To The Land Before Time: Legoland 2013

I remember my mum bought us a basic Lego set when we’re young. And we build our dream kingdom with those tiny little pieces. No instruction needed, just follow my imagination. I remember feeling jealous with my neighbor because he had pirates and spaceship set, which of course, way cooler than mine. But he was so nice, letting me borrow his space man mini figures, which according to my memory, had the coolest outfit of all. We did a play, completed with good and bad characters and the story plot is always so… okay unrealistic, but I always make sure that it has a happy ending. And I remember wishing that I can live in those kingdoms that I built.

Well, dream comes true! Err, sort of. 

Twenty years later, a Legoland was built in our own country, Malaysia! It was opened for public in September 2012 but me and my family just got a chance to visit Legoland first weekend of September! Legoland Malaysia is the sixth Legoland built in the world and the first one in Asia. Like any other theme park, Legoland has a lot of attractions for the whole family to enjoy. For a day, I can literally live up my dream to be in the kingdom of those colorful bricks.

At the entrance.

Getting there was a long story – with the unfamiliar road of Johor and my GPS signal going on and off.  I would say, there was not enough sign board along the road to lead to Legoland . But we managed to arrive at the entrance around 9 am. It was raining lightly on the way but lucky for us, the rain stopped just when we reach the first park. The weather was a little breezy, just perfect for us to walk around.

The Legoland consist of seven different themed areas: The Beginning, LEGO Technic, LEGO Kingdoms, Imagination, LEGO City, Land of Adventure and Miniland. There will be a new park call LEGO Water Park opening very soon. My favorite would be the LEGO Kingdom because I love castle and fairy tales! But Miniland just amazes me! It was just startling how they could build those famous Asian landmarks with exceptional details! Okay, picture time!

The castle in Lego Kingdom

Meet Olie, the green dragon! He was so obedient to his master!

We caught the thief trying to escape the castle!

At Land of Adventure: The Lost Kingdom

Hey, me wearing matching outfit with the camel!

Remember how I couldn't try the rides when I was in Universal Studio Singapore because of the flu? So I was pretty excited to try the rides here, although they were not as scary as those in USS. The first one that I tried was the Project X roller-coaster. According to the staff there, this is the most extreme ride. Which for me (as I am not the extreme ride lover) was bearable but would I like to get on one again? No thanks!  Too fast and it slides down from a super steep height! We also tried two rides in LEGO Kingdom: Dragon Apprentice and The Dragon. The first one is smaller and less scary, so I ride it with my mum. She gave up on The Dragon, which is of course much bigger and higher. The slides are not too steep this time but it did make turns at 45 degree with a few headchopper. Enough to give me the thrill that I need. There was another ride in Aqua Zone but we thought it’s not worth to get wet, so we let it passed.

Project X Roller coaster! My dad did get a shot of us riding this but
you would barely recognize me :DDD

Shooting while riding and trying to get the best score. Pretty fun!

Get ready to get wet!

Oh boy, let me just share with you more pictures of the Lego built because they are just so awesome!

KLIA

Sultan Abdul Samad Building

Thailand

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

The Great Wall of China

Souvenir is so expensive here, I couldn't afford to buy many of them. So in the end, I bought myself mini-figure keychain for RM19.90. Oh boy, there were a whole lot of characters; it’s really hard to decide on just one. I was spending too much time to choose between Batman (which is classic and famous) or Stormtrooper (who is mysterious and err, not even main character, haha). I took sometimes to check the Lego sets – oh my, it was so expensive back then, even more expensive now – and just realize how much I've been missing. Back in the day, the mini-figures were all round and yellow and with smiling faces, now they come with face-paint and attitudes!

It is obvious that Legoland was meant for kids. All the attractions and facilities were baby-friendly. It's really the best place for family with kids age 4-12. So was it good for me? Well, I'm a kid myself (at heart la) so of course, I enjoy my visit here.Those little details of the Lego built that I can find throughout the park really keeps me entertained. Definitely worth a visit. 

Road Trip 2013: Penang-Taiping

This is kind of late update, yeah. On the second week of raya, me and my family went to Penang for my cousin’s wedding. So it was like a package - raya, wedding and vacation! This was my second time being in Penang. The last time I went there was 15 years ago! Can you imagine just how excited I was?

The Penang Bridge.

We stayed at USM Guest House, located within the University Campus because the wedding reception was held there at Dewan Anjung Seri. Well, not bad at all! It was really comfortable. The one that we got (which was deluxe room) is fully furnished with air-conditioner, water heater, television with ASTRO and refrigerator. My uncle got the Family Executive Suite which can accommodate up to six people. It was super huge!

Transform into a complete nerd :P

"Dia lah yang nak kahwin tu!"

Once unpacking, we went out straight to visit Rumah Kelahiran P. Ramlee (P. Ramlee’s birth house). It was divided into two sections: The House and The Gallery. The house is a traditional Malay house with elevated building. It was really small; consist of porch, living room, access to the kitchen, one bedroom and a kitchen. The indoor section display highlights various aspects of P. Ramlee's life – from his childhood life up to the time he left for Singapore. While the gallery displays memorabilia of all kinds – old photographs, posters of his movies, his favorite instrument and clothes. Cameras are not allowed inside the house and the gallery but you can go here if you wish to see the indoor display of the house. I'm too chicken to break the rules, hehe.

At the verandah of P. Ramlee's house.

I finally got a chance to visit Bukit Bendera (Penang Hill) on the last day of the trip. It was the first colonial hill station developed in Peninsular Malaysia. We can either take a cable car or hiking up to the top of the hill. The cable car railway was first built in 1923 and have gone through several upgrading phase. The one that functioning now does not require passengers to change trains halfway up, unlike the railway before 2010. Cable car fees was $8 per person (warga emas got discount maa.....). Don't forget to bring your identification card! I forgot to bring mine (left it in my dinner clutch) but lucky me, they let me in, heh. The ride up takes less than 15 minutes. Here's the tip - try to get on the last coach if you're on your way up and the first coach when you're going down so you can get the best view. So what is up there? Despite the amazing view of entire Penang, there were some temples to visit, the carnivorous plant - Monkey Cup - garden and an Owl Museum. I almost thought that we can see the real owl but lucky I asked the girl at the front door and she explained that it was just a collection of owl-theme art and craft. Safe 10 bucks there, hooray!

The current railway track.

Breathtaking view of Penang on top of Penang Hills.

We were joined by another four cars to convoy back to Kuala Lumpur. We decided to go back to the mainland via ferry because almost half of us have never experience been on Penang ferry. No fare is charged for the return trip from the island. There was a long queue up to get our car onto the ferry but there was a ferry every 10 to 15 minutes so the wait is bearable.  The journey took about 20 minutes. Once the car engine were turn off, we walk around on the ferry to enjoy the winds and the view. Pretty awesome!

They name the ferries after the island in Malaysia. Ours was Pulau Rawa.

Faisal - the cutest lad on ferry.

On the way back to Kuala Lumpur, we drop by Taiping. And of course, a visit to Taiping is never complete without a taste of the Ansari Famous Cendol at Jalan Barack. I saw the mamak got the biggest grin when he saw us marching towards his shoplot, haha. There were at least three cars stopped by and they were pretty frustrated to see the shop was full. Is the cendol so good? Well, what can I say? It was the best one I ever taste so far. It was really delicious, not too sweet and the texture is very nice! Then we went to take group photo at the lake garden before saying goodbye to everyone. 

Group picture!

Had so much fun with this trip. And a whole lot of activities! From akad nikah to sight-seeing, from makan durian at Balik Pulau to birthday celebration at Padang Kota. And the best part is, this trip was joined by relatives from both of my dad and my mum's side. I feel blessed!

And it was also the week that I was most active on Instagram!

And I guess that's all I have to share with you guys. Till the next update, be kind!

Sea, Sand & Sun

Another family gathering was being held at Teluk Kemang, Port Dickson on 8^th November 2012. We stay at a bungalow near Bougainvillea Resort and the beach was just a walking distance away. Traffic was quite bad so we reached there quite late and only went to the beach the next morning.

I do not have any intention to get wet at first. I just wanted to sit peacefully by the beach and took some photos. But my cousins and nephews wanted to try a banana boat ride. I was reluctant at first because I’ve been on the ride too many times before. And I think I’m too old for this kind of thing. But of course me against six of them, who am I kidding?

Self-expression session :P

 

As soon as I got onto the banana, I get excited, haha. I purposely avoid taking the front sitting because being in the most front; you have a high chance to get high blood pressure - with all the water spalsh that gets into your mouth :DD 

The speed boat driver told us to let go of the grip and the rest of us was like, ‘Tak mau! Tak mau!’ And no matter how strong you tried to hold on to the boat, you’ll end up getting thrown in the water.  And then we had to get back on the boat and it was the hardest thing to do. Not because I do not have enough strength to pull myself up on the boat, and I refuse to believe that it was because of my weight but because I was laughing too much! We were thrown again near the shore and had to swim back to the beach.

Had too much fun - a good swim and playing water polo in the swimming pool, awesome barbeque, exciting banana boat ride. And most importantly, me spending times with beloved cousins and nephew!  

  

p/s: We just couldn't resist to do the Gagnam style pose (no matter how much I hate that song) :DDD

October's Love!

Seems like I haven’t update this blog for ages! Well, not that it was anything new :P

October has always been my favorite month of the year. It has been incredibly hectic month for me and many fabulous things happen in between. I have lots to share today with y’all today. So, this gonna be yet another choppy entry of the things that I’ve done in these last few weeks. 

Let's kick this post off with another fun field trip I had at the beginning of the month!

It was the last field trip for this year and we spend exactly a week in Sipitang, Sabah. And because this will be the last time here (since there were almost no malaria case found during our ACD previously) we went to the farthest camps we could. Most of the journey took us around one and half or two hours but Camp Basio took us more than 3 hours to reach there! Thanks God the camps are well build and very clean, so no problem with the toilet at all haha!  

Oh, just let me share a few photos from the trip!

Cooking curry Maggi. We couldn't resist having a slurp even just after having Nasi Goreng Kampung :DDD

Surrounding by the thick fog up the hill.
Hot curry Maggi + full stomach + cool breeze = happiness.

And of course, it was my birthday month! Yes, totally the main reason why I love October XD.

It might not be the best one, nevertheless still a great one for me. This year, I didn’t expect to get a surprise birthday cake from my officemates. Either I’m a total idiot or my officemates learn how to moves like ninja because I was completely clueless they were planning something on! It was just a small celebration with just a few peoples in our department (half of department were going to Port Dickson for a seminar on that day) but it still makes me VERY happy. I'm not the expressive type so they probably wouldn't know how happy I was at that time. Honestly, I almost cry because I was so touched. But it would be so embarrassing if I really cry, so I had to force myself to keep calm, hehe. In my mind, I was already jumping up and down when I see the cake and do the Gangnam style dance when they sing me Happy Birthday, haha. Oh, how I love thee!

And it has become a tradition to have family dinner to celebrate birthday - no matter how late, heh. So this year, me having my birthday dinner at MeatWorks, Solaris. Incredibly happy!

And last but not least, we were celebrating Aidiladha in Kelantan this year. One of my uncle live in Kota Bharu, so we’ve decided to spend a few days there.

And that's all for now. I hope you all had a great October too! Till then, bye~