Day 3 | Things To Do In Johor Bahru

I just found out that I have Ergophobia. It is very serious apparently, it hit me unexpectedly since Sunday and out of sudden too. Sometimes it is also intentionally lead by me and obviously I can't control it. But today, I tried hard to fight it, do remember it has no CURE (for me at least). Some might know this well (or too well) and for those who don't, I think it is only fair for you to know what is Ergophobia. Well... Ergophobia is actually FEAR OF WORK! Hhahahahhah.... for me (TODAY), it's work=work I feared (ie office work). And of cause blog work as well lar.... liat gilos!

But a blogger have to do what a blogger have to do (especially us travelholic blogger, hahahah.... POYO!). So, here I am... forcing and sparing this little window of tiny opportunity that I have before my Ergophobia find it's way to me (yet again, GILER DRAMA). I shall continue to blog on my entry of Day 3 in Johor Bahru (macam ler gi Europe... Ek elllaaaa).

Dataran Bandaraya Johor Bahru located on Jalan Datuk (as if I know specifically, this is definitely with the help of Mr. Google ok!) and have 2 sports fields...in front; we passed by this area by accident and was fascinated with the bright yellow coloured tower againts the clear blue sky with coconut tree swinging to the music of Tebrau Straight breeze (amboi, over sentence nih). As usual, we stopped and took few snapshots. Happy blogger!

Sultan Abu Bakar State Mosque positioned between Jalan Abu Bakar/Jalan Masjid Abu Bakar/Jalan Gertak Merah, constructed from 1892 with Moors & Victorian/British touch. It set itself on a pristine hill facing the Tebrau Straight. Serious cantek....

It is open for public but this Sultan Abu Bakar State Mosque is not open for non-Muslim though, if I am not wrong it's operating hours for visitor is from 10am - 6pm from Saturday to Thursday except during prayers time. Having said this, do check prior to visiting.

 

Next... Johor Zoo. Obviously I AM MORE EXCITED then my nieces. Really...!!! Tak tipu! Hahhah..... I got us all the same theme shirts by the way.. Miss Sunshine & Mr Happy. Got it in Singapore the day before.

The zoo is not that big but ok lar for tourist like us. We didn't do the whole round but the girls rode the pony instead... I can't for very obvious reason, DON'T ASK!!! MENCI!

Seriously Fatin, the hourse aren't even galloping, drama giler mengejar.

Maira's turn for the ride....

Sultan Abu Bakar Royal Palace Museum and yes, this too was built in the 1800s. Till then, I never knew Johor have this many old buildings... and the best thing is that the government maintains it very very extremely well.

I honestly did not enter this museum as we kinda ran over time but I do and must revisit Johor again. Trust me!

As we were finding our way out, we found an abandon building and this unique tree, I am CLUELESS of the type, hence if you have any knowledge to share.... PLEASE DO.

This is the close up version. Pretty huh...

It bears fruit too... doubt it's edible... but still am curious. Aren't you?

Last building that we visited, this is an interesting piece as well; it's Johor's Sultan Ibrahim Building, it's the state government building. This too was build in good old days of 1940 thus the architecture is different yet again from other states government buildings in other states.

Then we decided we had enough and time constraint too (after all, it's a 4.5hours journey back to Kuala Lumpur), we call it a day in Johor and head back to Kuala Lumpur city centre. But but but......

Idowannagohome

Taipa Tulip in Macau

Day 5 (27 December 2009). In canto sounds like - a lot (taipa 很多) of Tulips.

Haven’t really been in my best/top form, very busy and very tired, very duh; maybe the weather not agreeing with me or perhaps PMS. Thus, effected my mood to blog despite that I have 1001 things in my mind to pen down, YET just couldn’t find the “reason” to start…sigh… (more of excuses not too!) bad sign ie LAZY MOOD COMING!

HOWEVER, I shall try to blog; since normally my so called “MOOD” tend to pick up and strangely it can influence me mood to be perkier and funnier…ahhaha…. (fake laugh).

Ah! I think I know why! The last day of this trip has nothing much to “brag” about, first of all, am totally CLUELESS on the public transport. Secondly, the locals can’t speak English much…. Even road sign is in Portugese and it doesn’t help as the locals (mostly) only know the road name in Chinese - massive chicken & duck talk. And thirdly, RAIN! And I am not talking about the Korean HUNK cum singer cum actor cum my boyfriend (dream on Lily)…. OK! OK! Really check! But he is yummy right! RIGHT! RIGHT!

