Hang Sung Sot (Sung Sot Cave), Halong Bay, Vietnam

 

We visited Gua Tempurung located in Gopeng, Perak over the CNY long holidays and I will blog about it after this post.  It was an interesting and educational trip for both the boy and the parents.  I always try my best to 'squeeze in' something educational when we go holidaying and hopefully the boy picks up some knowledge and values here and there and not purely to enjoy himself! Okay, talk about a kiasu mother here.. hehehe...

 

What prompted me to visit Gua Tempurung was my amazing experience visiting Sung Sot Cave in Halong Bay, Vietnam 6 years ago.  The view, both inside and outside the cave was simply spectacular and I am still in awe of the calm, serenity and beauty of nature God has created.

 

This post is not about Gua Tempurung, instead it's a post to pen down my visit to Sung Sot Cave located in Halong Bay, Vietnam.

  

 

View of Bo Hon Bay, photo taken from a platform when exiting Sung Sot Cave.

Simply breathtaking!

 

 

Sung Sot Cave, which means Cave of Surprises, is the biggest and finest cave in Halong Bay.  It is located on Bo Hon Island, near the centre of Halong Bay. There is a small pier where boats dock to allow visitors down. From the pier, a flight of 50 stone steps takes one to the entrance of the cave. The inside of Sung Sot Cave is simply cavernous. At many places the ceiling is low, and takes on a wavy appearance. A profusion of stalactites and stalagmites cover the walls.

To ensure the safety of visitors, a path is built to zigzag through Sung Sot Cave. Guide ropes help to keep visitors on the path Multi-coloured lights are also installed to beautify the cave and bring out its grandeur. Coming out of the cave, visitors get a panoramic view of Bo Hon Bay below. It is one of those iconic view of Halong Bay that has appeared in many postcards.

 

Top photo: Panoramic view of Bo Hon Bay from the viewing platform

Bottom left photo: Viewing platform at the cave exit

Bottom right photo: Our friendly tour guide (a very nice local young chap) walking mom in-law to our waiting junk.  She did not join us for the cave tour due to her osteoarthritis condition.

 

Simply lovely though I remember a truly tiring adventure zigzagging the path through the cave with my fellow tour mates.  There's no turning back once you step foot on the cave entrance as the junk that took us there would wait for us at the exit point which was at the other end of the cave.

 

 

These two photos are taken from the internet.  My camera couldn't capture such amazing God's creation.  Trust me, the interior of the cave looks exactly like that if not better.  Simply spectacular!  I would love to visit Sung Sot cave again and this time with my boy tagging along!

 

Next will be on our visit to Gua Tempurung.

 

 

Restoran Pusing Public, Ipoh

*Wipes and blows off spider webs and dust* Time to update my blog again after a month-long hiatus. LOL...

I have read rave reviews about this restaurant and it was in my must-try list when we were in Ipoh for a short holiday during the CNY holidays.

 

On our first day in Ipoh (2nd day of CNY) after checking-in the hotel, we walked to the nearby shopping mall to do some shopping before hopping over to the restaurant which was just a stone's throw away from the hotel we stayed in.  I miscalculated the popularity of the restaurant and did not bother to make any reservation beforehand.   It was only 5.30pm but the restaurant was packed to the brim.  Needless to say, we got "kick-out" as the restaurant was fully booked till after 9pm! The waitress was kind enough to lead me to the captain to book a table for the next day with an only available slot at 9pm.=.=
 

 

Luckily the restaurant is just right behind of our hotel.  We had a good rest after our tiring but fun whole day trip to Lost World of Tambun before hopping over for our late dinner.

It was way after 9pm but look at the crowd!

 

As there were only three of us and knowing that the serving was big, we ordered a medium portion of fried rice and two dishes only.

Pan Fried Prawns

 

Stir fried rice ala yong chow style

 

Broccoli with crab meat, scallops and fried wanton

 

 

I wanted to try their speciality dish, tofu with fish paste and the boy wanted fried omelette to go with his rice but apparently the chef did not bother cooking such simple dishes during peak season. 

 

The bill came to RM73 including 3 bowls of rice and 3 glasses of tea, quite reasonable as hubby thought it would have been more.  Taste wise, probably due to the holiday season, the prawns tasted a bit too salty and the fried wanton was nothing to rave about, the filling being solely fish paste. 

