June 2012 Bandung-Jakarta Shopping Trip

 

It all started when my mom-in-law shared with us the 4D3N getaway package. At first, I was quite reluctant to spend around RM1100/adult and RM900/children for the shopping trip. My priority for every school holiday getaway is the fun and memorable activities for my kids...so shopping would be the last thing to do with my kids. Convinced by my mom-in-law that we can propose for modifications of the tour, I started to google family-oriented activities in Bandung, so we came across the Trans Studio, Bandung famous indoor theme park. After several discussions with my hubby, we came to agreement that we were going to join this tour package...reason being was that it was a win-win situation for my kids and me as well as my hubby as a shoppaholic couple. They would have fun at the theme park and at the same time, me and my hubby would have fun with the shoppings. 

With my parents-in-law @ Tangkuban Parahu

I also invited my two other friends and their families to join us...one was my neighbour friend and the other was my USM senior. It was a bonus for us as my kids would have more friends in the trip. Besides my parents-in-law, my sis-in-law and her families also joined the trip...making it more gempak!

 

 

Day 1

We depart from Penang International Airport at around 9.30 am and arrived at Jakarta International Airport at mid day. We were warmly greeted by bapak Tofan, the young and energetic tourist guide. We were transported to the nearest restaurant by bus...on the way, Tofan served us with the famous and yummylicious layer cake, which is still hot from the oven. We immediately ordered the layer cake as souvenirs for our families and friends, which will be given to us on our way back to Penang. 

 

Prune Layer Cake

Cheese & Raisin Layer Cake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the time we arrived at the restaurant near the airport, everybody was starving, so we really enjoyed the lunch...steaming hot white rice served with sweet sour fish fillet, kangkung belacan, stir fried beansprout, sotong celup tepung and sate. Hrrmm...it was a good start for the trip! 

 

The bus took us from Jakarta to Bandung...it was about 2-3 hours trip due to bad traffic jams. We stopped at one of the R&R for our jama' zohor-asar solat. We arrived at Bandung after susnset. Then, our shopping activities began at Dago, the area famous for loads of Factory Outlet Stores. My hubby grabbed Burberry jeans and Emporio Armani T-shirts while I managed to get 2 Zara blinging T-shirts. Then, I bought Polo Ralph Lauren shirt for Syameer and colour-block chic dress and a pair of leather-jeans pump for Alyssa. 

 

Day 1 ended with marvelous dinner at Chinese Muslim restaurant at Dago...steaming hot white rice served with sweet sour fish, black pepper chicken with oyster sauce, stir fried kangkung, chinese style vege and fried tempe. Everybody complimented the fabulous food! We ordered separately the famous avocado juice...a blend of smooth avocado texture with gula kabung...this is a must-try for every trip to Indonesia.Then we headed to Mitra Hotel, a 4-star hotel for a check-in. The room was spacious and cosy, and we had a good nite rest.  

 

Day 2  

We kick-started the day with varieties of yummylicious food at the hotel cafe. The bus already awaited for us outside the hotel. However, we were 'distracted' by the street salesman selling all kinds of souvenirs including telekung, kain batik and even arts pieces. Coincidently, we were looking for a huge painting to be hang on top of our headboard in our bedroom, so it was a great opportunity for me when the salesman came with acryllic paintings...I didn't have to go to the art gallery to find the pieces. I had to make quite a hard choice! Finally I grabbed one after negotiating the price, and not forgetting a few sets of telekung as souvenirs for my friends. 

  

Tofan, our tourist guide, had to remind us a few times to stop shopping with the street salesman as we had to keep up with the schedule...were were going to Tangkuban Parahu, the famous volcano in Bandung. Our bus stop at the bottom of the volvano, so we took a coaster up to the volcanic peak. The climate up on the volcano was a bit chill and foggy. Looking at the huge volcanic crater is a lifetime experience for me and my family. Besides the volcanic crater, other attraction was a pony ride for the kids, so we paid for their ride around the volvanic peaks. While waiting for my kids' ride, we were again surrounded by the streets salesman, selling rings, bracelets, necklaces, keychains etc made from the volcanic stone.      