Let’s start…. Hemmm…. It started with me splitting with the rest (8 of my relatives) as the van unable to fit all of us in and also the fact that I’ve booked a different flight time (they're going straight to the airport after their sightseeing). Oh! By the way, the driver can’t speak a word of English, am very worried for my cousins… But I guess I need to trust them to be able to manage the situation, after all they all traveled before. This should be fun maah... After everything settled, I “bye-bye”ed them and waited for the public transport to Taipa Island, we thought we cover the furthest one first and move slowly to those within the city area.

The hotel reception gave us the direction on how about to take the public bus and off we go… WHY CAN’T THEY HAVE A HOHO (Hop-on Hop-off) sigh…. Life could have been much easier (Enough complaining Lily!). We head to Taipa House Museum, I honestly didn’t expect much… but I was surprise; for one, they have nice looking GREEN HOUSES and TULIPSSSSS! We spent a loooooooong time there, took pics like nobody's business ie like a monkey receiving a torchlight (it’s a Malay simile ie the monkey will keep using the torchlight even though in broad daylight).

The bus journey was 30 mins long, Taipa is basically totally another island from Macau which I thought kinda interesting as I always thought that Macau consist of ONE ISLAND ONLY. Ignorant!

We alight upon reaching our stop, aimlessly looking for the direction and finally saw it up on a shop. We walked up the steps and saw this small lane which reminded me of Granada (missed Spain so much).

Then we stumbled into Carmo Church and Library, it’s looks and feels old and ancient and somewhat European…. Hemm….. And we thought this can’t be it, they said GREEN maa…. Took few pics and search for my green houses, then that’s when I realized my sis was no where to be found, PANIC! Walked everywhere in the compound, tried calling, did not pick up… shucks! WHERE?!??!?! Then I heard noises below far far far away, I followed it, that’s when I saw my GREEN HOUSES and she is already there. ARGH…. Upset!

A little bit about this Taipa Houses Museum, basically it was built in 1921, and apparently it had been the residences for high superiors and Macanese families. And in the 80's, the Tourist Department of Macau bought and recovered them. An then, in late 90's, the government decided to fully remodel them, upon recognizing its important architectural value thus transforming them into museums and renaming the houses as "Macanese House", "House of the Islands", "House of the Portugal Regions", "Exhibition Gallery" and "House for Reception".

One thing for sure, the area was CROWDED, might be due to the holiday season. Tried my best to take pics of the houses…. Cause later I definitely focusing on the TULIP!

I need not say much here lar… it’s Tulip all the way……..

And more Tulip…

And even more…

Then it RAIN! YUP! We took the bus back to Macau Island and stopped at Grand Lisboa & Wynn but was disappointed obviously; I mean, after you have seen Venetian Macao Resort Hotel, the rest is almost nothing compared….

We walked to Senado Square as my sis wanted to buy a pair of jeans, and I was dead bored in Giordano, Bossini & Baleno…. And I decided to go off to the airport earlier so that we can rest(more like sleep) there (our flight was pushed 2 hours behind). Way tooo tired to walk.

Lily signing off - last trip 2009. (mood mood where are you?)

Hyperlink Credit : Wikipedia, Lonelyplanet, Kpop, Venetian Macau, Grand Lisboa, Wynn Macau, Macau Government Tourisme Board

Macau Magic - Cirque du Soleil

Day 4 (26 December 2009). It's a kind of magic.

I‘ve been sooooooo absolutely busy lately, I have to helped with the dept trip of 100pax, I have my personal end month trip to Chiang Mai to Bangkok to plan & book, 2 workshops to manage, 1 event to organise, quarter 2 funding to submit, budget to plan…. Ads to finalized…. Etc etc etc…. ARGH!!!! SUPER DUPER BUSY MONTH! And I sooo wanna blog to forget my work! I believe it’s called WORK LIVE BALANCE - of which is lacking! I even went to office on a Sunday and rushed back to attend my darling niece’s birthday. BUT BUT BUT the thing is…. I work better under pressure; unfortunately you die faster too….(so they say) sigh….. I need to take it slooooooowly. Breath in……… breath out…… Inhale….. Outhale (!!??!?!)…..heeehehe ops! Exhale I mean….
;p

