Kuala Lumpur 2017 Day 4 – Sungei Wang, Berjaya Times Square and Indoor Theme Park

After a nice nights rest on the super comfy bed, we woke up to Blaze on TV for K, had some bread that we bought from a bakery (no complimentary breakfast) and a pot of roast coffee that which wasn’t fantastic. After mommy was done with the lunch preparations, we left for the mall, first visiting the Sungei Wang mall and then Berjaya Times Square.

Westin separate entrance for executive apartments.

Sungei Wang mall was a mere 10mins walk away and by the time we arrived, not many shops were opened. Mommy did her shopping while I had the job of keeping K entertained with whatever I could think of, like stepping on certain colored tiles or playing with the interactive shop directory. Obviously, after a while, that didn’t cut it as entertaining and he asked to be brought to a playground.

Sungei Wang mall
One of the early bird stores that was opened
Berjaya Times Square

With that, I brought K to Berjaya Times Square first as there was a huge Indoor theme and park, and left mommy to her shopping. Walking out of Sungei Walk was difficult as there were many levels and I took a long time to find the route to the main entrance. Then it was a short walk but uncomfortable one in the hot and humid weather.

Once there, I tried to withdraw some money from the ATM as I was low on cash. But the machine was unable to dispense cash for my account when I choose both savings or Visa options (for the OCBC 365 account) and I gave up. Went to the 5th level and paid RM51 for the adult tickets using credit card whereas K entered for free, being under 3 years old. (was told re-entry was possible!). Then we proceeded to the 7th floor where the entire floor was catered for younger kids.

Sign showing the Berjaya Times Square indoor theme park
Entrance of the Berjaya Times Square Theme Park
Wristband of the theme park

The rides include a safari car and train that that goes around, a ferries wheel in the shape of a bus and a carousel that he wasn’t interested in. There was one mini pirate ship that he wanted to take but didn’t meet the height requirements and I couldn’t take it with him as it was purely for kids under the height of 140cm. After just a ride each, he asked to be brought to a playground. Thankfully, there was one there and he spent the big deal of time running around, with so many kids there. There was a kids theatre playing a cartoon show but empty and cold and K was too scared to go into. We were there till mommy called us to meet up for lunch.

At the 7th floor of the theme park
Bus ferris wheel
Playground inside the theme park
Playground huge enough for the kids to run around
Kids Theatre

K was getting fussy likely due to exhaustion as he insisted to press the lift buttons and making a big fuss. We met with mommy and went to the basement level and sat in a Nyonya color cafe to eat curry noodles and Assam laksa while K had his pasta. Then as we walked back to the hotel, K fell asleep.

Curry noodles
Penan assam laksa
Nyonya Colors Cafe

The rest of the afternoon was spent snoozing (not before fussing in bed for an hour because he woke up from his nap on my shoulder as I tried to lay him down) in bed for me and K while mommy prepared dinner before going to Pavilion mall for her shopping.

By the time K woke, it was almost 7pm and mommy also just returned. We left the room for dinner at a certain TG’s Nasi Kandar restaurant which was also high on TripAdvisor. It was quite a distance to walk and by the time we arrived at the crowded non-aircon eatery, we already broke into a sweat. The staff found us a table which was just outside a hostel entrance and we placed our orders of double Maggi goreng, mee goreng and one prata with egg and drinks of ice teh Tarik and carrot juice. The food was nice but not exceptional.

Double maggi goreng
Mee goreng
Prata with egg and mango lassi
TG’s Nasi Kandar eatery

We finished our meals at almost 930pm but the night was still young for Kuala Lumpur, obvious for the crowded street that we had to walked through, one that had massage parlours lining the street with their staff loitering on the pavement trying to get customers in for massage. With K seated on my shoulder (his main mode of transport for the trip), I was asked if I want a massage which I thought was a worthless attempt.

We got back to the hotel after the passing through the streets brightly lit with huge commercial screens and lights and a short visit to a shop store Shoopen selling shoes ( I was doubtful of shoes not known for their comfort and later causing pain) but didn’t get any. Then night routine of Blaze and clean up and sleep.

Bright lights of Lot 10 at Bukit Bintang

Kuala Lumpur 2017 Day 3 – Sunway Pyramid and transfer to Kuala Lumpur downtown

Last day at Sunway lagoon and with nothing planned for the day, we all woke up late but ended up at the buffet breakfast slightly earlier than it was yesterday, after we were done with the K’s lunch preparations. Similar to what we did the day before, we ate to our fills in a bid to save on lunch, at the same time trying out the other cuisines that we didn’t have morning before. Other than fruits that were slightly different, the rest was the same, even the same long queue for the omelette that I didn’t bother queuing for.

The rest of the morning was spent in front of the TV as K got familiar with the locally produced Boboiboy on Nickelodean channel while his parents packed the luggage for the move to KL in the afternoon. The check out time was 12 noon and we took to the last minutes to pack the lunch.

As we left, we were lucky to have the bellboy just at the corridor and he helped to bring the luggage to the left luggage while we went to the lobby. While at the left luggage, the staff handed over the luggage tag even before our luggage arrived, efficient!

Shopping at Sunway Pyramid mall was the activity till lunch time, at least for mommy while I brought K around to see the ice rink, the arcade where he took a kiddy ride and played a water game and then back to the T&T Kidz park the day earlier. After spending some time at the playground where K was found annoying an older girl and frustrating her, we went over to the T&T Kidz park and took the drift cars of lightning McQueen, which I initially thought was too fast for K but it was ok after a single round of drift and K was not afraid (we sat together). But it costed RM15 for both of us. Then we paid RM6.50 to catch a fish where we won a small hand fan and followed by a last ride of the buggy car.