 

Finished with the sighseeing, our trip continued with shopping activities at the famous Rumah Mode, after our lunch at nearby restaurant, serving delicious Sunda food. I fall in love with sambal hijau, one of the must-have Sunda menu. With full stomach, we strolled around the road to Rumah Mode...and it was shopping time! It was a colonial bungalow with serene landscape and cafe. With limited shopping time, I bought myself a colour-block shawl while my hubby bought himself a black shirt. Then, back to the waiting bus, we were again distracted by the street salesman, this time selling fridge magnets. While waiting for the others to come back, I bought loads of Bandung-signature fridge magnet as souvenirs for our office colleagues.

  

We then moved on to Trans Studio, the indoor theme park where our fun and excitement began. We enjoyed most of the rides especially the long-queueing Avengers 3D Motion pictures and the live action-and-stunt show. My kids really enjoyed every moment at Trans Studio with their friends...Alyssa with lil' sis Puteri and Syameer with big bro Danish. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 Checking-out from the Trans Studio, we had our dinner at one of the restaurant, filled with Malaysians. Again, the food was superb...this time, we were served with grilled fish with sambal, tomyam, sweet sour fish fillet, sambal tumis telur, stir fried green beans and fried tauhu. Then, we completed our Day2 schedule with the shopping stop at Toko Tiga, famous for the branded jeans including Levis. Over here, we didn't buy any jeans as our preferered choices were all limited edition and it was not sold at Toko Tiga. Back to the hotel, I need to continue with the packing job as we were going to check-out on the next day.
 

Day 3

  

After breakfast, we checked-out from Mitra Hotel, headed to the Bandung shopping haven i.e. Pasar Baru. It was a 6-storey building selling batik, telekung, fabrics, handbags, scarfs and shawls, accessories etc. With limited shopping time, me and my hubby had to plan our shopping schedule wisely, so we focussed on our targeted items i.e. telekung and handbags for me and the must-buy batik shirt for my hubby. We kicked-off our shopping tour with the finding-telekung mission. We went to the ground floor shop where I was so impressed to see wide selections of telekung with different colours, ranging from pastel colours like whites, beiges and greys to intense colours like brown, maroon, pink etc. The price depends on the type of fabric either silk, satin, fine cotton or others, and also the embroidery. Hrrmmm....it was pretty hard for me to decide. Luckily, my kids were so engaged with their iPad games that I can made my wise choice peacefully. Finally, I decided on 3 sets of telekung...first was intense brown cotton, second was grey satin and the third one was pearl white satin. I also bought 2 sets of telekung for Alyssa...first was intense pink cotton and the second one was white cotton with printed floral design. And mission # 1 accompolished!

 

Mission # 2 was all about handbags so we skipped all other shops and levels, and moved to level 6. Again, with wide variety of handbags, I spent quite some time to check out for the latest design, material, quality and durability. Luckily, there was one and only toy shop at Pasar Baru, just beside the handbag shop. This made my job easier...we bought a die-cast limousine car for Syameer and ordered avocado juice and es teller for him, so he just played around with his new 'car' while slurping the juice and didn't bother waiting for me to decide for the handbags.

 

Finally, I bought 3 handbags for myself and one for my younger sister. I was satisfied with my choice of green Prada, grey suede Louis Vutton and denim Prada. I also bought Hello Kitty backpack for Alyssa and Iron Man backpack for Syameer. The last mission was my hubby's batik shirt. Alhamdulillah, we managed to find his size of silk batik shirt with abstract design. Completing mission # 3, we didn't have much time left to look around. I could just glanced at the fantastic jubah and scarf with loads of beads! OMG...I wish I could have more shopping time! We went down to the main entrance, waiting for the bus. On our way, we grabbed some snack...and it was so yummy. While waiting for the bus, we checked out amongst our group what we had bought...hahaha, it was really shopping spree. I even bought big shopping bag to keep all the stuff that I had bought.

We had our late lunch at one of the Sunda restaurant in Bandung before we headed to the area in Bandung, famous for shoes. We strolled around the street and unexpectedly, I found bold orange suede wedges at a very cheap price! On the way back to our bus, we found a stall selling fried tempe and fried smoked banana. We bought the fried tempe as snack in the bus, and it was so yummy that we can finish it with others in the bus within 10 minutes.