Let’s trip blooooooog……

I went a bit dress-overboard for this… as usual I must look good for any photo session in every country, so much so that I can’t or should I won’t (DON’T) be repeating the same clothes I wore per country, not to mentioned those longer holidays; I make sure all colours planned, coordinate with the excursion, the site, the sky, the scenery etc etc etc…. HEY! I will even change my hair style - KID YOU NOT. Been preaching this to all my friends and my colleagues AND my friends fully agree and doing it too…. YUP! DRAMA QUEEN! (or some said CAMW***E, my nieces/nephews my be reading blog…. Aunt Lily need to watch out what she says in the blog) But seriously! I fork out a lot of money per trip (aaaaand before). I mean, I BETTER look GOOD right… I even have tips on this for people….. Haahahaha…. (really! After all, I AM not gonna go back yo THAT country JUST BECAUSE am not satisfied with the pics I’ve taken, I have no one to blame but myself for this mah… right!? Thus, solution = I better be prepared and be a drama queen - it’s for the better of the world… and MOI ofcos :p)

The main question is why is today abit different? Hemm….

1. We are going to Macau - totally different country
2. Taking ferry - different experience
3. Going to Venetian - definitely different ambience
4. Cirque du Soleil - different… HEY! need I say more!?!?

You heard it alwight! Am going to watch THE Cirque du Soleil (note the word “T.H.E” in CAPITAL!) the last time I watched this was in Las Vegas about 12-14 years back… Finally. Again. Now (targeting the one in Japan too this or next year). Excited! Excited! EXXXCITED! Watched the preview on my notebook many a times….looks great, am sure the live show will even be better. Very the kan cheong…
OK! Back to the storyline… ( I can reaaaally be long winded!) Wake up early, reached ferry terminal on time, but somehow the queue was EXCEPTIONALLY long, and we were called for boarding by the time we reach our turn at the immigration (sort of), apa lagi… run like make woman/girl/boy (imagine ALL 10 of us… screaming and shouting = PANDAMONIUM) luckily we’ve checked in our bigger luggage, else KANTOI punya. NO way am “seret-ing” my huge luggage for 300 mtr (seret = drag). Board the ferry, 5 min after that it depart Hong Kong… new journey awaits us…ceh wah…

Guess what? Some of my relative mabuk laut (seasick)…. Hence, they choose to take a nap, somehow lil’ Misha rugged (age 8) - no seasick… infact she was playing my sis’s Nintendo Lite. Way to go Mish! Uni can take you on trips again… anyway, the queue at the immigration was also looooooooong - peak period with the Christmas holiday, school holiday & new year holiday (what a time to pick a trip huh!). After queuing for 1 hour, we manage to get a van that can FIT ALL 10 of us, and off we go to the hotel… a real hotel this time (Macau Master Hotel = cheap, English speaking, friend, helpful, decent and near Senado Square) NOT hostel as like in Hong Kong. Heehehhee…. My cousin said, finally rasa macam orang kaya sikit….ahahhahah…. I kinda agree…. Oh well, we checked in and agreed to come down at 3pm sharp to hitch the free shuttle to Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel. Yup! The KEY activity in Macau - Cirque du Soleil. We took a quick snack in our room which should reads it as Maggie Mee, roti with serunding and nasi him pit with sambal ikan bilis = YUMMY!

All came down on time, boarded the bus and off to our show. It was a 30 mins journey…. And you can see the mega structure of Venetian Macau Resort Hotel from afar…. Really breathtaking…. Inside was even more breathtaking…. It also took our heart, eyes, leg, hand, CAMERA away…. Word can’t describe….
How best can I show everyone…. I guess post as much pics as possible - so pleaseeeeee don’t be bored yah, just that it’s tooooooooo beautiful!

OK! Some pics of us human too against the nice building, canal and the indoor sky effect! Love it!

The funny thing is that everyone was excited about the canal and they want and must have a pic together gather with THE CANAL…..sigh… me included
:p

Anyone watches Korean movie or listens to Korean song? If you do, the reddish pics if “inspired” by 2pm - HEARTBEAT performance. SEEEEEE!!!! Everyone was surprise, shocked and amazed even flabbergasted with them. You know me… love the drama, it’s like a must have kinda thingy…. Else it felt incomplete! The kids as usual will corporate with my nonsense. YEAY TO KIDS!