 

Thumbs up for the fried rice though, the presence of "wok hei" made the simple dish ever so fragrant and delicious and the generous crab meat and scallops thrown in made the gravy of the last dish so heavenly, the boy finished one big bowl of white rice all by himself and mind you, not including the share of fried rice he had earlier.  How not to become chubby boy with such healthy appetite? LOL...



Sandakan - Day 1

I am blogging from my iPad so gonna make it short. We touched down at Sandakan Airport just in time to enjoy mama's home cooked lunch. I had a good time catching up with my parents and siblings while the boy was so excited to see all his cousins again.

We then went to the market to get some fruits with my mom and sister before going to my uncle's house to pay respect to my maternal grandparents.




while waiting to board the plane



The cousins having a dip in the pool in the evening.

We took the kids to the swimming pool in the evening and they all enjoyed the time together before heading home for mama's home cooked meal. :)

Handcrafted Travel, Anyone?

There's none in the family other than myself who is the most eligible candidate to wear the hat of a holiday planner for any family holidays.  No family members' votes required, it just falls into my lap probably because I am the only one having so much free time at my disposal as I hold nothing other than a fulltime housewife position.   Only God knows how tough the life of a Stay-At-Home mother can be. 

Back to planning a holiday, we usually go on free and easy trips on a budget.  Arranging a trip can be pretty stressful when there's not only your enjoyment riding on it, but that of your partner, friends and family!  There is so much to do from the day you start planning to the day you actually leave for your holiday.

Don't believe there is so much to do?  Listed below are some of the things you need to consider when planning a holiday:

What does everyone enjoy doing?

What do we want from this holiday?
How long can we go for?
Do we like cold or warm weather?
Do we want to travel or stay in the one place?
What is our budget?

I always suffer acne-attack whenever I work on a holiday planning, too stressful!  I really have to seriously think about passing the headache to the Travel Specialist should the family decides to go for Italy Tour Vacations in the future.  A personalized and handcrafted travel service would be all I wanted for booking and planning complex trips like such. Our itineraries will be tailored to our needs and I, the family holiday planner, can have peace of mind knowing everthing is being taken care of by the travel expert! Bliss..  

We Caught Puss In Boots In Bangkok!

We could only made it to the cinema to catch Puss In Boots when we were in Bangkok, our first movie since the school holidays started!  Funny as it might sound, but we had been down with flu and fever even before the school holidays started. :(  

We went to SF Cinema City on the 6th Floor of MBK Mall.  It was just a 5 minutes' walk from our hotel using the connecting skybridge.  There were only 2 types of tickets available on that night for 'Puss In Boots' show: VIP and Digital (3D).  The boy opted for VIP that cost Thai Baht 250 (approx. RM25) per ticket.  He doesn't like watching movies in 3D as he claims it causes headache and eyes strain.  I must agree with him on that.  We went to watch 'Arthur Christmas' in 3D last week and I really disliked the experience.    

Welcome Drink that comes with the ticket

Mommy, Let's Toast!

We were seated at their nicely furnished VIP Lounge while waiting for the show to start

Inside Cinema 6 where there were only 7 patrons including us threesome!  For the premium price that we paid, we were provided with a blanket and comfortable settee chair to  laze on while enjoying our show.  

One thing worth mentioning here.  Before a film is screened the Thai national anthem will be played. Everyone, both Thais and foreigners stand throughout the anthem  in a show of respect to the beloved King of Thailand.  A pleasant experience, especially to our boy, I must say. :)  I did that 2 years ago while watching an IMAX movie with hubby at Krungsi IMAX, Siam Paragon where he had to kick me in the butt to get me off that comfortable settee when the anthem was played.  Kiahahaha... 

Bangkok Trip - Day 1

My plate of mixed rice RM6

The boy & daddy had KFC for lunch

After checking-in our luggage, we took a brief stroll to Food Garden at LCCT for lunch.  We had more than 2 hours to kill there before catching our flight to Bangkok.  Compared to the eateries within LCCT premise which are always packed with people, Food Garden which adopts food court style, is spacious with plenty of seats for patrons. 