 

 

Heading to Jakarta, the kids organized their own karaoke session in the bus to ease the tense of bad traffic jam towards Jakarta. We arrived in Jakarta around 8 pm and we were brought to the famous restaurant here, Warong Tekko. I really loved  the food especially fritters made of kangkung, pecel ayam, pecel lele, sambal terasi and stir fried kangkung. We then checked-in at the hotel for one-nite stay.  
 

Day 4 

  

After breakfast and check-out, we headed to ITC Mangga 2 @ Jakarta, another shopping haven. Our shopping mission is to find a sling bag for my hubby, so we spent most of the time accomplising this mission! Then, we had our lunch at A&W before we headed to the airport. In the bus, we saw stacks of boxes containing pre-ordered layer cake. I ordered prune layer cake and cheese with raisin layer cake for my families, office colleagues and ourselves.

 

At the airport, it was pretty sad to say goodbye to Tofan, our tourist guide. All kids in our group liked him so much.

 

Airport check-in was the most anticipated time...this was when we got to see the 'multipying' luggage from our group. Hahaha.....it should be, because it was a shopping trip!

 

 

 

When everyone was done with their check-in, we had a group photo...and it was really 1Malaysia!

 

We had a safe and sound journey and arrived at Penang International Airport at around 9 pm.

It was a fun and memorable group trip for us. All the way in the bus, kids were playing and adults were chit-chating. It was totally a different getaway experience for us...
 

View more of the photos at https://www.facebook.com/NoorSaerah/media_set?set=a.4203104800995.2179179.1386094128&type=3


Thanks and have a nice day!









        
 

Foodography

Masa zaman remaja dulu, I tak de la minat sangat memasak...cuma jadi assistant Mama je kat dapur. Sambil2 membantu tu, dapat la jadi observer...observe cara2 Mama memasak including bahan2 yang digunakan untuk sesuatu resepi tu. Tapi semua findings from the observation tu disimpan dalam 'memory disk' dan tak pulak ditulis dalam buku resepi. Buku resepi Mama tu mostly untuk cakes and cookies yg memang perlukan accurate measurements of ingredients...utk lauk-pauk nie, tak perlu la sampai ke tahap tu, just agak2 jer.

 

Bila dah kahwin, mula la kena start memasak tapi tak de la kekok sangat...I just recall balik resepi yang disimpan dlm 'memory disk'. My hubby nie memang dah biasa ke dapur. Dia memang assistant tetap kat dapur...in fact, dia pandai masak his signature menu mcm sayur goreng chinese style, nasi goreng and mee goreng chinese style. So masa mula2 kahwin dan ke dapur with my hubby, dia selalu la tegur cara I masak...hrrmm tension jugak mula2 tu! Tapi, lama-kelamaan, dia tak pertikaikan lagi, especially bila I dapat tawan hati my hubby with my cookings.

 

Everythings changed when I upgraded my Nokia handphone to smart phone i.e. iPhone. Itu pun, setelah dipujuk berulang kali oleh my hubby yg understand my passion for photography. He convinced me that with smart phone, I can snap photo at any time, edit them using the Apps, then upload to Facebook wherever and whenever I wish to. After that, I mula terjerumus dalam mode 'gila bergambar', 'gila berFacebook' dan 'gila berMobile Upload'....maklum la dah mobile! Then, I started to 'polish' my food plating skill....hahaha which I learned a lot from the TV cooking show.

 

To date I have created 2 Facebook photo albums called My Home-Made Cooking and Foodography.

Foodography  



 

It is a collection of my favourite foods during my Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan activity. I'm blessed to stay in Penang, the city renowned as food capital of Malaysia. As foodies, I'm spoilt with choices of signature dishes and fabulous street food.















Penang signature gourmet ranges from nasi kandar, laksa, char koay teow, rojak buah to pasembur.



Personally, I always crave for ais jagung gula merah @ Astaka Gelugor, Penang Road Famous cendol & rojak buah, apom manis @ Taman Tun Sardon, kerabu mangga @ Tecso Extra Penang, nasi lemak @ Taman Tun Sardon, laksa Air Itam @ Gurney Drive and loads more!

