TGV Mesra Mall, Kerteh

When I started working in Kerteh 5 years ago, the place have nothing. Apart from Mc'Donalds where I used to hang out with friends for hours, the place have no other evidence of civilization. My friend and I used to refer Kerteh as "land of coconut tree" because of the obvious reasons.

But over the years, the place is starting to develop. More shop-houses, double lane roads, and a few kopitiam style joints for us to hang out at. And just before I left for KL, they even have a new mall!

Mesra Mall, is the name of the mall. Before i left, there were only few shops are open. Pizza Hut, Guardian, Reject Shop, Big Apple (we bought doughnuts every day! sebab jakun sangat) and Starbucks, yes, no kidding!

But recently, more interesting shops are slowing adding to the list. Body shop, toys 'R' us, Tanamera Spa, Burger King, Sports Planet futsal court, Bowling Alley, Kareoke (bukan kareoke jamban ye, ni sama taraf dgn Red-Box)and yang paling saya impressssss..... *drum roll*....... TGV Cinema!


Sparkling new TGV Cinemas... I was so impressed that I didnt even blink my eye... its in Kerteh people. Land of coconut.



Is that awesome or what? Budak-budak baru posting to this place, jangan la mengada2 nak cakap boring ke apa. The place was nothing during my time (rasa dah tua pulak). Fire-fly now flies to Kerteh (dulu takde ok), and the roads are well connected to the LPT highway (we had to use the trunk-road before to get to the highway from Kerteh). And now, you get to sip a cup of freshly brewed coffee from Starbucks in the Morning, have your lunch at Burger King and watch movie at night with friends at TGV! and all this is in Kerteh! pergghhhh... gile hebat.

Mee Udang Juru / Kuala Juru

Meh nak cerita kat korang pasal mee udang juru pulak. This is one of the recommended place to eat mee udang in the North.


A friend of mine who gave the direction to this restaurant told me that there are 2 stalls that is famous in Juru. The first one is slightly more expensive (and less tasty) compared to the second one. But unfortunately, the second one is closed on the day that I went there (31/10/10).


By the time hubby and I reached the restaurant, it was already 6.30pm and the place is packed! parking penuh and tables are fully occupied. So we double parked our car, and decided to tapau instead (since still kenyang from our late lunch)


The price of the mee udang is fixed at RM10 sebungkus, unlike the mee udang Sg Dua which is based on harga udang. (Kedai kedua yang tutup tu, harga dia RM6/RM7 sebungkus.. bezakan!!)


So we had the mee udang once we reached KL at about 11pm.




Nampak sedap kan? Tapi tak sedap sebenarnya. Bak kata hubby "tak sedap langsung, lagi sedap maggi yang awak masak"... funny! Tapi seriously, memang tak sedap. Tak berbaloi. And you have to make extra effort to get to the restaurant since you will have to divert quite far from the highway. Kalau sedap tak pe la kan.. haih..


Yang mee udang Sg Dua tu, dah la sedap gile, nak pegi pun senang, very near to the highway. Takyah divert jauh sangat


This is the picture with out flash.. hehehe..


The only plus point is the prawns is huge and banyak. 4 ekor dalam satu bungkus mee udang. And of course, it is very2 fresh too...

How to get there:

Address: 385, MK 12, Bagan Nyior Juru 14000 Bukit Mertajam.
Opening Hours: Sunday to Monday 12.30pm-10.00pm; Friday 11:30am – 10:00pm
Contact: 012-409 0771, 012-493 5771
GPS: N05″ 19.609′, E100″ 24.886′

Sirap Bandung? Mee Bandung?

I've been wanting to visit Bandung like forever. The story about factory outlets and cheap kain2 doesn't really help to fight my temptation. There are few friends of mine who visit Bandung frequently each year to shop. Gile kan?

So one day, when I was browsing Air Asia website out of boredom, I found a very interesting package. It is their "last minute deal" package. Flight ticket (KUL - BDO - KUL) + Hotel (4Star) + tax = RM450/ pax (for 3D2N). Isn't that amazing?!

So Bandung it is! It was, like the package suggest, a last minute deal. So we booked the package and left for Bandung in less then 1 month!

I was told not to visit Bandung as the traffic (vehicle traffic as well as human traffic) can be really mad. People from Jakarta will drive up to Bandung for their weekly shopping too. So we decided to go on Thursday, Friday & Saturday.

