We went to Penang Batik Factory so my kids could learn how to do batik. Unfortunately we went late around 4PM and they said it was already closed.
Even for next day they were fully booked and it requires 2 days to do the batik. One day to do the coloring by your own and another day for them to die the batik cloth and dry it.
Fortunately the person in charge was really friendly and showed us the factory and brief us on the making of batik without any fee.
The Factory
The factory is situated just behind the batik shop.
The Shop & Souvenir
They sell their made batik at the shop and you can buy souvenir to the adjacent shop.
Price
Penang Batik Factory charges RM35 to make your own handkerchief batik.
We had our off road ATV adventure at Park Larut Taiping on 11th December 2022. It was our first time to do off road ATV.
There were 9 of us with 8 years old kid.
My son of 12 years old and my daughter of 13 years old ride their own ATV.
At first the guide will teach us how to ride ATV. After that they will ask us to follow them on simple path to see whether we can handle the ATV for climbing and going down a slope.
If everyone can do it, then they will allow us to ride our own off road ATV. Fortunately my children of 12 and 13 years old pass the test.
The Adventure
They were 9 of us riding the off road ATV. There were 2 guides assisting us in our adventure. They were really helpful in ensuring our safety so no one was injured during the adventure.
It was really scary at first going down the steep slope or climbing up a slope. Sometimes you have to do sharp turn if not you going off to the cliff.
During the adventure, the guide will take your photos and videos and later will share them via telegram with you.
Glamping
If you want to stay there, you can rent a glamping for your staycation. They have few type of glamping.
Amenities
ATV Adventure provides Coway for your water needs.
The toilets are also really clean.
If you stay they and want to do BBQ, you can rent the BBQ pit at reasonable price.
Minimum Age
Minimum age is 16 years old to ride your own ATV but if you pass the ATV ride test, the guide might consider your kids to ride their own ATV.
We went to Zoo Taiping. It is the oldest zoo in Malaysia that covers 36 acres and exhibits 1,300 animals representing 180 species.
Tram Ride
For the night safari, we used the tram to do the night safari and there was a tour guide explaining the animal around the zoo. It took around 20mn ride to see most of the animals in the zoo.
The Animals
We saw different animals such as lion, tiger, elephant, birds, swan, crocodile and other animal species.
Ticket Price
Standard price:
Adult: RM10
Kids: RM5
Locations
There is ample car park at the zoo. Car park is RM3 per entry. Besides there are F&B like Marry Brown and souvenir shops at the zoo.
It was my first time did night safari and I found it really interesting even though we can see all the animal but at least we could see the animal at night. Some active some passive.
We had my wife office team building cum short holiday at Amanjena Resort Malacca. The resort architectural design was simple but really beautiful.
The design is similar to Santorini architectural buildings designs in Aegean Islands, Greece.
The room was spacious. We booked 1 queen beds and 3 single beds.
The only problem we had was the toilet was stinky but the resort staff tried to resolve it by spraying some lemongrass liquid.
The foods and beverages were simple but delicious. They provided breakfast and high tea. For breakfast, the nasi lemak and fried chicken were really nice.
Resort staff was friendly and really helpful.
The beach was 5 mn walk from the resort but the beach was not really clean and not beautiful.
The resort has adults and kids swimming pool.
We had a BBQ and watched movie from the big screen at night. You can rent the BBQ pit for RM150 and RM100 for the big screen with projector.
Unfortunately there were nothing much activities you can do at the place or nothing much interesting nearby to visit.
We had our short school holiday break from 5 to 8 Jun 2022.
5 Jun (Sunday) – Traveling to Puteri Harbour, Johor. We went to Muar to taste Muar Mee Bandung.
We stayed at Jen Hotel our favorite hotel in Puteri Harbour.
We ate delicious pau goreng at Mana Cafe.
We played online Uno before our dinner at TRK restaurant.
6 Jun (Monday) – We went to Legoland and plays Kingdom rides. Legoland was so pack with people and had long queue for popular rides.
We had our lunch at 7 Spice with my wife’s sister. Tried to play electric scooter but there were so many people then decided to play it the next day.
7 Jun (Tuesday) – We ride the pharoah ride, water ride and Fire Engine. We won on the fire engine race against other families. Haha.
In the afternoon, we went to Johor Premium Outlet and had our lunch at Subway. Most the foods at JPO finished or restaurants were full.