 

I would strongly recommend Astaka Taman Tun Sardon for foodies as you will be spoilt with choices of fabulous Malay and fusion food. To name, you can enjoy the best nasi lemak, lontong, wantan noodles, prawn noodles, noodles soup, char koay teow, serabai, roti canai, special sandwiches, nasi lemuni, tosai and vadai, chapati, kuih and lots more. It is a one stop food centre. During weekends, the Astaka will be flocked by foodies. 

Not forgetting...the famous Original Penang Kayu Nasi Kandar. In my opinion, it is #1 and top of the list, although you can find other famous nasi kandar like Line Clear and Nasi Beratur. My reason...this nasi kandar houz serves spicy and hot food with undisputable Teh Tarik and Roti Canai. During Ramadhan, it's loads-of-ghee-briyani is the best. Besides Original Penang Kayu Nasi Kandar, I also love Claypot Briyani @ Kapitan...the briyani is a bit spicy with juicy and tender grilled chicken. 

When you go to Little India, don't forget to try the samosa...you can choose either chicken, vege or sardine. Kapitan Restaurant, serving claypot briyani is just around the corner.

I'm a fan of laksa, so whenever I feel like eating Penang Laksa, I will go to Gurney Drive...the hawkers spot. In addition to the Penang Laksa, my must-eat food here is Tauhu Rendang. I opt for this compared to Pasembor because the tauhu, popia, cucur udang etc will be fried once you order and serve to you hot from the wok.

View more of Foodography at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200219781522330.2200055.1386094128&type=1&l=d730f94274



Masak Lemak Cencaru Sumbat

My Home-Made Cooking

It is just a collection of photos without the recipes. In time to come, I hope to write the recipes for my kids' reference and sharing with my friends and anyone out there who would like to try them out. I like to watch TV cooking programs especially the Food Network Channel and Asian Food Channel....that's how I learn all the recipes and cooking technique. I'm lucky that my family can accept western food...in fact they love them so much! And that makes me enthusiatic to experiment the new recipes. Not only that, I can share the 'end-product' of my experiment with my neighbour friends.



Amongst my family's favourites are Roasted Chicken with Honey BBQ Mustard Sauce, Mashed Potato and Sauted Vege, Thai Green Curry with Pandan Chicken, Laksa Siam and Tandoori Chicken with Biryani.  

Not forgetting, my family's all time favourite dessert, Bread Pudding with Choco Chips, Raisin, Walnut and Custard Sauce. Since my hubby is from Ipoh, he loves Ipoh Style Curry Mee, so I learned to cook this Ipoh signature dish. He also loves my Masak Lemak Ikan Sungai, Fish Head Curry and Nasi Daging Utara with Air Asam. My kiddos love my Baked Pasta with Meatball and Cucur Udang.

  

I also love to bake...got the cakes and cookies recipes from my mom-in-law and sis-in-law. I wish to try all the cup cake recipes from the internet.Who knows, one day I might venture into cup cake business....hahaha!

As for my Tandoori Chicken with Biryani, I'm lucky to have a neighbour friend who can provide me with the supply of herbs and spices from Pakistan and India. Currently, I'm learning all the Indian recipes from her, especially chicken, meat, mutton and fish curry.   

View more of My Home-Made Cooking at
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200219703960391.2200051.1386094128&type=1&l=b742c33877

March 2012 Discovering Singapore



Must-have pic @ USS

Since Alyssa and Syameer start schooling, school holidays would always be the most anticipated moment, not only by my kiddos but me and my hubby. Without fail, we always plan a getaway either locally or abroad, depending on our travel fund.

 

Alhamdulillah, with some extra budget, last year we travelled  abroad. March 2012, four of us flew to Singapore for 4D3N stay. Then in June 2012, we travelled with a group of our families and friends to Bandung-Jakarta for 4D3N shopping vacation.

Vacation to Singapore was the first flight experience for Alyssa and Syameer via AirAsia, and of course my kiddos were so excited about it.

