le grandeur palm resort, JB

I always love Johor Bahru, and it's kind of proud feeling everytime I heard Johor Bahru.

Well.

I am a proud Johorean.

This is a sum up of our 19 days in JB.

So bila dengar saja husband kena posting kat JB, oh my god. Hati melonjak-lonjak okay. Dalam kepala dah plan macam-macam dah! Hahaha.

We were staying at Le Grandeur Palm Resort, JB. This hotel located at Senai, betul-betul belakang Senai International Airport. So memang dekat gila lah husband nak pergi kerja. It just like 5 to 7 minutes drive.

We arrived quite late on 11th Feb 2015. Sebab singgah jenguk my mom kat hometown on the way to JB. We checked-in around 9 something at night. And then we go makan at the A&W nearby. Balik and doze off to lalaland.

Tomorrow is another free day before husband start kerja on Friday. Went out for little shopping at the Giant, siap beli toaster okay! Hahaha.

Anyway, of 19days here banyaknya I stay at the hotel. Sementara husband I kerja, I tunggu dia kat hotel je lah. Tak adalah I keluar alone jalan-jalan walaupun I confident I tak akan sesat. Tapi sebab I memang malas nak keluar alone and plus rasa macam nak rest betul-betul while in JB, so I akan tunggu my husband for whatever exploring plan we had in our mind.

The hotel.

Hotel was super duper nice. It's a gem!

Masa I serve for MH dulu, I pernah nightstop kat sini. The last time it was Sofitel Palm Resort, now I rasa dah tukar management, nama pun tukar.

I've been to many hotels during my flying time and I rasa this is one of the best type of family hotel. Why I kata family hotel? Sebab facilities kat sini memang tip top for those yang bawa family and ada anak.

There are so many activities boleh buat kat sini. They have their own sport centre, paintball, archery, and banyak lagi yang I tak ingat. They even have lounge for karaoke, clubhouse and liveband. Memang not bad at all. And oh, of course ada padang golf! So golfers, bring your family here!

Big swimming pool for adult and also for kids. I suka gila ambience and environment hotel ni. Sebab memamg macam hotel lama dan mengekalkan rasa yang sama macam first i pergi dulu.

Yes, kitorang dapat bilik at the ground floor. So from our balcony, here's the view. Awesome possum okay! I boleh tengok orang mandi everydayyy!

Hotel-hotel zaman sekarang mostly concept modern and zen, tak pun ala bali style. But this hotel, WIN! Dengan pokok kelapanya dekat area swimming pool nya, dengan suasana coffee house nya, memang you will feel like back to 90's. Ah, love!

Yes, I am classic like that so I suka the feel every time I come back to this hotel after spending time outside. Everytime I jejak kaki ke hotel ni, the dejavu macam masa kecil-kecil dulu when our parents brings us for holiday.

Oh, although I suka gila dengan ambience dan environment kat sini, but foods wise I rasa okay-okay je. Nothing to shout about. Most of the time bila husband kerja and back from work and we dont feel like going out, we will just settle for room service.

During CNY, they even distribute angpow and limau mandarin to all guests. The angpow contains 20cents, but hey its not about the amount (if you give more I will not hesitate, gahhh), it's thought that count! Such a sweet gestures!

It is good to be back to this place after 10 years with someone I love.

Na-ah, this is not a paid review ya. I'm writting this sebab memang I suka hotel ni. We will definitely come back here, very soon!

I tak sure sangat on the rate per night, sebab we stayed here for freeeee, if you guys interested to know more on this you might want to check out their website of contact the hotel directly.

Oh well.

That's about the hotel!

And what not to love about JB, right?

Bandar Iskandar, bandar terchentaaa!

Hilarious sunset view along the Pantai Lido. Do they still call this place Pantai Lido?

how we first met #6

Hakhakhak.

Rupanya banyak post I yang tertangguh dan tak selesai. Er, cerita JB, Singapore, Phuket dan Koh Samui tu nanti lah ya? I sedang mengumpul kekuatan nak menulis. Haha, to be frank I have no i dea at the moment on how to put everything into words.

So malam ni I rasa I will settle on this lah ya. The finale of how I met my husband. 

After the movie date on December 2010, watching fireworks on 2011's eve, Juara Lagu 2011 and few times go makan, I started to develop this kinda mushi-mushi feelings towards him. I tak tau nak describe perasaan ni macam apa, tapi yang I tau every time I fly, I will miss him terribly.

