Malaysia Holiday – Rompin Malaysia Beach Resort 24 Oct – 25 Oct 2009

Summerset Beach Resort

Sat, 24th Oct, 2009.

We left home early on Saturday at 0520 hrs for our Malaysia Holiday drive to Rompin. For this trip, we had an agenda to meet up with the management of the Malaysia beach resort Summerset Resort to firm up the arrangement for the awakening enlightenment retreat that will be held in March 2010.

Awakening enlightenment meditation retreat

Before picking Lisa, another of our partners for the enlightenment meditation program, we stopped by the petrol station to top up the petrol tank to keep in line with the ¾ tank ruling for all Singapore registered vehicles driving into Malaysia. We arrived at West Coast McDonalds to meet a convoy party that was driving up to Kuantan for the weekend. Since Rompin is just before Kuantan, we thought it would be a good idea to a) network, b) make more friends with those who love driving into Malaysia and c) get to know some new areas in Malaysia.

Filling in the immigration form at McDonalds

Briefing at the carpark at McDonalds

After the briefing by the convoy organizer, we left McDonalds at 0645 hrs and headed for the 2nd Link at Tuas Checkpoint. As the coast was quite clear on both sides of the 2nd Link, we were in Malaysia at 0725 hrs, very good timing. We turned off at Gelang Patah R&R and stopped at the Esso station for those who wanted to top up their petrol tanks and meet some who were joining us over in Malaysia. After a briefing, we were finally on our way at 0800 hrs.

At the Esso station

Harley Davidson group

Pasting the car stickers to identify the convoy

Another briefing at Esso

Following the North South Highway, we took the Pasir Gudang exit and regrouped again just after Perling Toll, a RM3.60 (USD…) toll, at 0815 hrs.

Breaks along the way


It was a leisurely drive with another two stops along the way for everyone to empty their bladders and still, we arrived in Mersing at 1045 hrs. Stopping by Timotel Hotel for our buffet lunch, we spent just over an hour getting to know the other diners at our table during the lunch break.


Timotel Hotel, our lunch stop

Orderly queue for the food

Lunch time

Our new friends

Another briefing before take off

Lobby

After lunch, there was another briefing before we finally set off for the keropok (crackers) factory just 700m down the road from the hotel with a right turn at Sekolah Kebangsaan Mersing Kanan. Make a left turn at the first turning and you can't miss the sign which is on the opposite side of the road.

Perusahaan Keropok - Keropok Factory in Mersing

It was interesting to see how they made the cracker paste, weighed, boiled, cut and dried it. This was a real eye opener as we have never realized that there were so many steps involved in the making of the simple cracker that we have always enjoyed as snacks.

Getting the paste ready

Weighing it

Cutting into shape

The shop we patronised

Keropok sausages? Did not look too appetising

Salted fish

Keropok galore

Keropok to try

Time to purchase...

Salted fish being dried

Salted fish packed & ready for sale

Mother hen & baby chicks

There were quite a few varieties of crackers to try as well. Of course, we could not resist buying some crackers home.

After purchasing the crackers, we bid farewell to our fellow drivers as we would be turning off to our destination, Summerset Hotel in Rompin whilst they would be carrying on into Kuantan which is approximately another 2 hours from Rompin.

1330 hrs saw us arriving at our destination, the Summerset Resort. Also known as the Summerset Colonial Hotel & Villas, the 4-star deluxe resort facility at "summerset at Rompin" is an integrated resort, leisure, recreation, adventure park and holiday home development.

Boasting an eco-themed environment, Summerset is the latest holiday destination on the east coast of Malaysia and is positioned and conceptualized to provide an array of fun adventure within nature, in luxury and comfort.

Upon checking in at the reception, we met a few of our friends who were either participating in the current Enlightened Warrior Camp or helping with the staffing. It was good to be amongst our warrior community once again. AHO!

Summerset Resort Rompin

As the sun was making its presence felt, we took a short nap before enjoying a dip in the pool in the late evening. Again we bumped into more friends and managed to catch up quite a bit.

For dinner, we drove approximately 15 km back towards Rompin town and adjourned to Rompin River Seafood, our favourite place for seafood when we are up in Rompin. Our order of oyster omelette, steamed prawns, marmite crabs, black pepper ostrich, sweet potato leaves and almost a dozen drinks cost us RM109 (USD… ) for the three of us.

Rompin River Seafood Malaysia

The Rompin River Seafood Restaurant is situated just next to the Kuala Rompin River Chalet. Many people make a trip to Rompin to go sail fishing and stay at the Chalets.