 

Day 1

We took off from Penang Airport and arrived at Changi Airport after 1 hour plus flight. Then, we took the MRT from Changi Airport to Hotel Royale @ Queens Street, a stop at E12 Bugis...the trip costs about SGD12 for four of us. The hotel was about 0.5 km walk from the MRT. Despite the 15 minutes walk with our luggage, it was paid off when we checked-in at the cosy and spacious room with modern deco and city view.  

 

After a quick freshen-up, we kicked off our vacation in Singapore with city tour via duck tour, which was inclusive with our package. After we collected the duck tour tickets, we grabbed our lunch at McD Suntech City...and it was an unforgettable moment for me and my hubby with the burger! Hahaha...wasn't it too much? Well, for both of us who appreciate food, vacation is more meaningful with great food. It's the tender and juicy chicken terriyaki burger...which was not served at McD in Malaysia.
 

Now, back to the duck tour which was basically the sea and land tour across the city. We got to see the botanic garden, helix bridge, National Art Museum, Marina Sands Bay, the floating Louis Vutton boutique, Singapore Flyer, and of course the famous Merlion. At the end of the tour, my kiddos 'added' a duck whistle to their vacation collectables.

Back to the hotel, Syameer was starving....meaning that he needed the Asian staple food which is rice! So I ordered Chinese fried rice which was yummylicios...and he can finished the whole plate! So I didn't mind paying extra for the in-room meal.

We continued our nite tour by MRT to Serangoon and Farrer Park, then headed to Mustaffa Centre...which I would conclude as the more sophisticated version of Mydin Malaysia, selling branded items like Clarks, Nike, Adidas etc, and also jewelleries and watches. It was located at the area called Little India, so we came across mosques and Indian restaurants.
  

Since we are from Penang, a city known for Indian food i.e. nasi kandar, roti canai, tosai etc, we had our dinner at AB Restaurant. To our surprise, the taste of chicken biryani, curries, dhal, tossai and chutney, can beat Penang Original Kayu Nasi Kandar ! And that was the reason why we went to this restaurant again on the second night for our dinner.

From AB restaurant, we just crossed the road to Mustaffa Centre, opened 24 hours. With the shopping mission, I was quite ambitious to grab a watch for me and my hubby, but I was so frustrated to find that none of the watch selections suite my taste bud. Anyway, my hubby accomplished his mission with his special edition Diesel watch. And of course, my kiddos added their vacation collectables...Alyssa grabbed a donkey plush toy, and Syameer got his army truck. And me ?....Nothing ! But it's okay because I'm not the type of person who will just spend my money for something that doesn't satisfy my taste. I just bought loads of chocolates for our families and friends as souvenirs. We decided to take a cab back to the hotel as everyone especially my kiddos were so tired and to our surprise, travelling by cab was cheaper than the MRT...it costs us about SGD8 at midnight rate compared to SGD14.40 for MRT from our hotel to Farrer Park. So, that ended our Day1 @ Singapore.
 

Day 2

Day2 @ Singapore was the ultimate highlight...it was Universal Studio Singapore a.k.a USS. We took a cab to Sentosa Island. On our way to collect our pre-booked tickets, we dropped at the chocolate store, and that's where I fell in love with Reese choco bar. Undeniably, it was load of fun, thrill and excitement for the four of us. We kicked off with the ride at Madagascar Adventure then took a lunch break at the Madagascar Cafe. The food was not bad especially Thai beef noodle for me and my hubby. My kids' spaghetti bologna lunch package came with the Madagascar bowl. Hrrmmm...another addition to their collectables ! Then, our excitement continued with Shrek Adventure 3D motion picture. 

We then moved on to Jurassic Park Adventure where we had to wear disposable poncho for the wet adventure. Unfortunately, due to bad weather, the adventure was closed, so with frustration after queueing for 1/2 an hour, we threw the disposable poncho and moved on to Sci-Fi City in the drizzles of rain. We had to skip the adult Mummy Adventure and the roller coaster.

And finally, we experienced the Transformers 4D motion ride...and it's worth spending the longest queueing time where we had to entertain Syameer's repeated questions.."Are we there yet, Mama?". We really enjoyed the thrill as if we were in the battlefield with the autobots. My advise to those who plan to discover USS, put this ride as no. 1 in your checklist !