This is my sis favourite - HELLO KITTY! She bought one shirt - I “Hello Kitty” Macau; she is a collector of I “heart” xxxx country. Was ecstatic to purchase her shirt and I bought one for her as well… Yup! That night she slept exceptionally well dreaming of Hello Kitty. Fatin! Say thank you to you sis!

Argh…. We need to rush to our Cirque du Soleil…. So busy taking pics we almost overlook at the time… shucks! By the way, did some googling Cirque du soleil means "Circus of the Sun". is a Canadian entertainment company, self-described as a "dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment." Based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul in 1984 by two former street performers, Guy Laliberté and Daniel Gauthier. Now that we all know, we feel smart huh.

Sorry no pics on this as we are not allowed to take any pics during the show, but we manage to take after and outside the show…. Kinda consoling lor… at least mah. About my nephew pic here…hemm…. We’ll let him explain himself…. I just thought it… cool & creative. I went to Macau Hard Rock Hotel to buy my collection of Hard Rock shirt and shot glass for Andrea and also a shirt for my cousin before go back to Macau island. Oh! A little info of which I too was not aware, Those big casino are located in Taipa island except for Grand Lisboa and Wynn and MGM.

After settling my sourvenirs, we took the bus back to hotel and decided to take night pics of the famous Ruins of St. Paul. the façade of what was originally the Cathedral of St. Paul, a 17th century Portuguese cathedral in Macau dedicated to Saint Paul the Apostle. The Ruins of St. Paul were officially enlisted as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Yeay! One more UNESCO site in my list.

OK! OK! OK! Before showing how it actually look like, we need to walk ie cut thru the Senado Square, it was Christmassy I must say with the Chinese lantern Santa Claus, all the lights with touches of Portugese old architecture…. Really different I must say.

One thing I like about Senado Square is the perspective path… somehow it look good in the pic or at least to me lar…

The excitement as we approach St. Paul ruins at night time…

Ta dah……. The ruins itself! I took EVERY ANGLE I can think of (which is only 1 so far)….. with my normal boring digital old auto camera… I guess this is the time you wish you have a DSLR; thus only showcasing 3. Oh! The ruins are only of this one flat piece meaning there nothing at the back of the wall…. What a sight neh…

It was approaching midnight… we're calling it a day… or a night? Hemm....

Tomorrow? It’s tulip season in Macau!

Credit Hyperlink : Wikipedia, Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel, Cirque du Soleil, Wynn Macau, Grand Lisboa Macau, Hard Rock Hotel Macau, UNESCO, Macau Master Hotel

Memorable Morib, Mysterious Jugra

Day 2 (2 May‘09). Beach and palace in one trip.


Done with the beach, now gearing on the rustic old royal town of Jugra. Seriously, never heard of this name before (except for Stadium Jugra located in Bukit Jalil! Memang dasar buta local history /geography).

First destination, The old Alaeddin Palace or Istana Alaeddin. All I can say is that even the road leading to bthis great historical sight is abit…. How should I put it…? Deceiving? Weird? Spooky? (the mist and drizzle the help!?!) To a point, I doubted that we on the right road, wishes we has a GPS or something… but we did manage to find the palace…. Phew!

A little walk down the memory lane about this palace, shall we… It used to be the royal capital of Selangor when Sultan Abdul Samad decided to move there back in 1875 till 1898. Sultan Alaeddin became the fifth Selangor Sultan and began to plan for the construction of City/Town Palace or Istana Bandar. This palace was built in 1905 and he lived there for 35 years until his death.

The palace was built on a 13 acre land and has two levels with 15 rooms. After more than 100 years, this structure still remain strong today, the evidence of the excellent engineering skills of the people during that time. The architecture of the palace is based on Malay design but with the influence of Chinese, Indian, European and Islamic features. Later He then decided to move his official residence to Klang.

As the day was gloomy, it kinda effected our mood I supposed, we all unanimously agreed to go home BUT not after stopping at Restoran Cendol Ibrahim Banting, “why” you might ask. No particular reason, just that we “suspected”, it must or should be really delicious for the owner to bravely put up a display of such; he felt that his cendol is the best in Banting, perhaps…!?! Hehhehe….. Any challenger?