It was nice of Jen Hotel on how their arrange my kids panda and cat pillows when they made up the room.
The kids went to Jen Hotel swimming pool in the evening.
At night Dien and Deef played electric scooter at Puteri Harbour.
8 Jun (Wednesday) – Had our breakfast at Jen Hotel and then the kids again went to the swimming pool. We had our lunch at McDonalds EduCity. Traveling back to KL and the traffic was quite smooth.
Sempena cuti sekolah dari 6 Jun sampai 10 Jun, kami sekeluarga pergi ke Legoland dan singgah di Muar untuk merasa mee bandung special.
Kami singgah di Restoran Mee Bandung Udang Galah. Ramai orang mengunjungi restoran ini sehingga susah nak cari tempat duduk.
Mee Bandung Muar
Kami pesan mee bandung biasa kerana tidak pasti sama ada sedap ke tak mee bandung ini. Saya yang tak minat sangat seafood memang tak suka mee bandung manakala wife pulak bagi 3 / 5 bintang.
Apa-apapun setiap orang ada cita rasa masing-masing. Bagi kami macam biasa je bagi orang lain maybe sedap.
This year is balik kampung for Kota Kinabalu. Every year, me and my wife will alternate for balik kampung between Kota Kinabalu and Kota Bahru.
For Kota Kinabalu usually we will go for balik kampung for 2 weeks. This time from 2nd May till 15th May 2022.
Usually we took Malindo to go to KK as the flight tickets were reasonable with ample leg room but this year we took Malaysia Airlines (MAS) because Malindo flight were fully booked.
Our Memories
2 May (Monday) – Our flight to Kota Kinabalu, caught by surprise as it was first day of Raya.
3 May (Tuesday) – Busy preparing for our family open house
4 May (Wednesday) – Our family open house
5 May (Thursday) – Planning for our family holiday. At night went to our favorite cafe house, October cafe.
6 May (Friday) – tried to find soto and rojak restaurant bust most of them still close. Had Friday prayer at Tanjung Aru mosque. All the family watched Dr Strange 2 movie at 630PM.
7 May (Saturday) – Buy Ikan bilis, amplang kuih cincin etc at KK Pasar and buying aqua shoes and goggles for Karambunai.
8 May (Sunday) – Go to Nexus Karambunai Resort & Spa for short holiday
9 May (Monday) – Enjoying Karambunai beach and Pool Villa
10 May (Tuesday) – Back from Karambunai at had lunch at Ganyang seafood restaurant.
11 May (Wednesday) – Go to Mantanani island
12 May (Thursday) – Enjoying Mantanani island.
13 May (Friday) – Back from Mantanani island
14 May (Satuday) – Liesha and Hadien were sick so we just buy hair band for Liesha and had our dinner at Secret Recipe.
15 May – Back to KL
We had little hiccup where the taxi that we booked couldn’t make it and at the end had to take expensive Limo Taxi Alphard for our ride back home.
Y2022 Raya
This year was really packed, and we had our last vacation with our aunty Bongsu. She was able to enjoy Karambunai beach before passing away on 15th May 2022 around 11:20PM.
We stay at Nexus Karambunai Resort & Spa from 9th May till 11th May 2022. It was big family gathering after Raya. We rented 3 Pool Villas and 3 unit of apartments.
It was really wonderful holiday and good memory of family gathering.
Pool Villa
The pool villa unit was big with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms with living hall and kitchen. The master bathroom has big bathub.
It also has small 3 swimming pools in the villa. It is fully furnished with fridge, cooking utensils, aircond and TV and towels and extra blankets were provided by Nexus Karambunai.
Unfortunately one of the fridge not really cold and aircond also not really cold and we faced few small problems like not functioning doors and toilet flush.
We did complain to the Nexus management they did their best to rectify it but some problems they were unable to repair like toilet flush problem and fridge.
Even though we faced all these smalls annoyances we had really good holiday as the villa were comfortable and we really enjoyed the swimming pools.
Karambunai Beach
Price
For the Pool Villa we got it at RM490 per night while for apartment with one bedroom we got it at RM160 per night.
Recommendation
I really like the Pool Villa, it had good facilities and the villa was good for you to enjoy the beach, swimming pool and bathub. Even though we faced small issues but Nexus Management was really responsive and tried their best to solve any issues arises.