!! We got to try different places and discover new eateries....syoknya!!

We left Shah Alam around 8:30am. I made us breakfast (sardine in olive-oil sandwiches) and 'ayam-salai' with coffee and we ate along the way while driving. We didn't wanna stop at any R&R and reached Butterworth around 12noon altho it was a leisure drive. Took the Ferry and get to park the car on the upper-deck of the ferry....nice view.

Tis time we stayed in Cititel. Reason being, its a walking distant to Chowrasta market. 2nd reason is its also walking distant to Sup Hameed. Since d petrol hike, bee planned that we do lots of walking instead of driving down to Chowrasta and don't waste unnecessary journey to find parking.

Oya, Cititel has upgraded its hotel. They've refurbished their rooms. This is how it looks like now and the view frm our room.