This is Bandung Airport. Bandara Husein Sastranegara Bandung. I was surprise that the Airport is so small. Lebih kurang macam airport Kuantan. And unlike any other Airports in Malaysia, this airport located just by the road side. Macam Bus stand je.. comel kan.

The outside view of our Hotel; Arion Swiss belhotel, Bandung. (Tak amik pulak the front view, cacat). Ada terjadi sedikit drama when we first arrived Bandung. See, few days before leaving for Bandung, I e-mailed the hotel asking them to arrange for pick-up from Airport to the hotel. The hotel replied saying that they will provide free pick-up, and I was really pleased. Se asked me my flight details and the next day we left for Bandung. Sampai Bandung, I saw a few guys holding the placard with names of guest that they want to pick-up. I walk front and back few times trying to locate our names, tapi takde. aaahh.. sudah! Luckily our phone is on roaming so we called the hotel. The receptionist told me that she replied my email (which I did not read) saying that our booking is not in the system. How is that possible since the payment went through and we have the confirmation slip. So the receptionist cleared out the matter with Go-Holiday AirAsia, and apperently go-holiday mis-communicated the info. Crap!

Sebab dah malas nak tunggu, I decided to just take a cab straight to the hotel.

Nasib la this hotel is very nice. So is the staff. The check in is smooth, and the best part is our room were upgraded, for free!

The room is really huge. Rasanya those traveling with kids will fit this room comfortably. I like the fact that the room is fully carpeted (I prefer room with carpet or if no carpet, wooden flooring would do :D)

The bed is really comfy, and our room comes with free wi-fi and a Personal Computer, yes, your read right, a PC! HEAVEN... hehehe

This is th bathroom. Takde bathtub, but most importantly is the fact that it is sparkling clean! (I did read a few reviews for hotels in Bandung that has crappy toilet, yuck).

The roof top swimming pool. The challet that you can see at the far-end, is the spa..

It was already late by the time we settle down in the room (Kat Bandung gelap awal, by the time 7pm, it was already pitch black, like 9pm Malaysia!). So we decided to just check out Pasar Baru (which is just 10mins walking distance from our hotel), and later go for dinner.

We had to cross this railway in order to get to Pasar Baru. Tangga dia sangat la tinggi dan curam. Kat hujung tu you can see Bandung Train Station. This is one of the mode of transport if you want to go to Jakarta. Tapi keretapi dia agak horror.. macam dalam cerita Tamil.. huhu
]Our dinner on the first night @ Bumbu Desa. We were quite worried of the price since this restaurant is quite expensive in Malaysia. But to our surprise, it only cost us RP75,000! (+-RM25). murah gile kan! sedap gile pulak tu... yummy!

The second day was spent for what else? Shopping!!!!

As you know, kat sana memang banyak Factory Outlet. But I think you need to be choosy. Ada few outlets yang totally rubbish. Jual baju yang ntah apa2.. tau2 dia tampal je well known brand like Zara, Top Shop, etc. (We can know as shops like Zara and Top Shop have their signature design, and we know for fact they dont design that kind of range).

But there are few that I really2 like. To name a few are Rumah Mode and Secret. We spent most of our time and err... money at these two place. The items that they sold are high in quality and most importantly cheap! The price might be slightly higher then any other factory outlet, but you know for sure they sell authentic products.

Owh, and I got Victoria Secret lace nighties for RM50! lawa gile ok!

This is the ice-blended that we had at Rumah Mode. And it is really2 good!

This is what we purchased after 2 days!

This is the famous Kartika Sari that sells brownies and few other items. Frankly I think this shop is over rated. I managed to buy another best selling brownies in Bandung which is Amanda ). I eat a small slice in the hotel room, and the next day when I woke up, the brownies is full of ants! sakit nye hati!

If to compare between Amanda (RP30,000) and Kartika Sari (RP35,000), I prefer Amanda. You can find a lot of people selling Amanda Brownies along major roadside, however Kartika Sari is only available at their outlets (which are only a few). And the kedai sangat la ramai orang.

Kartika Sari Cheese Brownies (I like this one better compared to the chocolate one) - RP35,000

Kartika Sari Chocolate Brownies (I prefer Amanda's!) - RP35,000

Roti pisang (Banana Bread). I saw many of the customer who came to Kartika Sari shop bought this. It is their best seller. And it smelled nice too. So I bought one. But unfortunately, I dont like it. Inside the bun, you can literally find banana which was not crushed. Seketul2. And some of banana are not ripe enough. Disgusting. But like I said, it was their best seller. Feel free to try it when you are in Bandung :)

Our breakfast on the last day in Bandung. The hotel served nice breakfast. Ok la for the price that we paid.