And I rasa I tak bertepuk sebelah tangan. Till one find day in mid of January 2011, we gave me this box contains necklace, beautiful one, and asked me;

" Awak nak tak jadi girlfriend saya? "

And the rest is history.

Weird isn't, instead of ring he gave me necklace. I lupa nak tanya kenapa necklace? Ahahah. Shall ask him soon.

Fast forward 4 years later, I am now his wife. The feeling is just as wonderful as before, even more every time I look at him.

Betul lah kata orang, there's always a reason why relationship sebelum ni tak menjadi because when you meet the one, everything seems so clear and valid.

Semoga cinta kita akan kekal muda dan remaja macam dulu walaupun kita semakin tua dan berisi, sayang! I heart and love you so much not even stars and sands can beat it!

in between

Masa di Japan, husband dapat info that dia kena posting to Johor Bahru for 19 days to be exact.

At first I dah morale down. Aaaa I tak suka kalau sehari tak tengok muka dia. Serious, ni bukan mengada-ngada. Tapi I memang tak boleh. Hahahaha.

To my surprise, he said I can follow him. Plus he'll be getting accommodation all by himself. Meaning that bukan sharing basis with his team yang pergi sekali lah.

Awwwhh.

That meanssssss the holiday continuessss.

What not to love about holiday? Ehem, holiday for me lah, while husband working. Hehehe.

I always wanted to spend time in JB.  I was brought up in JB and spent my first 17 years of life there.  So for me this opportunity is like a chance to walkdown to the memory lane.

So JB stories will come next okay? Gotta need to sort the photos first!

tips melancong ke Jepun

This is a wrap to all Japan's entry.

So here's some of the tips yang mungkin boleh diguna pakai untuk those yang plan ke Jepun.

1. Kalau pergi pada musim sejuk, tak perlu beli topcoat or baju sejuk dan heat thermal banyak-banyak di Malaysia. Sebab negara kita bukan negara sejuk, so benda-benda ni semua mahal di sini. Perhaps beli sepasang or pinjam kawan-kawan saja dulu. Nanti sampai Jepun boleh beli. Memang murah. Uniqlo's baju sejuk and heat thermal are the best. I beli long john di Universal Traveller KL one pair RM150+-, tapi kat sana boleh dapat around Y1,500+- (RM50). Top coat / wind breaker around Y2,000 to Y5,000 (RM70 to RM200).

2. Baju juga adalah murah. Brands like Forever 21, H&M lebih murah berbanding Malaysia.

3. Trains adalah super duper easy and convenient. Dan tidaklah sesusah yang digembar gembur kan. Kenapa I cakap tak susah walaupun berselirat routes nya? Sebab there's always information counter at each train station. Walaupun some of them tak fasih berbahasa English, worry not. Sebab kalau you bercakap macam ayam itik pun, or guna sign language, Insyaallah maksudnya deliver. I rasa sebab diorang memang dah biasa kot. Sometimes kelakar okay? I kadang-kadang saja cakap bahasa melayu tanya tempat, but surprisingly they seems understand it. Maybe sebab siap dengan sign language kot. Or paling mudah, download lah application translation dalam phone (which is my husband did but tak guna sangat pun).

4. Oh yes, ini penting. Sebab I pun tak tahu at first. Okay, normally kalau kita shopping kat kedai-kedai diorang ni, Uniqlo, H&M or Forever 21 for example, sila present passport you masa nak buat payment. This is for tax exemption. For first few purchase I tak present, I rasa macam kenapa lagi mahal dari publish price till someone told me I need to present my passport. Oh, I thought kita just collect all the receipt and boleh claim at the airport before leaving to Malaysia. That does not applicable here.

5. Sila pilih accommodation berdekatan train station. Kalau boleh walking distance, sebabnya cab di Jepun quite costly. Er, but if you don't mind to splurge your money on cab, so it shouldn't be a problem. Sebabnya normally dari Haneda Airport to bandar Tokyo, the rate will be around RM400+-.

6. Foods. We brought one medium size trolley bag full of foods. By foods, I mean can foods, biscuits, instant noodles, bread and rice (beras). The apartment we stay allows cooking, why not? And oh, plus my husband is not a fan of Japanese foods, remember? But oh well, makan tuna sandwich dalam cuaca sejuk-sejuk di taman-taman di Jepun sangatlah menyelerakan dan mengujakan. Don't forget to bring zip lock bag as well, kalau rasa yang suka nak tapau foods berjalan kemana-mana tu.

7. If you bawa beras, you are require to declare them in the landing form. Landing form ini diberi masa dalam flight selalunya. So boleh isi siap-siap untuk mengelakkan kekalutan. I tahu ada saja jenis yang tak suka declare ni, tapi trust me, to be on safe side, just declare. Macam I, masa lalu custom tu and pass the form to the personnel, they just asked us random questions, as in duration of stay and stay kat mana. Form tu kena isi completely ya, termasuk address you stay in Japan.

I guess that's all kot for the time being. Nanti kalau I teringat apa-apa lagi I will add up here, okay?

trip ke jepun part 5

Fuh!

Finally, I rasa I berjaya compose all stories during my trip to Japan. Walaupun tak sedetails and secomplete mana, but I'm happy with it. Something for me to look back and reminiscing memories.

Feb 2nd, 2015 (Selasa) - Day 5

Oh, semalam btw we went to a place named Hiroo. Sebab husband wanted to go to this one shop, selling all toys as he's looking for his Hot Wheels Japan Edition. Unfortunately, kedai tu tutup every Monday. And if it's open, they close early. By the time we reach the place it was nearly 9PM. Dahlah from nearby train station to this shop quite far. Nak tercabut kaki mek!

Well, suppose we plan to come again tomorrow, which is today in Day 5. Tapi sebab semalam nya memang tenaga dah betul-betul depleted, we woke up slightly late. So bila dah lambat tu memang malas nak keluar. End up we just enjoying ourselves on the bed. Berguling-guling saja dalam comforter. Since it is our very last day, might as well rehat betul-betul dan sepuas-puasnya before our flight back home late tonight.

Okay.

We decided to start our journey to the airport around 6PM. So after pack things up, masak and makan, getting ready and whatnot so we wave goodbye to our 5nights apartment. Walk to the train station and beli ticket.

Journey takes around 1 hour to reach to the airport from Ikebukuro. Tapi kena pandai budget masa if you'd like to opt for train. As for us, our flight scheduled at 1145PM, so bolehlah ambil our own sweet time.

Sampai saja airport, perut dah lapar. Passed by the check in counter, belum buka lagi. So pusing-pusing cari makan dulu. Tapi sungguhlah susah nak cari makanan Halal di Tokyo Internation Airport. Sangatlah susah. Berpusing satu airport, sikit lagi nak pengsan. #drama

Pusing punya pusing, jumpalah satu cafe ni kat tingkat atas. So we just settled with a plate of spaghetti each. Sedaplah juga! Perut dah lapar memang apa pun sedap.

Happy faces dapat makan!

Settle makan, turun bawah nak check in. Tengok-tengok dah long queue dah. Subhanallah punyalah panjang queue. Kat KL panjang juga queue tapi kira cepatlah sampai turn. Tapi kat sini memang slow gila. Gila-gila punya slow tahap nak mencarut dalam hati. Can you imagine nak check in sahaja ambil masa lebih kurang 1jam 15minit. Berdiri selama 1jam 15minit okay. Tapi panjang-panjang queue pun tak adalah sampai 50 orang depan I.

Rupanya bila sampai our turn, barulah tahu that they actually ada masalah komunikasi. Walaupun bekerja as front liner or guest services, tapi English mereka sangatlah limited. Dan yang menjadikan lambat is because they're trying so hard to explain in details on apa yang boleh bawa on board, boarding pukul berapa and so on.

It's good, cumanya bila queue panjang tu I rasa tak perlu okay nak explain details macam tu. It is all stated di boarding pass tu kan boarding what time, gate mana and so on. Haih.

But nevertheless, everything went well. We had a smooth flight home to KL. Alhamdulillah. Lepas meal served on board, kami berlayar ke lalaland sampai lah landing.

And,

Hello Malaysia!

trip ke jepun part 4

Speed up. Speed up.

Hahaha.

Feb 2nd, 2015 (Isnin) - Day 5

I browse and google around, they said Tokyo Tower is a MUST place to go. For me, well nothing much pun. Sama macam kat KL, kita pergi KL Tower. Tapi masalahnya, KL Tower pun I tak pernah sampai lagi! Hahaha, macam mana tu?

Main thing di Tokyo Tower mestilah tengok scenary from the up kan. So that's what we did. Hahaha.

From our apartment we hop on  the train. Di Tokyo, the trains system is so integrated. Memang senang gila nak jump from one place to another. Cuma kena prepare lutut sajalah, nak jalan jauh. Tapi seriously, kalau rasa nak selesa berjalan please wear proper shoes. Plus it's winter, pakailah boot yang selesa. Tak perlu nak feeling-feeling sangat pakai heel boot kot?

Because I am pretty sure dapat bertahan sehari sahaja. Esoknya confirm taubat tak mahu pakai dah!

On the way from train station to Tokyo Tower, we passed by a temple. So yes, another selfie!

Aha, can you seee that? Tokyo Tower dari kejauhan. Er, tak adalah cantik sangat pun kan? But I've read somewhere kalau malam lagi cantik okay? Macam Eiffel Tower. I pun tak faham kenapa the husband must bring me here during day time.

Dalam Tokyo Tower, full of lights! Cantik! I suka!

This is look up window below us. So boleh nampaklah jalan-jalan raya yang kita lalu tadi. Oh yes, jalan raya mereka memang bersih sebersih bersihnya!

Er, I persembahkannnn, gambar I silhouette. Hahaha, I nak tunjuk belakang tu permandangan Tokyo City dari Tokyo Tower. Tapi macam biasalah, I malas nak tanggalkan monopod from my phone.

For this Tokyo Tower, ada entrance fee. Adult Y900. Tapi halfway of the top sajalah. For top view, I think it's double the fee.

Dalam Tokyo Tower ni ada kedai souvenirs, but quite pricey. So bila I dah turun elevator nak cari exit door kat tingkat bawah, there's another place orang jual souvenirs. Sini murah sikit. I dapat beli few keychains dengan harga Y380/piece.

Okay lah kan?

After strolling around, we headed back to our apartment. Perut pun dah lapar berkeroncong ni. At first we plan nak balik terus and just whip up anything to eat, but then suddenly husband said why don't we eat at Malaysian restaurant nearby our place.

It's Malay-chan Restaurant, nearby Ikebukuro Station. Quite well known among Malaysian and definitely Halal!

Rasanya retaurant ni pernah masuk rancangan Zizan yang travel ke Japan tu. The interior memang agak Malaysian plus lagu yang dimainkan pun memang lagu-lagu zaman 90-an. Memang rasa macam kat Malaysia!

So I had nasi putih and sup ayam while my husband ambil nasi goreng special I guess. Ada satay, telur mata dan keropok. He said the meal was okay-okay. Mine superb! Sup ayam memang cukup rasa. Berbaloi-baloi! Price wise? For meals I mentioned before and 2 drinks, bill come out at Y6,000 +-.

Nah! 2 orang Malaysia yang gedik nak makan makanan Melayu padahal lusa dah sampai KL pun. Hahaha. Suppose dah sampai Japan, makanlah makanan Japan hendaknya kan? Tidak ya. Tekak husband I tetaaaapppplah melayu. Er, tekak I pun sama je!

We got back and jump on bed with happy tummy.

trip ke jepun part 3

Serious this is such a long delay.

I just got back from Phuket and Koh Samui, so I will speed up the entry on Japan.

Feb 1st, 2015 (Ahad) - Day 4

After a long dayyyyy yesterday, we woke up a bit late. Dengan cuaca yang super duper sejuk, serious sejuk, memang bestlah bergulung bawah comforter. During day time, suhu boleh mencapai around 5C.

Getting ready and penuhkan perut as usual, we headed to The Yushukan War Museum.

Train from Ikebukuro and stop at i-forgot-the-station-name-i-am-sorry. Hahaha. But if you're into history just like my husband, please google and a bit of survey on this place. It is not that hard to reach.

But this place close early, so kami datang that day pun dah kira macam terlambat jugalah. Close at 4.30PM local time, we reached there nearly 4PM. Husband dah pasrah dah at first, macam tak nak masuk. But I push myself inside, and tadaaaaa

Ini saja pun yang suami saya nak tengokkk sangat. He said this is Zero Fighter, guna masa zaman jepun. I was like. ' Ohhh, aaaaaa' all the time, sebabnyaaa I tak tahu sangat bab-bab sejarah ni, plus I tak berapa minat. Tapi since the husband was so excited, I pun tumpang excited ambil gambar sekali lah!

