Malaysia Road Trip 2: Day 3- Sunway Lagoon - Desaru

Morning of check out at Sunway Lagoon, we were in search of breakfast at Pyramid Shopping Centre. We found that the ice skating ring was open and there were several skaters having early lessons. At 9.30am, most of the shops were closed, except fast food joints like Mac'Donalds & KFC. We were loitering around and saw that Dunkin' Donuts was opening. So we had donuts with hot coffee/tea. The little gal was gleeful as she got her choice donut (yeah the one w five jelly sugared sweets on it). I prefer good old donuts with sugar. ;)



After breakfast, hubby wanted to get some medication for his sore throat and sunburn... That was when the little gal made another request for the rides in the shopping centre. At level LG2, the mall has a small amusement park- where rides go at $5 per ride/pax (Mon-Fri) and $6 per ride/pax (weekends/sch holidays). Mummy caved in and she got to take the ferris wheel.

After the ride, it was a rush to pack & check out. Checking out at 11.30am, we hit the roads towards Desaru! After one stop for petrol and one for food at Ayer Keroh R&R), we reached Lotus Desaru at 530pm.

We had booked two 2-bedroom suites for 2 nights totaling RM2088. The price includes 4 pax breakfast, theme park entry passes, towel pass (theme park use). We were assigned Blk A306 & 308 with theme park facing. The master room has one King-sized bed and the second room had two super-single beds. The "master room" & attached bath were really spacious (with balcony). But the second room & connecting bathroom were v much smaller. Each toilet provided a small tube of bath gel & shampoo, 2 towels (nb: additional towels cost RM8 each). The "mini kitchen" came with coffee/tea making facilities, four bottles of mineral water, a microwave, some plates, spoon & fork.

We had a little delay as one of my trip mate's car powered window refuse to wind back! After the men of the 3 families battled it out w the power windows, they got blue plastic bags from the reception to tape up the open window. And one car was parked close by to ensure that no one could drive away that car in the night.

For dinner, we ate at Rhu Bar as it was already quite late... They served alcohol (cocktails & beer) and western food (spaghetti, pizza, burger, fish & chips, etc). We ordered Hawaiian Pizza and spaghetti bolognese. Food was ok but on the pricey end. My trip mate's fish & chips came with potato chips! (quite shocking) As we were too tired, no photos of the food were taken.

Malaysia road trip 2: Day 2 - Sunway Lagoon Theme Park

My trip mate's Malaysia friend brought us out for breakfast again! It was a very local place with lots of stalls selling a variety of food - like wan tan mee, prawn mee, char kway teow, fried fritters, fried Yong Tau Foo, etc.

After a long day yesterday, we were fairly tired this morning. While munching away, we totally forgot photos! *opps!* But I did save the location on my GPS. :p

Returning to the hotel, we headed for a spot of shopping at Jusco while fellow trip mate's daughter had a go at the ice skating ring! While at Jusco, we grabbed a fair bit of tidbits in anticipation of lesser facilities at Lotus Desaru.

SUNWAY LAGOON!
Shortly after noon, we purchased the tickets into the theme park. The theme park consist of 5 areas: water park, amusement park, wildlife park, extreme park & scream park. The tickets sold were per-day with no re-entry and you have to choose 3parks (water, amusement & wildlife - more for family w young kiddos) or 5parks (good for teenages or grown ups who want some trill!).

The 3 park tickets were RM80 & RM64 for adults and kids respectively. The tickets were given out in a form of a wrist band which will add a $10 refundable deposit to the ticket cost.

Later, hubby realized we had used the "side entrance" to enter which is directly to the water area. The water amusement is split into two. One side with sand (less crowded) and the other side with loud music (lots of teenages). The crowded side features a long water slide where u need to sit on those float to come down (imagine Big Splash?).

Anyway little gal prefers the less crowded side and she had a go on the blue slide (taking in lots of water *opps!)

After some 2 hrs of water play, we decided it was time to head out to the "wildlife park". Whilst small, it features quite some unique animals like the black panther, squirrels and a REALLY HUGE SNAKE. The close interaction with some feather friends like ducks and an entire peacock family was facinating (was told ita peacock, peahen & peachicks. REALLY?). Most of their exhibits could be found in the Singapore zoo. Terrain wise,there were lots of staircases and steep slopes which I found quite hard to manouver with a pram.

At about 430pm, we decided to get out quickly so the little gal could catch some nap. While on the way out, I spotted the amusement area! Already paid for the rides, so asked if the little gal was game to take a few simple rides. She said yes and off daddy went with her. See how bright her smiles were despite the "tiredness". :p

Review: Generally, one full day is ok. But no re-entry is really stretching it if your tod needs a nap. Due to the strict "no outside food & drinks" policy, you can't even bring in a mineral water bottle/hotel complimentary drinks/soft drinks & all food and snacks. Essentially forcing you to buy stuff when inside. *roll eyes*

Dinner @ Pyramid shopping centre - Dragon-i (龙的传人)

Decided to settle dinner at this restaurant that my trip mate said they tried before previously. The menu was the likes of Din-Tai-Feng & Crystal Jade Xiao Long Bao La Mian Restaurant.

We ordered their speciality -上海小笼包. The other items we ordered were seafood fried rice, fried pork rib la mian, beef brisket la mian, stir fried four seasons bean, sze chuan hot & sour soup. Food generally was good, and we especially love the 上海小笼包 (little gal loved the soup in the dumpling).

We also ordered cold desserts - mango sago , 龟苓膏 and aloe vera osmatus. Desserts were not only served 30 mins late, it was totally forgettable!!! Service was quite terrible- missing our order, serving staff who could not understand English/Chinese, dirty empty plates cluttered the entire table during the meal! *tsk tsk!* luckily food was still ok.