Pre-booked 3-pc pancakes for the boy.  One went into the boy's tummy when this pic was taken.

The meal comes with a cup of 100ml water when pre-book online

My loyal companion

About to land at Suvarnabumi Airport..

Were those paddy fields submerged in flood water or mere fishing pond?

A shuttle bus waiting to transport us to the airport arrival hall

My boy so happy to get a seat

Too bad.. all of you gotta wait for the next bus

Students from Alice Smith Int. School KL, occupied almost half of the plane were there for a holiday..

Who says tourists shun Bangkok? Look at the sardine packed shuttle bus!

We walked down to 1st Floor of the airport to buy taxi coupon from the public taxi booth.  We never had any unpleasant experience with any airport taxi drivers in Bangkok after our many visits to Bangkok.  Not this time though!  Should have gotten on the train located on the basement floor.  We managed to do just that on our trip back home and I will blog about it soon.  It's so so so CONVENIENT, PUNCTUAL, HASSLE FREE & ECONOMICAL!

Walking to the public taxi stand

By the time we checked-into our hotel room, it was already 6.30pm Bangkok local time (Malaysian time 7.30pm).  I wrote a review here about this hotel during my trip there with my dad and sister last year.  We rested and refreshed ourselves in the room before going out for dinner.  Since I stayed in this hotel before, I was quite familiar with the hotel surrounding. 

We took a 5 minutes stroll to Tesco Lotus, Rama 1 Road and decided to have dinner at this Chinese Restaurant called Mr Chow.  I am game for Thai Food, Tom Yum Goong in particular anytime, but with the boy tagged along, we played safe and had our usual Chinese meal for our first meal in Bangkok.

Crysanthemum Tea with lotsa crushed ice. free refillable with jasmine tea.  Guess this's the norm there as everywhere we go, we have more ice than the beverage itself.

A tray with sauce, chilli, pepper etc and not forgetting tissue box too.. a norm there too..

very service oriented.

Chinese Fried Rice

Pork Noodles

Fishball Noodles

Fried Wanton

On our way back after dinner.  Can you spot the plant trimmed into the shape of an elephant in the background?

On our way back to the hotel, we saw this pad thai roadside stall located next to Siam@Siam Hotel.  We ordered 2 plates of pad thai before we wrapped up our first day in Bangkok and retiring to bed.  40 baht each.  Taste wise, nothing to shout about, a bit too sweet to our liking... not a single piece of meat or prawns detected, only some taugeh, eggs and dried bean curd.  We'll give this stall a miss the next time we pass by.. 

More updates on our Bangkok trip coming up soon.. :)

Long Live The King & Happy Father's Day!

The above King's portrait was a typical one of many seen around the city throughout our 6 days' stay in Bangkok.  This one was placed on the overhead bridge connecting to MBK, Siam Discovery Centre, Siam Centre, Siam Paragon and Siam Square.  Our hotel was just across the overhead bridge so basically the bridge and our legs took us to all the shopping malls around Pathumwan area. :D

The King of Thailand celebrated his 84th birthday on 5 December 2011, our last day in Bangkok.  It's Father's Day in Thailand as well.  We didn't know that until a waitress approached us and went on to promote their menu on offer in conjunction with Father's Day when we walked past an eating joint.  

The King's birthday is celebrated nationwide in Thailand.  We could see buildings and shopping malls elaborately adorned with flags, portraits of His Majesty and buntings, predominantly in the colour yellow.  

Writing a birthday wish to the King

We had the honour of signing the autograph filled with birthday wishes for the King.  The autograph was placed on the overhead bridge adjacent to entrance of Tokyu Shopping Centre (located within MBK).   Throughout our stay in Bangkok, we never failed to spot portraits of the King everywhere we went, not even in our hotel room when we turned on the TV. 

Being first time 'overseas', my boy had very good impression of Bangkok, especially the public toilets.  He tells me not a single toilet he visited had stinky smells like what he experienced in Malaysia and they actually smelled good! Public toilets that smell good!  LOL.. What a statement made by an 8 yo if you know what I mean. :D

When it was the boy's turn to write a birthday wish to the King, a small group of students lining behind us waiting to do the same, cheered him on and even spelt out the word 'Thailand' for him when they sensed he hesitated at the word.  They thanked us profusely after we were done with the autograph.  We can feel how much Thai People love their King from the sweet gestures shown by this group of students.