Since we spent longer time queueing for this ride, we checked-out from this ride around 6 plus pm and USS operation was about to close by 7 pm. So we had no opportunity to discover Hollywood...we just enjoyed the closing parade.

 

Before we passed through the exit gate, I grabbed USS t-shirts for my kiddos with their favourite characters, Melman, Skipper and Alex from the Madagascar. And not forgetting, Syameer's personal collectables...the Bumblebee tumbler which costs us about RM70, and a must-buy item for every vacation, the fridge magnet with USS signature. Checked-out from USS, we dropped at the choco store where I stocked-up my Reese choco bar, which I couldn't get in Malaysian airports. My kiddos had a quick fuel-up with nachos dipped in melted cheese before we left Sentosa Island. We took a cab back to Little India for our dinner at AB restaurant, then back to the hotel.

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 3

Day3 @ Singapore...we kick-started the day with roti canai, tosai and teh tarik for our breakfast at Little India before we headed back to Sentosa Island. This time we took the MRT from Farrer Park to the Jewel Cable Car station for our fun at the Singapore Underwater World and Butterfly Park. Our vacation package was inclusive of all tickets, which made our vacation hassle-free in terms of queueing for the tickets. Up in the cable car, we can see fantastic sea and land view...we spotted huge Star Cruise and Hard Rock Hotel @ Sentosa Island.

The cable car ride ended at the souvenir shop, so I grabbed the chance to find something for myself. Finally, I found a Singapore signature T-shirt for me and my hubby. Out of the souvenir shop, we went to the Butterfly Park & Insect Kingdom. In my opinion, Penang Butterfly Farm is way much better than Singapore Butterfly Park. It has lots more free-range butterfly and insect species.

Then, we took the bus tour to the Underwater World. The Underwater World displayed wide range of aqua species...it was an interactive aquarium where my kiddos can touch and play with the stingray and Alyssa can even put her hands into one of the aquarium. There was also a huge walking tunnel inside. The most anticipated moment was the pink dolphin show and it was a full house show. That was a great moment for us especially my kiddos. 

 Then, we took the return cable car ride to Harbour Front where we had our dinner at McD. Since I am a hardcore coffee drinker, I was so delighted with McCafe that serves brewed coffee and pastries. I indulged myself with cafe latte and cinnamon melts. At that time, McCafe was not integrated into any McD franchise in Malaysia. Only last year, McCafe was opened at Penang International Airport.
 

Day 4

Last day in Singapore, we checked-out from the hotel for a city tour to the famous shopping haven...Orchard Road. Then we headed to Arab Street and Kampung Glam for our lunch.

 

We continued with our final tour @ Singapore Toy Museum. The concept of this museum was quite similar to the Penang Toy Museum but the space was quite hip with the cafe, and it displayed classic and antique toys. My kiddos personally preferred the Penang Toy Museum which displays vast collection of toys from the famous characters, where they can relate to their childhood favourites from movies and cartoon characters, and collectables as well.

 

Finished with the museum tour, we had our tea-break at McD before we took the MRT from Bras Basah to Changi Airport. Since our return flight was around 10 pm, we killed the waiting time with shopping therapy including the must-buy item...chocolates. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alhamdulillah, we had a sound and safe journey back to Penang International Airport. The next day, we are pretty occupied with our photo-viewing activity. I admitted that me and my hubby love to snap photo, and we raised our kiddos with that 'culture'. Since I created my Facebook account in 2008, I used this social media as my photography journal. And our collections of photo for Singapore 2012 vacation can be viewed at the following links:
 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/set=a.3631988883454.2169604.1386094128&type=3           

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/set=a.3617554442602.2169349.1386094128&type=3

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/set=a.3631661355266.2169600.1386094128&type=3

That's all about my sharing on our vacation in Singapore. We hope to pay a re-visit to USS to complete our discovery of the Jurassic Park Adventure and Hollywood Adventure. We might consider a day-tour to Singapore alongside with JB tour to Legoland, Hello Kitty Town and JPO next year, Insya Allah.

Thanks and have a nice day...