Lunch that we had on the last day. It was in the Food Court of Pasar Baru. It was recommended by our friends. Bawal bakar tu sangat sedap. Nama kedainye, Gala Karunia. Cari la ye..

So Bandung, till we meet again (we will meet again!)

Hai Peng Kopitiam

If you happen to pass-by Kemaman on your way to Terengganu or happened to be anywhere near, do drop by at this famous Coffee Shop; Hai Peng (seriously, rugi tak singgah!)

My ol' time favorite drink is COCO LAVA. It is coffee blended with vanilla ice-cream. SANGAT SEDAP. It is way sedap compared to any other high-end-branded-coffee-shop and way cheaper too (but it comes in one size only. So jangan la ngada2 nak mintak small, tall, or grande :p)


Owh, and dont forget to try its roti bakar too. Kaya dia best. If you wanna tapau some as a souvenirs back home, they do sell their kopi (3in1 or 2in1) and kaya.

Hai Peng Kopitiam

3753 Jalan Sulaimani
Chukai
24000 Kemaman
Terengganu
(6.45am – 6pm)
09 859 7810

post vacation

Hubby and I just returned from our short trip. We had so much fun! I enjoyed every moment that we spent together. Every journey, every day, we discovered something new about each other. Bad things, good things, things that made us loose our temper, things that we like to do, etc. Everyday we learned (and still learning) something new about each other. And accepting each others flaw.

Our flight from Bandung back to Malaysia was rescheduled to 8pm local time (it was delayed by 3 hours!). We arrived KL at 11pm. By then me and hubby was so beat up. Hubby had to carry and managed all of our 3 bags. Beg that we checked in weigh 15kg, his hand luggage weigh 5kg, my hand luggage weigh 8kg and that is 28kg in total! haha

He is still in bed now... sian dia. Lucky that today is Sunday and we have the whole day to recuperate.

You are suppose to come back from holiday glowing and energized, but we are in a total opposite.

But man, the shopping makes all the tiredness worth while.

I will update more in my next entry (with lots of pics).

Happy Sunday peps!

Bukit Gambang Resort City

Are you running out of ideas on where to take your family for the next family vacation? Try Bukit Gambang Resort City for a change.

I'm in charge to plan and organize my Company's Family Day so we are considering to have it here. I went there last week to check out on the facilities and rooms, so feast your eyes! The place is quite awesome. It is totally family friendly (but kinda boring for couples like me and hubby. hehehe)

Here is the apartment (It is an apartment concept)

The pool area near the Coffee House & Lobby

Kitchen area, except, you cant actually cook here. There's a fridge and coffee & tea making facilities.

The spacious living room area. (TV dia sgt kecik.. hehe). This is a 2 bed-room apartment by the way.

2 Super-sized single bed in both rooms. Up to 4 adults can sleep on this bed, no?

The spacious coffee-house. We had our breakfast here.

You can take this tramp to get to the water park.RM1 per adult per trip (one way).
Entrance to the Water Park


The Water Park. We didn't get in, so amik gambar dari luar je. Check out more pictures at their website here

b.l.i.s.s

Me and hubby will be here in 2 days time... InsyaAllah



Source of picture : Here

A.B.C

Ais Kacang, Ais Kacang
Bila cuaca panas dan rasa dahaga
Singgah di kedai, ais kacang diminta
Susu dan jagung, kacang dan lengkong
Air gula berwarna
Campur semua, enak rasanya
Kegemaran kita semua.......

Above is a school rhyme that I learn in primary school. Hands up to those who is familiar with that song?

Air Batu Campur or famously known as ABC. Best to have it especially during hot weather... like now. So last Sunday hubby decided to take me to this ABC stall in Shah Alam that he used to go during his Uni years.



Are you tempted? trust me, it is really, really, really good



Yummy!



What I love most about this is that is has lots and lots of peanuts.. Im nut about peanut



Did you notice the chocolate like toppings? it is actually thick Milo! and that is the secret that makes this ABC special, and yummy



You can find this extra special ABC in SS2 food court, in Shah Alam. Look for Fradoo ABC.