After dinner activity: Shopping!!!
A spot of retail never disappoints. I got a pair of shorts and little gal has new hairclips from FOS!!! Pyramid Shopping Centre offers a large variety with anchor tenants like Jusco and Parkson. On the lowest floor, there is also a mini amusement park which offers ferris wheel rides, 碰碰车 & others. It's really nice to hang out there ( v comfy for SIngaporeans to c familiar brands like Cold Storage, Pet Lovers centre, Optical 88, etc!

Malaysia road trip : Day 1: Sunway Lagoon

This was a trip we planned earlier this year. It was decided that the families will drive up. 3 families, 3 cars and 3 walkie talkies.

This time we were late! *oops because I was feeling sick the night before. Luckily, 2 panadols solved the problem!*

First stop: Ba Kut Teh/Claypot Chicken @ JB

Pretty heavy breakfast isn't it. This was raved by my trip mates since 2 years ago... Food came piping hot in really BIG claypots! Soup was especially flavourful and chicken was soft. The side dishes (cai-buey & braised tau pok) were also good! We paired with Chinese Tea! *yumz*

Hotel of choice: Hotel Pyramid

We booked the room only (no theme park view) at RM380++ per night. The carpark has a total of six basements and if you intend to get free parking, do not use the Touch & Go, opt for the ticket instead.

Hotel room is really clean, big & spacious. The room we chose is a King sized bed. The little gal will sleep in her baby cot which was finally delivered just before her sleep time. :p

Tea break: Georgetown Coffee

We didn't have proper lunch so some of us were famished by 4pm. Walked by and saw a sign that says "Heritage Specials"... And Friday's special was "Asam Laksa". It was pretty good (hot & spicy). The bee hoon was thick but sadly it was not served piping hot ...

Fringe Activity- Pool Fun:
We've decided to break up and do our own thing after tea break. Little gal's choice was none other than WATER! Although there's a theme park, the Pyramid Resorts & Spa (which is a distance walk from our hotel, Sunway Pyramid Hotel) has a very pretty "waterfall" pool of their own. The poolside also has a active "pub" which serves drinks/ice cream to guests while their kids waddle & splash around nearby...

Dinner - steamboat
A Malaysian friend bought us for steamboat dinner. That area has loads of steamboat/BBQ eateries which reminds me of old time Marina area. The eateries will also "chop" carpark lots for their customers. Sadly, this steamboat place we visited has mostly seafood (lala, cockles, mussels, bamboo clam, etc). Not really a fan since I prefer meat... :p spread wise was still ok.

Supper? - Lok Lok & Chips

As the steamboat was not really "meaty" enough, we were still quite hungry. The Pyramid shopping centre (connected to our hotel) was already closed so we headed to 7-eleven across the hotel to grab some snacks!

The Lok-Lok stall was just outside 7-eleven and it caught my attention! Been to malaysia so often, I've seen many such stalls. This one is exceptionally busy and the food were resting on solid ice for freshness. Decided to give it a shot. Total, I had 5 sticks (quail eggs, fishball, cheese sausage, deep fried charsiew bacon & pig blood). Total damage was RM11.40.

I was pretty sua-ku because the regulars were cooking & eating away while i was figuring how the system works. For fried stuff, u tell uncle. For soup cooked items, u do it yourself. Grab a styrofoam as plate if u eating there. Generally I don't think it's cheap? But it was really an experience and it was definitely fun to be cooking the sticks of food on your own... And of course, PIG BLOOD (my favorite la which is extinct in Singapore...).

Sadly, no photos because our phones and camera were in the hotel... :p

Work trip to KL

It's one of those trips where I stayed in a hotel without a room mate. Times like these calls for wild imagination where ghost or supernatural stuff occurring before yr eyes ranks number one!

Anyway it's my 3rd work trip. This time with my direct supervisor. Our room doors were adjacent to each other so I had better sense of security. ;)

We booked a "budget hotel" where the standard room without breakfast cost us about RM 60 per night. The Ancasa Hotel is a stone throw away from Petaling Jaya (KL's Chinatown), less than 5 mins away. Nearby are Guardian pharmacy, 7-eleven, Populars, Starbucks, KFC and Macdonalds... ;)

Exit the right of the hotel is a train station which is linked to the metro line (ie can take metro to Bukit bintang). Other than train, can also exit right and walk along the road. About 15 mins slow walk to Bukit Bintang (KL's shopping belt) and Jalan Alor (a eating place popular among tourist - stir fry, BBQ, etc).

Being the 4th visit to KL and the 2nd time to stay outside of Bukit Bintang, I must say this hotel is quite value for money (compared to Equitorial). The room was freshly refurbished. The only thing is the toilet was quite small (quite alright if u don't need to shower the kids cos only got the rain bath shower head!). The hotel has 14 stories and we stayed on the 7th floor.

My boss had problems unique to his room (bath drainage was slow and one of the room windows cannot close fully - so he could hear the traffic downstairs).

My perception of the hotel was generally good but i can list a few things for you to note:
-they are not very good in giving directions for tourist. Forgiven since most of their guest are locals.
- car park is cramp and small. Some cars would park illegally and that makes manuvoring a bigger car challenging. Car park lots are limited.
- no free WIFI/newspaper in standard rooms
- basic toiletries ( towels, soap, shower gel, hair wash, cotton buds and seeing kit avail) but no toothbrush and tooth paste and comb.
- room service is MAD expensive!

Here are the photos I took of the hotel standard room: