Kidzania, Kuala Lumpur (15 August 2015)

Every year I look forward to my company's Family Day simply hoping for a fun and new place to visit with the little munchkin. This year I got my wish as the family day was held in Kidzania, KL. Ryan had visited two years ago with his kindergarten but for the rest of us, it was our first time.

We reached Kidzania around 9.30am and parking was quite easy to find (standard rate RM3 whole day) However, since the building is right opposite Curve and Ikano, this is not really an issue to be concerned with as you can also chose to park in the adjacent buildings. 

We walked straight to the ticketing counter for registration and we were immediately fitted with the parks safety wristbands.We were also given a cheque for 50Kidzo each (Kidzania Currency) and a Boarding Pass to start our adventure.......

Ryan: Mummy this looked like our Air Asia plane ticket :)

My cute little tour guide, fireman and surgeon...

 One for the camera:)

Welcome signs similar to the ones you can find in the airport :) 

We immediately cashed our cheques for Kidzos at the "town" CIMB bank, upon arrival. To earn more Kidzos, you would need to "work". You can also spend your hard earn cash on "services" such as manicure, pedicure, jewelry making etc. From my observations, you would need to spend Kidzos on activities that you'll received some item in return (example Vitagen Making, Spritzer Bottling etc) but for jobs that is merely running errands (putting off fire, delivering post etc) you will receive your salary. The salary depends on the complexity of the job, holders of Kidzania passport would receive more salary for work done. 

Initially, I was quite worried that the twins won't enjoy themselves much. It took a lot of persuading and coaxing but they did end up doing quite a bit of activity between them. So Lan and I was pretty happy with that :) 

 My pump attendant 

  Super cutie window washer for hire

 Mineral water bottling session. Ranya refuses to let me recycle the bottle that "she made" so it is still sitting on our kitchen bar pretending to be a vase :)

 My research assistant making his own soap

My little sunshine (or sometime hurricanes)  

Making their own vitamins. Super adorable that their lab coat is way bigger than them.

Vitagen making activity and later enjoying the drinks they "made"

Review: All in all it was an enjoyable day. Kidzania differs from other Theme Park as it is more educational in nature. Not only is it fun, the children would be exposed to a whole list of occupations and what it entails. Such a good exposure as compared to the good old days, where most kids thinks that the only occupation available are police, teacher and doctor :p 

Tips: However, you have to ensure that your child is independent enough to do all these activities on their own as parents are not allowed to enter the activity booth. Otherwise, there will  be a lot of frustrations on both child and parents (trust me I saw plenty of over excited parents but not at all excited children). You may also consider coming during weekdays, as I heard that the lines during weekends ranges from 20-30 minutes per activity. 

For more information:  Kidzania, KL

Malacca Foodpedition (2 May 2015- 4 May 2015)

You would think that since Malacca is our parents hometown and the fact that Lan and I visited Malacca at least once year, we would know all the "cool" hang out places. However, after doing a bit of a research, I realized that we've barely scratched the surface especially when it comes to the food scene. Armed with my new knowledge, I made it a point to make this trip a "foodpedition". Yeah yeah I know it should have been a more educational trip but the babies is still too young to appreciate the historical places, so lets fill our tummy instead. 

Day One: We had seafood at Jeti Anjung Batu, Umbai Melaka. Loved the sotong goreng tepung and ikan siakap 3 rasa especially with the warm nasi lemak buncut and air tebu. Heaven. It was also quite cheap costing us around RM 95 for fish, squid, butter prawns, kerang bakar and fried vege.

Day Two: We started our day with a walk around Dataran Pahlawan and Mahkota Parade which was connected to our hotel. We had fun shopping for cheap trinkets. 

After dropping at my aunt's house for the best assam pedas in the world, we went to  visit Pantai Klebang with my cousins. The munchkin was happy playing with sand and bubbles. 

Pictures with my darling cousins Izzah, Nurul, Amie and Khairul

Afterwards, we stopped by the nearby stalls for a quick evening tea of kuey teow ketam and coconut shake Klebang while overlooking the beach. The food was so-so, it wasn't bad but it was not great either. If you're looking for the coconut shake I would advice you to drive a bit further for the "real deal" which is situated by the roadside. However parking and queue time may be a bit of a problem. 

Later that night my cousins wanted to go for the River Night Cruise, so we tagged along. Orang Melaka doing the "tourisy" thing :) It was an enjoyable experience for us, and of course the kiddies who loved the boat ride. 

For dinner I insisted that we went searching for Pak Putra Naan & Tandoori which was mentioned in our hotel food brochure. I had to queue for almost 30 minutes but it was worth the wait. The food was so good. We had the plain naan, double cheese naan, garlic butter naan and the tandoori. The naan was fluffy and the tandoori was super tender. My mouth is watering just typing this. Sumpah sedap, I am so going back there again the next time I'm in town. 

Day 3: Before we left for home, we stopped by the EeJiBan Chicken Rice Ball Restaurant situated behind our hotel. The restaurant was featured in countless newspaper and magazine article and JJCM. My babies really enjoyed the chicken rice balls and roast chicken. The sambal prawn and kailan ikan masin was also very tasty. All in all an enjoyable eating experience. 

I think I gained like 2kgs during our 3 days trip to Malacca but it was truly worth it. We're already talking about visiting again soon as I owe my babies a "Frozen" beca ride. Inshallah :)

Hatten Hotel, Melaka (2 May-4 May 2015)

For our mid year break, we wanted to do something a bit different, instead of doing the annual PD/ Theme Park type of holiday, we decided to visit our hometown, Malacca. I had a list of activities planned so we had to choose a strategic hotel location, keeping in mind that Malacca town is extremely busy during weekends and public holidays. 

Lan suggested the hotel based on his own  experience staying there during one of his work trip . The hotel is situated mid-town, above an adjoining mall and across Mahkota Parade and Dataran Pahlawan. No shortage of activities and eateries around.

 Source: Google

View from our room : I have some issues with this, as the windows was not tinted, we're super visible to the people downstairs. The drapes had to stay close at all times, which was a shame really.

I would say that Hatten have one of the best hotel layout I've seen. The room is big but what made it really nice was the fact that the space is divided into two areas, a sitting area and the sleeping area. They also provided a tv for each area, which worked real well with my children as they can watch their show while Lan and I enjoy other channels.  

 Nice big and clean bathrooms

The kids enjoyed the swimming pool very much. There's the standard adult pool and a kids pool with an attached sprinkler-ish water feature. The pool is also situated at a shaded area, so the kids was not exposed to the hot sun. 

 Happy faces :) 

We're mostly happy with the hotel, the service and staff. However, the breakfast buffet was not too great though. We stayed at Hatten for 3 days and 2 nights and did not see much variety in terms of the food served. Other than that we enjoyed our stay.

I rate my experience 8/10

Check out my review at booking.com : Press Here

For booking and enquiry : Hatten Hotel

Avani Sepang Goldcoast Resort (25-26 April 2015)

Last week my children attended their kindergarten annual "Kembara Khalifah" in Seri Bayu Bagan Lalang. Being the overly clingy parents that we are, Lan and I decided to book a nearby hotel where we'll be able to reach them ASAP in case of emergency. We decided to give Avani Sepang Goldcoast a try. 

It takes about 1 hour and 30 minutes to travel from Klang to Bagan Lalang. We reached the hotel around 4.50pm and was immediately faced with parking issues, as there's no available parking within the hotel vicinity. Other than that we had a pretty enjoyable stay at the hotel. Check in was a breeze and there's a buggy available to bring us to our rooms. You can opt to walk but some of the rooms are very far from the lobby. 

 

The view that greeted us upon checking in:)

Ours for the day : Room 907

We booked the superior room, which was very spacious and would have easily fit my munchkins if they were around. I also love the huge canopy bed

There's a flat screen tv, a sitting area and a balcony for each room. 

It was the perfect place to lounge around and the settings is also super romantic, perfect for honeymooners :)

A nice place to enjoy the evening sunset :)

The very open concept bathroom. 
Make sure you close the blinds before taking a shower :)

The view of the resort, there's plenty of activities provided here like bicycle tours (free bicycle provided), beach/water sports, spa, swimming pool and children activities center. Lan and I had a nice walk exploring the resort.

There's also a Fitness Center and an infinity pool to keep you occupied.

It was raining that night so we scraped our dinner plans outside the hotel, where there's plenty of seafood stalls by the beach.  We had our dinner at the Resort's Bila Bila restaurant. The food was so-so. Hubby was pissed off that they're out of chilli sauce (of all things) to eat with his burger. We had our dinner in peace, but I was missing the "kemeriahan" of having my babies around.

The clear blue skies the next day. 

The beach and water is clean, a perfect place for a family weekend.

Hubs finally got his seafood from a nearby food court. The price is pretty reasonable and it is quite tasty

Picked my babies up from their school trip and we had fun at the beach.

I rate my stay in Avani @ 8.9/10. Already promised my munckins that we will bring them along for our next visit. As much as I love spending time with my husband, jalan-jalan without them around is just not as much fun. 

For more info check out their website : Press Me