23 Nov – Day 4 – Monday
Palace of the Golden Horses
The fourth day of our Malaysia vacation, we intend to take the water taxi and cruise within the Mines Resort City and take a look at the unique water lift in action. We hope to experience more food of
Malaysia as well as continue with our
Malaysia shopping and hopefully go for another
Malaysia massage and of course, enjoy our time in this resort, Palace of the Golden Horses.
Horse design even on the carpet
Grand Salon Lounge
Before leaving the hotel at 12 noon, we did a short tour of our beautiful resort.
Lovely flowers
And orchids
We caught the 1230 hrs water taxi to Mines Wellness Hotel, previously known as Palace Beach & Spa, the only place where you can find a beach within the city.
Mines Resort City
Cruising within the city
On the water taxi with the Palace of the Golden Horses in the background
The other side of the lake where the golf course is situated
Our accommodation Palace of the Golden Horses
Costing RM8 (USD2.40) per person from The Palace of the Golden Horses to Mines Wellness Hotel, the ride lasted about ten minutes. As it was not the peak period, we were the only passengers on board the short cruise.
During the short ride, we passed the Mines Waterfront Business Park where business meets pleasure. We were dropped off at Mines Wellness Hotel and we did a short tour of the hotel grounds.
Mines Wellness Hotel
Resort style living amidst natural lush greenery, we walked past the herb garden. What was interesting were the explanations for what the various herbs were used for and their therapeutic properties.
Here is the agave plant that we came across. The agave is a plant that grows slowly and flowers only once. Notice the tall and heavy stem with the short tubular flowers.
The agave plant 
Note the tall and heavy stem of flowers
The Agave flowers 
Here is the ginger plant and some of its therapeutic properties include:-
- Helping to calm an upset stomach
- Easing stomach cramps
- Supporting a healthy cardiovascular system
- Relieving painful arthritis
- Minimizing symptoms of respiratory conditions
The Misai Kuching has been proven beneficial in the following:
- Helps in treating kidney stone disease
- Inhibits the formation and growth of kidney stones
- Is a cure for several diseases such as gout, arthritis, rheumatism, inflammatory conditions and even for kidney stones
- Helps in treating hypertension
The lemon grass plant which is used for culinary and medicinal purposes.
The entire Pandanus plant is used as a diuretic where the Pandanus leaves are used for treating diseases of the skin and the Pandanus roots have anti-diabetic properties. In our culture, we use the Pandanus leaves to add fragrance to our food but have never known it to have any beneficial properties.
We enjoyed walking in the gardens of the Mines Wellness Hotel where you can be one with nature and admire the beauty of the flowers and the natural surroundings.
Beautiful flowers 
A beauty to behold... 
Looks like a parrot? 
Banana plant 
Papaya flower forming into a fruit 
Papaya tree 
Mines TCM Wellness where prevention is always better than cure. They are promoting themselves as the most exclusive Traditional Chinese and Complementary healthcare centre in the region.
Mines TCM Wellness
Care to experience the spa?
The
hotel lobby was huge, spacious and breezy. Sitting at the lounge, you have a great view of the lake whilst you enjoy the cool breeze.
The huge and spacious lobby of the Mines Wellness Hotel
In the lobby
The beach in the city
Lots of greenery
Villas
Basking in the sun
Pictures in the restroom depicting the correct way of washing your hands.
Walking from the Mines Wellness Hotel to Mines Shopping Fair, we passed by the Mines Wonderland, one of the
Malaysia attractions comprising a premier night theme park.
Mines Wonderland 
Without realizing it, we must have walked into the grounds of the theme park and were busily snapping photographs of the larger than life Chinese zodiac, which is a series of 12 animals based on the year, when we were told that the area was closed.