Long Live The King Of Thailand!

Central Bangkok Is All Dry!

We just came back from a 6 days 5 nights trip to Bangkok, arriving home around 1 am this morning. 

Central Bangkok remained dry and sunny throughout our stay there, not even a drop of rain water encountered.  It was my 4th time there, hubby's 3rd and the boy's first time there and we still look forward to going there again!  

I will update more on our trip once I get all photos sorted out.

Exam Starts Tomorrow..

I have been busy preparing my boy for his final term exam.  This will be his first exam in this school and I won't expect too much from him.  It is a consolation that he adapted pretty well to the new school environment. 

Unlike his previous school where a printed exam scope would be given at least two weeks before every exam, my boy came back from school every other day with hand copied and marking of pages on his text/activity books, the so called "exam tips" for some subjects but not all.  I tried pulling all the loose ends together and preparing him a little bit more just in case this boy of mine conveniently leaves out some "important" tips which is not news to me. :)

I am so looking forward for the exam to be over this Friday and start working on the itinerary of our family trip during the year-end school holidays! *Excited*

Rafflesia Chicken Hut, The Mall, KL

Digging into the bowl of ABC, shared among us

We lazed around in the hotel room after a dip in the pool and shower.  I  continued on "The Firm" by John Grisham, one of the novels I grabbed by the lot from e-bay USA eons ago  but didn't get around reading while hubby and the boy glued to the TV.  We had some KFC packed to the room earlier when we went down to the shopping mall next door after check-in. 

It was near 9 pm when our stomach started growling so we went down in search for food and ended up at this shop which was almost closing.  Hubby quickly walked to the counter and ordered some food for all of us.

A ritual before "breaking fast"... posing for the camera

Hubby's fried chicken with rice, very big portion and meaty chicken thigh

The boy's - Salad prawn and chicken with rice

Mine - Lemon Chicken with rice.. big portion and tastes good

Cabbage soup that comes with the set

We strolled around the mall after our satisfying dinner but most of the shops were seen closing.  With nothing much to see, we headed back to our hotel room and continued on with our activities before calling it a day. 



The Legend Hotel, KL

I had this free voucher from hubby which entitled us to a night's stay at The Legend Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.  It was our first time staying there though we had been to the hotel's pub, The Monkey Bar during our courting days.  Hubby loved taking me to pubs those days and I played along until one day I made a confession that clubbing really wasn't my cup of tea and due to the fact that I'd suffer from the aftermath of it.  My throat sore from shouting too much trying to make myself heard when talking and my freshly washed hair stunk of smoke after that.  Bleh.. I know, I know, I am weird..  Whose girls in their "bok bok cui" 20's wouldn't like clubbing, right?  Hubby always says I am a rare species and I take that as a compliment. :)

Ok, side tracked a bit,  back to the hotel,  The Legend Hotel KL, one of the oldest international chain hotels in Kuala Lumpur is strategically located just beside The Mall Shopping Mall. It has seen better days with dated furnishing and whatnot but overall it is clean and well maintained. 

Our Deluxe Room with King Size Bed

Toiletries

Long Bath. 

I'd have preferred a separate standing shower screen but this one would make my boy's day simply because it's the lying down type.  Read my previous post here. Hahaha.. 

Coffee making facilities

Hubby loves the writing desk, simple yet practical.

Couldn't wait to tune into his favourite channel the moment he stepped into the room. *roll eyes*

The view from our room on 19th floor

The hotel pool area with the skyscraper in the background

Heated Jacuzzi pool

Saw this at the gym room, loving it.. Fei Lou, hor?? ;)

The Twin Towers

This boy of ours is so confident in water that hubby had to stop him from swimming to the far end of the pool which has 7 ft in depth.  He was okay with that and contented at 5 ft before joining his dad at the jacuzzi pool.   Yours truly, being hopeless in this area was seen clicking away with her ever faithful digital camera.

It was a pleasant stay at the hotel and I am hoping hubby would get more of this kind of vouchers in the near future.  A short getaway from our home sweet home to relax our mind and soul.. and what's more.. a free stay.. very cheapskate hor... Hahaha..