The Original Juice

4th July 2010.

We decided, after the constantly interrupted Bfast we had yesterday, to eat at the Crest Lounge. So Tufeil might not get so restless and if need be, he has space to run around.

First plates.

The selections were definitely lesser but we can actually ask the attendant to get us something from the Coffee House - where the main Bfast foods are. Since we already seen what are available over there, it was easy for us to order. All in all a better experience i would say.

Nothing much really. We just headed out back to Singapore, esp cause Mum has a wedding to go to.

The Drive Home.

Tufeil was good in the car. I didn't drive. We stopped at one of the R&Rs possibly Machap and bumped into my cousin's future husband who then gave us some Durians from his garden and then the BIG ANTS found their way from the boot to the passenger seats. YIKES! Nasib baik takde pape.

Sast, 3rd July 2010.


Woke up almost 7am and went down for Bfast!!

OK you gotta excuse the closed eyes.

Dad's desserts??

It was extremely difficult to eat your fill on the buffet spread when you have a restless wriggly toddler on your hand. Even between the 3 of us, i felt exasperated after an hour. Mostly i felt guilty that i'm trying to eat everything while my parents handle Tufeil even tho i had him for a few too.

FIRST ACtivity: SWIMMING!

View of the pool from our room.

Baby pool and adult's pool.

See the floating line? The 1m depth side is very short, it's cramping my style. LOL

I brought all his swimming gears complete with his favourite toys.

Go Grab it, Baby.

Hot Tub Time Machine?

After the shivering cold water of the pool, the jacuzzi was like fire. So i had to introduce him in the hot water slowwwwwwwly... Luckily, there were a few kids messing around and T were fascinated by the Big Kids.

So much so that he followed them to the Adult pool.

OK it's been over an hour now. Almost noon. we should be getting back and go out.

Ok Let's go, Mummy. Brrrrr

NExt STop: COLMAR TROPICALE

Parked our car and walking towards it.

The Green Couple

Shot the Shooter

Lovely

Me: Where shall we have lunch?

Mum: Hmmm Let's have a look there...

For the life of me i can't remember the restaurant's name cos it was too fancy.

Unfortunately, we were too late for the lunch buffet. So we had to order ala carte. We ordered things like Nasi Ayam and Satay. Very local but about 300% more than what we pay outside say... at the Highway R&R. Blargh. and We waited for more than 30min before our food arrived.

Tufeil looking so glum at the absent food.

So Dad entertained him at the kid's corner.

Ok Food's here.

That's how most Malaysian hotel's High Chair look like. It's sooo big T just slipped under.

Possibly, the commonest snap taken at the tower at Colmar.

The other side of the tower.

Well... I hafta say i was disappointed with Colmar. I've heard pple gushed about it... "Wahhh feeling macam kat Europe" and who had honeymooned here and all... But basically, it was actually ONE hotel in a few short buildings with a few more food establishments and other attractions than was normal. The place was small. Worse, weather was not siding with us. A scene like this should be paired with a cool breezy weather.

NExt Up: RABBITS!!!

Entrance Fee: RM 3, even if you just wanna have a seat.

I think Rabbit is the cutest animal in the world. Just look at the way they hop!

Bought Rabbit Food. My! It tickles!

Tufeil was just a bit scared. But at least, he didn't cry.

Now the Donkeys.

Hee horrr!!

Right after this photo, The donkey scared Tufeil with the loudest Hee Hoorr ever, he cried. LOL

I had some rabbit food left over and the guide said we could give it to the donkey. But i did not dare to do it myself. I mean the donkey's mouth is.... HUGE not to mention...wet? So i gave them to this bunch of ARab kids.

Sooo cute... they divided among themselves and each got only one piece of dry food for the big Donkey. The scary part was the youngest among them... maybe 3yo? actually put the thing in his own mouth! It took me a whole minute to figure out why one boy was scolding (i thought bullying?) the small boy when i realised he actually said "MAA Akal" meaning Don't eat?

Last stop at the nearby playground before going home.

Dinner was a bit of a disappointment. That was all my fault. Remember that i negotiated with the hotel manager because we were unhappy with our room? Well to appease us, he gave a 50% discount on Dinner @ the Coffee House. This amounted to RM70 for each of us. And it turned out to be... mediocre to say the least. BORING at best. It didn't help that Tufeil was again, restless. and he pooped too in the middle of it... so we had to rush out then back in as it turned out he didn't after all. and then 15min later he really did. Oh god soooooo tiring!!! Can't wait for him to grow up a little and then he can freeze say... at age 3? and stay cute that way? LOL

Fri 2nd July 2010

We've planned this roadtrip for a long time and kept postponing bcos I felt nervous about Tufeil feeling restless being couped up in the car for so long. Nonetheless, I finally decided to give it a shot.

We went out of the house almost 9am, crossed the border and had bfast at Singgah Selalu. Tufeil was asleep for an hour which made it difficult for me to give him his bfast.

It was almost 11am by the time we hit the PLUS highway at which time i noticed Ayah was dead sleepy so i decided to take over.