Chinese zodiac year of the rat 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008
Chinese zodiac year of the ox 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009
Chinese zodiac year of the tiger 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010
Chinese zodiac year of the rabbit 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011
Chinese zodiac year of the dragon 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012
Chinese zodiac year of the snake 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013
Chinese zodiac year of the horse 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014
Chinese zodiac year of the ram 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015
Chinese zodiac year of the monkey 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016
Chinese zodiac year of the rooster 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017
Chinese zodiac year of the dog 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018
Chinese zodiac year of the boar 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019
We also passed by the water lift area and managed to film the water lift at work. As the two main lakes in the Mines Resort City are at different height levels of 7 meters, the unique water lift was developed specially to link the whole lake together through the water transport system. It takes 7 minutes to discharge or refill the water and the volume of water in the lift is 61600 gallons.
See the operation of the unique water lift ...
The water taxi docking in the lift compartment
Notice how the gate comes up
Water in the compartment being discharged
Water taxi being lowered
No more in view in the compartment
Spot the water taxi in the other lake in front
The lake leading into Mines Shopping Fair
Just outside the Mines Shopping Fair
Water taxi cruising into the Mines Shopping Fair
Next was deciding what food to have for lunch. As we were walking to Mines Shopping Fair, we saw some local stalls behind the shopping complex. We decided to have some local Malaysian food and ordered the nasi lemak (coconut rice). The plain nasi lemak cost RM2 (USD0.60) and the one with the fried egg cost RM2.70 (USD0.80). This was accompanied by calamansi lime juice @ RM1.80 (USD0.50).
Kafe Big J
Local Malaysian Food Nasi Lemak
Kafe Big J where we had lunch 
Variety of local cooked food
After lunch, we did some shopping in Mines Shopping Fair and had time for a snack during tea time at Ah Yip Herbal Soup.
Red bean soup
Lots of desserts to choose from 
As well as herbal soups
At this Chinese herbal restaurant 
Next was time for a hair cut. At RM10 (USDxx) this was a steal.
We even went for the Thai massage. Originally, we had gone to The Thai Odyssey on Level 4 where we went to on our first day. However, they were fully booked and no slots available till an hour and a half later. We then made our way to Level 2 and went to Health Beauty Therapy Enterprise and had a 2 hour Full Body Royal Thai Massage @ RM90 (USD26.65).
Health Beauty Therapy Enterprise
Washing of the feet before massage
Massage bed 
The massage here is not too bad either. However the ambience is unlike that of The Thai Odyssey where the location is more exclusive and you are able to relax in the solitude rather than having to endure a kid having free run of the place as well as the sounds of the shoppers in the complex.
Seats for foot reflexology 
After the massage, we had to decide what to eat. On the way hunting for our dinner venue, we bought half a dozen of Big Apple donuts at RM12.50 (USD3.70) which were awesome!
Some of the donuts we bought
We then went to Pizza San Francisco for dinner. Instead of having pizza, we had their special promotion which was the Black Pepper Beef Steak @12.90 (USD3.80). The steak was done just the way we had requested and it was tender, succulent and juicy. A very good choice!
Pizza San Francisco
The oh so yummy black pepper steak 
When dinner was over, we quickly made our way to the shuttle pick up area as we had booked the 2145 hrs complimentary shuttle back to our accommodation. Our watch must have been slightly slow and the shuttle was already there waiting for us. Fortunately the driver did not go off without us.
It is amazing how quickly our fourth day went by. We were fortunate to have tried more local food of Malaysia as well as did quite a bit of shopping during this Kuala Lumpur vacation. Not only that, we also managed to experience a Thai instead of a Malaysia massage and take a look at the unique, one of a kind, water lift in action. This has been a great Malaysia vacation so far especially returning daily to our resort, Palace of the Golden Horses. as well as did some great
Bookmark & Share
Scents & Senses
Various treatment available
Massage bed for Thai massage
Changing into the outfit for Thai herbal ball massage
Ancient and modern Thai decor to soothe your senses
Beautiful surroundings, flowing water
Well decorated
Cheery atmosphere
Helpful and friendly staff
Greenery in the reception area
Reception area
Some of the products available
Reception area