Kuala Rompin River Chalet

Typical chalet

Boats for hire





Bookmark & Share

Kuala Lumpur Vacation 13 - 14 Jun 2009

Kuala Lumpur Vacation Day 2

Hotel Capitol, our Kuala Lumpur accommodation for this Malaysia vacation where lots of shopping can be accomplished ; ) plus some great tasting doughnuts from one of the leading doughnut franchise.

We started off the day with breakfast at Bebe's Cafe in our Kuala Lumpur accommodation, Hotel Capitol, on the Mezzanine Level. Here you are greeted with breakfast food of a wide selection including local favourites such as nonya kuih, fried noodles, kampong fried rice, steamed buns, noodle soup, nasi lemak (coconut rice) and plain porridge with condiments and not forgetting western flavours such as yoghurt, cheese, croissant, ham and Danish pastry.

Enjoying breakfast food of a good variety in Hotel Capitol

A nice and cozy café, you could try the signature hi-tea which is served only on weekends from 1230 hrs – 1500 hrs and costs RM38 (USD10.75) ++ per adult. Here you would be able to savour their signature recipes such as homemade satay, ayam laksa as well as their special egg tart, roasted lamb leg and traditional double boiled chicken ginseng soup.

After a leisurely breakfast, we checked out at 1000 hrs. Here are some shopping complexes in Malaysia, within walking distance of the hotel.

Some shopping centres in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia





Entertainment in Plaza Low Yat

As we had parked our car in Plaza Low Yat, we took the opportunity to purchase some doughnuts from Big Apple Donuts & Coffee, a doughnut franchise with some pretty mean doughnuts. 12 pieces of doughnuts in a box cost RM21 (USD5.95). They have a good variety to choose from.

The doughnut franchise

Delightful & extensive range of flavours

More doughnuts

We then made our way to Ikea where a warrior friend of ours, Sherrine, was waiting for us. From Ikea, she drove us and another mutual warrior friend, Partiban, to Aman Puri area where we met another two warriors, Stanley and Adrian, at Klang Bak Kut Teh (pork bone soup from Klang). We had a great time catching up with each other as most of us had last met at a Christmas gathering in December 2008.

Our friend Stanley ordered the pork bone soup, a dry version of pork bones, pork knuckle, steamed tofu (beancurd) and some vegetables. The dry version, a dish that we had not tried before, was quite tasty. Overall it came up to RM82 (USD23.20) for the 6 of us.

Bak Kut Teh - Pork Bones

Along this row of shophouses were various other food outlets including one which had a huge signboard of a duck. Directly next to Klang Bak Kut Teh, is Restoran Sayur Sayuran, an outlet serving vegetarian cooked food where all meals cost only RM2 (USD0.60), according to Stanley.

The RM2 vegetarian meal outlet

Interesting signboard

Again we took the opportunity to share our experience of “The Opening”, the awakening enlightenment meditation retreat which we had attended in Estes Park, Rocky Mountains Denver in April 2009. After hearing of how powerful the event can be, they were quite positive in wanting to be there in November to experience it for themselves since this is the first time this particular event will be held in Asia, specifically Malaysia.

After an extended lunch, Adrian gave us and Partiban a lift back to Mutiara Damansara where we had parked our vehicles. It seems that this is the place for yuppies and there are a number of big well known stores here such as Tesco, Ikano, Ikea and Courts.

Tesco

Courts

Ikea

Before leaving at 1530 hrs, we did some shopping in Tesco. Along the way, we were caught in the very heavy traffic before we finally managed to get onto E2, the North South highway at 1645 hrs.

Some fascinating views before we finally hit the highway



We took a twenty minutes break at Restoran Jejantas Ayer Keroh, a rest and relaxation area along the North South highway, before heading for the 2nd Link.

At the Ayer Keroh Restoran Jejantas stop

Traffic was slow in certain areas of the North South highway and we reached the 2nd Link at 2040 hrs. Here, there was a tremendously long queue and we finally cleared both sides of the Malaysia and Singapore customs and immigration after 2200 hrs.

The second day of our Kuala Lumpur vacation and we had another great and enjoyable day with our friends. It was lovely seeing them interested in the awakening enlightenment meditation retreat that would definitely be of benefit to them. The breakfast food of a great variety in our Kuala Lumpur accommodation and the ambience in the café also added to our enjoyment. Oh! Not forgetting the shopping that we managed to do in Malaysia too. ; )