Well…. We drove back happily and sleepily.

Credit : Wikipedia, Malaysia Vacation Guide

A weird morning... road trip!?!

Day 1 (1 May‘09). WHAT???

Bosan!!!!…. as I balik-ed awal today. Hemmm….. Then me thought to MEself, why not I blog (sometimes it is pretty addictive, at times boriiiiiiiiiiiing). The other problem would be which country should I pick from my list, right? After careful thoughts, I think think and thonk thonk….. Ahhh!!!! I shall do local, but… local yang mana satu? Macam ler I banyak travel in country kan, actually; that’s my biggest problem, I don’t travel in-country much, I haven’t even been to east coast!!! East Malaysia dah sampai but more to business trips. Abit sad lar…

It started with my cousin, Tina calling me up at about 10-11ish on a Saturday, asking me “Jom gi road trip?” Strange question from her I thought but since it’s about traveling…. I’ll find any excuse to go lar. I said “Where to?…”

“MORIB!”

I SERIOUSLY thought I am hearing things. “WHAT?????” Tried to persuade her to go Malacca instead (my favourite state ler kan) as I have a “hidden agenda“ - framed porcelain spoon set (a real beauty). Hehehhee…. We tried calling a baba & nyonya hotel in Malacca (I believed it is called Puri Hotel) but all hotels in Malacca was fully booked (is there an event there that I don’t know!??!) After much persuasion, I agreed on Morib….. Give Morib a benefit of doubt I figure. Tak suka, balik ler kann… bukannye jauh sangat after all. Oh! I told her I can’t be driving as I just went for knee ligament operations few weeks ago (due to my jump act during my Penang excursion just more then a month back - jalan lagi!).

SET! She came and pick me up about an hour after and off we goooo MORIB! SIGH….. We managed to google a hotel in Banting but personally it doesn’t look enthusiastic nor welcoming. We decided to drive to Morib itself and IF (and I said “IF“) then we see one we liked, we do a walk-in. Sounds like a superb plan! SEALED!

We reached Morib after close to 2 hours of driving, “bumped” into Impian Hotel. OK, here’s the thing, we called them earlier, they said they were fully booked due to an event in Jugra, but when we got there, they have a 1 chalet available “STILL” - only for walk-ins guest. And guess what, we JUST WALKED IN. Hahahahhaaa…. Checked-in, dump our luggage and head back to Banting for lunch (abit too late for lunch though but who cares, we were ROAD TRIP!!!). Well… we had lunch at KFC Banting and did a little snack shopping for evening time (The Store there is quite INTERESTING, bought few stuff too) and head for the BEACH!

I have NO, CORRECTION! ZERO EXPECTATION of Morib beach, always thought it’s gonna be dirty and unpretty lar… Saw the signage that says Morib beach, look for parking and parked our car. The scenary while we were walking was pleasant, golf course, arched tress, sun shinning thru…. I have to admit, this is a surprise… infact I took a few pics along the road.

As we walk closer to the beach, there was a futsal sand field; few kids playing kites there… ok! So far, so good….!

EH! WHERE? WHERE? WHERE? Where IS the beach? Cause I only see more trees, benches, playground and even more kid playing kites (more then you get to see in PD). A bit worried now…. I AM gonna be disappointed, I knew it!

Just about then, I saw THE beach, it’s weird cause then only I realized and remembered, Morib is NOT a “swimming” beach, well… at least not at where we are now lar…. But the scenery was BEAUUUUUTIFUL (MALU pulak to myself now!)

My nieces love running on the beach, playing kites and chasing the tiny crabs....

...and my sis and I?…… snappy snap all the way (Yup! I created a monster!).

I guess…. Morib is nice place for a family outing, where one can have a picnic by the sea, see kids enjoying themselves at playground (by the beach, how cool is that!) and chillexing with a yummy icecream, ahhahahaa….. that’s me ofcozzzz.

Well, as it approaches evening, we decided to head back to our cozy little chalet and chill, the kids wanted to go for a swim at the pool and my leg needed the deserved rest, my sis just wanna lepak…. I suppose it works well for all of us. We ordered room service and cook some maggies before we called it a night.

Sigh….. Have always loved the sunset… God is GREAT!

Credits : Wikipedia, MDKL, Hotel Puri