Hahaha.

Actually luar museum ni (I rasa it is actually bukan museum, tapi macam exhibition hall), ialah macam park tau. Nice park, because the buildings around and seni bina rasa macam betul-betul di zaman Jepun dulu kala.

 The Entrance. Please bare with all the selfies okay? Phone I memang pasang monopod, so memang dah tak tanggal dah, sebabnyaa it was sooo cold I can't even take off my glove.

We leave this place almost sunset. Since it was winter in Japan, so gelap awal. Around 5 lebih macam tu dah gelap.

Next destination was, Nakano Broadway!

Okay, as for this place, husband yang make an effort untuk buat research and survey in a very limited time. Sebab mission dia ialah mencari Hot Wheels. Er, kereta yang kecil-kecil tu? Tapi I pun tak ambil gambar kereta yang dia beli.

Japan lebih terkenal dengan Tomica Cars, compared to Hot Wheels. Cuma ada series Hot Wheels yang berasaskan character dari Japan for example Power Rangers and the list goes on (sorry, nak explain in details I tak faham sangat. Hahaha!)

Nakano Broadway ni macam small shopping mall, tapi mostly banyak toys yang rare and antiques. Kalau you are toys collector, here is MUST GO!

trip ke jepun part 2

Before this lady getting lazy, so yeah.

Jan 31st, 2015 (Sabtu) - Day 3

Let me recall ya. Apa kitorang buat that day. Hmm.

Okay, bangun pagi alhamdulillah cuaca sangat cantik. Sun is out, it was a bright day!

So macam biasalah, normally I will whipped up some foods dulu then isi perut kenyang-kenyang barulah keluar okay. Husband is not a fancy type yang suka cuba makanan-makanan pelik ni. Yes, for him others than Malay's or Western's is a no-no.

Unlike me, I can just gobble almost everything. I am flexible and adventurous liddat! Hahaha.

However not a big deal for me as I pun memang suka makan nasi, so setakat masak nasi dan satu lauk segera tu, I am more than happy to do so!

So went to Ueno Park first, we stopped at Ueno Station, just walking distance ans accross the station, there's beautiful park.

Memang tempat untuk diorang beriadah dan beristirehat. Ada playgroud, ada tasik where we can paddle the boat, and temples!

Cantik, sangat cantik. Would highly recommend you guys to pergi sana. Cantik and bersih.

After spending like an hour di Ueno Park, we move to Asakusa.

Apa yang menarik di Asakusa ialah; Tokyo Cruise. Keluar saja dari train station Asakusa, cross the road then you can see the place.

Since I dah pernah cruise along the last time I went to Tokyo, we decided to skip this. Husband pun don't really have much interest on this.

Tokyo Cruise cruising from Asakusa to Odaiba. Along the way there's guide yang akan beri information about places we passed by.

So we went to Tokyo Skytree instead.

We walked all the way from Asakusa Station (JR) to Tokyo Skytree. It was bloody far. Dengan badan shivering menahan sejuk lagi, memang mencabar. Hahaha. Tapi walaupun sejuk, I tetap suka makan ice cream 7Eleven dia. Oh so sedap!

After settle dengan Tokyo Skytree, which is kami tak naik pun. The reason being was, it was super duper long queue and delays due to cuaca tidak baik. So kiranya ramai yang masih menunggu untuk naik, lagi-lagi yang dah beli ticket.

Then we walked back to the Asakusa Station. Oh my god, kali ni memang jauh okay nak jalan balik ke station, nak tercabut kaki I!

Next stop was Shibuya. Okay. Shibuya is one of the main attraction of Tokyo, because of the shopping and entertainment. Main purpose kami ke Shibuya pun just nak cross kat famous intersection crossing tu sahaja! Hahaha. And there's Hachiko statue also. Hachiko; anjing yang setia menunggu tuan dia balik dari kerja walaupun sebenarnya tuan dia dah meninggal pun. Sedih cerita tu!

We was strolling around the streets, when husband said kaki dia sakit sebab jauh gila jalan today. He gets a new pair of sneakers. Haha, rezeki dapat beli kasut di Tokyo ya cinta? :P

To be continue please? Sebab I couldn't find the rest of the photos.

Haha.