Tufeil threw a tantrum at this. At first, he wanted to go to the back with his Atok. When he realised he couldn't get that either, he screamed for me instead. He went on for about 10min while Mum tried to distract him showing him the billboard ad by the roadside etc.

The scenery

And he was lulled to sleep.

Side note: This crying out system (while pacifying him but not relenting) is a good way to make him realise he can't get something out of certain situations. Bcos the next time i was driving, he behaved very well sitting with my mum next to me. Didn't cry at all.

I drove close to 2 hours and we reached Ayer Keroh, Malacca and changed driver. No way in hell am I gonna drive in the streets of Malaysia. Tufeil continued sleeping untill...

Soyat. (Tufeil's slang for solat)

We made this pitstop at mum's relatives' Tahfiz Qur'an school cum house to drop somebody's zakat and were given lunch before proceeding ahead to KL.


We were headed for The Legend. Mum heard good reviews about it and thought we'd try it instead of the usual Cititel bcos the main attraction of this holiday is to actually let Tufeil swim at the pool! hahah So far we went just to go swimming!

When we got there... my expression was "OH THIS is The Legend?? Lerrrr I've been here before for a Retreat with the previous company."

At the Check-In Counter

While waiting for the paperwork to be done.

We didn't book any room in advance bcos we weren't sure where we wanted to stay or if we'd even make it there. And then, there's the issue of how many rooms should we get. I was concerned about my decency as i nurse my baby to sleep the whole night. Mum was all for saving money and just get one room and Ayah could just sleep on the floor on a blanket out of view. I wasn't convinced.

Alas, there weren't any superior nor deluxe rooms available anyway because there was a convention going on. In the end, we got a SUITE! Which is the best solution to me cause they have a separate living area where we could put the extra bed or something. It's a pinch at RM 550+ a night and we were gonna stay for 2. And this is already a discounted rate from Rm 700. And I thought, "What the Hell! Let's just swipe the card. It's not often we get such luxury."

We both drooled when we heard the benefits of taking the suite. FREE snacks/tea from 6 - 8pm at the Lounge. We can opt to have our Bfast at the lounge too as opposed to the often crowded Coffee House. We get free internet access as well as free use of gym and sauna the usual. Weeehooo

Two trolley luggages and a stroller full of misc bags.

Our Room door.

Jeng jeng jeng...

The living area.

Then to the left of this picture, we have...

A desktop computer!!!

Entrance to the room.

Nenek & Cucu

To the right of the bed, there's a Walk-in wardrobe Complete with full length mirrors from 3 angles. This leads to the bathtub, shower and toilet. I captured a video of the whole room for memory but I shan't bore you uploading it up here. But plainly said, we were such a country bumpkin!

Bidet fitted to the seat. Good.

Love the space. Though they could use with not charging a deposit for extra towels.

It was 6pm by the time we settled into the rooms. Just in time for the tea/early dinner.

Eh. Ada Kuih Raya lah...

The short selection

The Ambience

Kuih Melayu westernised.

Tufeil beaming at his Atok.

Trying to entertain and was entertained by T

"High Five!"

Hmmmm The food did not do any damage to my tummy but i decided to sleep the rumble off as I anticipated a BIG BFAST TOMORROW!!!

We just decided to pop out to the shopping center next door. But we were stunned by ....

A row of Bunga Mangga.

Who were they welcoming???

WOW! The Prime Minister was coming for dinner!

We were soo kepo waited for his arrival too. It took some 15min??

To pass the time. Stairs to the Ballroom.

Tufeil entertained by the pianist... NOT!!!

He was more enthusiastic about the black and white rocks. Throwing them about. One actually broke in half and i quickly joined it back together and hid it under the other stones. LOL

Entrance to the shopping center

About an hour later, Tufeil was already restless. At 9.30pm, it was past his bedtime. It was diff having to shower and change him when he was already very sleepy. But an hour later....

ZZZZzzzz

Till this day, i feel guilty that my mum ended up sleeping in the living room too. She said she was afraid Tufeil would wake from her coughing. Sorry, Mummy. The King size bed was of the hard kind and it was refreshing for me. Quite nice actually. But toooooo high. Hmmm Also it was VERY HOT IN THE ROOM!!!! We complained and complained and complained about the room temperature.

The next day, I went to the counter and spoke to the manager personally for which he profusely apologised and sent the building maintenance manager immediately. But when we returned, it was still as hot as ever. He blamed it to the 3 windows facing the sun. Me, i blamed it on POOR AIRCON SYSTEM.

The manager even offered to give us another room. We went to view it and everything. It was like two supreme rooms put together one living area and kitchenette, the other sleeping area, bath and wardrobe. Design was soooo ZEN, i like! But both my parents thought there was no point in shifting for just one night (this is evening of Day 2 already) so i negotiated for a discount instead. And sure enough, we got a further RM 300 off for that night.

In total, our hotel bill was RM 904 and my CC statement changed it to SGD 407!! WOW Weee! Thank you, Lord!

To be continued....