Carnival game of catching a fish
Machine shows 30, which is a small prize

Mommy met us there and we went up to the top level where there was a Snowflake dessert store and we ate desserts while K had his lunch of porridge. After that, we returned to the hotel to pick up the luggage and call a Grabcar to Westin KL. It costed about RM23 plus about RM6.5 of toll and he made a detour to pump gas but it was alright as K fell asleep.

Delicious Snowflake dessert

 

We got ourselves a 1bedroom apartment in Westin and there was a separate lift for us to get the 12 floor. The nice thing about this was that the entire apartment had the feel of a hotel but came with a kitchenette. Another plus was that there many bottles of complimentary mineral water supplied for our stay (no complimentary minibar supply though). However, we had an issue with the stove not warming up and a lack of detergent which was fixed quickly with a call away. The view was not good though.

Open concept kitchen with living room
Study room for work
Balcony with a not so good view
Bedroom
Balcony of the bedroom
Bathroom with tub
View from the balcony

After lazing for a while, we got K to continue his afternoon nap and only woke up at 630pm. Took a bath in the tub and then we first left for Pavilion Mercato supermarket to get some sweet corn that mommy forgot to buy before walking to Jalan Perak BBQ nights for dinner, some 15mins walk away.

Brightly lighted facade of Pavilion Mall

 

Mercato supermarket



The restaurant was crowded and I didn’t knew what was the big deal about this well regarded TripAdvisor restaurant until I tried the softest and tastiest BBQ fish and chicken in my life! Even as I was feeling a little sore in my throat, the food there was the smoothest, even though they were BBQ! Thoroughly amazed by the quality. The waiting and the costs were expected, almost 20mins of waiting, and about RM95 for 2 juices and 2 BBQ meals but it was all worth it. Even K loved the naan which he chomped down.

BBQ nights

 

Ice Teh Tarik and carrot juice
Fish Tikka and chicken kebab

 

We walked the 15mins back to Pavilion and found the almost extinct DVD shop called Speedy Video at the basement. It was a huge store and there we found Blaze and the Monster Machines dvds for just RM19.9, the cheapest available in the market! There were a massive selection of kids cartoons including Dora and Paw patrol and even the Boboiboy which K said he wanted. The Blurays were expensive though. We only left as the store almost lowered the shutters.

Returning back to the room, K immediately watched 3 episodes of Blaze in the bedroom (DVD players available) while the parents washed up and prepared for bed.

Kuala Lumpur 2017 Day 2 – Sunway Lagoon theme park and the Parenthood

The morning started late, and by the time we were ready to leave for the daily breakfast it was already 10am, 30 mins before buffet closing time.

The Resort Cafe was a huge area beautifully designed with quite a variety of food to choose from. Other than the usual western and local cuisines, there was also middle eastern choices, something I am unfamiliar with.

Inside The Resort Cafe
A variety to choose from
The Resort Cafe

After a huge brunch, we went back to the room to pick up K’s lunch that mommy cooked before we went for breakfast, and we were off to visit the Sunway lagoon theme park.

The tickets were prebooked back at home online at KKday, a webby that if booked through Krisflyerspree would earn additional Krisflyer miles and at the same time, it offered the cheapest tickets for the Sunway lagoon tickets that I could find. The bad thing was we had to wait some 10mins at the ticket counter as the staff had a hard time trying to find the booking as they claimed it was not in their system. I couldn’t get online to try and recover the “emergency contact” they emailed for us to call if we had issues but ultimately, after embarrassingly hogging the line for so long, they gave us out tags and we were on the way in.

Swimming pool of Sunway Resort
Directions to Sunway Lagoon Theme park
Wristband for entry into the park
Entrance of the park with multiple signs

 

We headed past the water park to go through the wildlife theme park where we saw displays of pythons, birds, white lion, black panther and white tiger. K wasn’t very fascinated and then we proceeded to the amusement park, where there was a playground, a carousel, a ferries wheel, some kiddy rides suitable for 1.2m and below and a fun fair where we spent 28RM playing darts, nerf gun and scoping ducks that won us a miserable small prize of a green pokeball that K had fun throwing around.

Entrance of Sunway Lagoon Wildlife park
Not sure what this is
Small monkeys
Free ranging peacocks
White Lion
Black panther strolling about
Small houses for birds
Sun bears
White tiger lazing in the distance
Ghostbusters theme scare park
Amusement park for small kids
Playground
View of the park from the ferris wheel
Voucher for the carnival games
Only one out of 5 ducks

After having lunch at the same location where it was so hot, we got ourselves some icecream and coke freeze before we headed back to the hotel, thinking that K was getting tired. We had to miss crossing a super long suspension bridge and the other 4parks that were dominated by water related activities including the Nickelodean theme park and an extreme park not suitable for K. Although we had prepared for water activities, K was looking tired and it was a little too sunny. Furthermore, re-entry was not allowed which sucked.

White eagle in enclosure
Sheltered area near a waterfall
One of the enclosures with a waterfall

 

Back at the room, K took some time to fall asleep and I took some time to explore the surroundings and the mall where mommy stayed in the room to catch up on her comics. There was a The Parenthood section that had a huge London theme indoor playground for under RM43 and a huge area that had stores selling kids stuff and preschools. I returned after a short walk through the mall which was really big, enough for a full day of shopping if you a shopaholic.

Hari Raya deco just outside the Resort entrance
Impressive entrance of the Sunway Pyramid mall
Toy section near within the Parenthood.
Store directory of the Parenthood
Multiple stores in a castle designed street.
The Parenthood entrance

K woke up at about 530pm and after we lazing around for a bit, we finally got out of the room to visit The Parenthood indoor playground while mommy stayed behind to cook. The same rules applied, the requirements of socks and so on. We spent a good amount of time there till mommy arrived at 830pm and I thought I broke a sweat too, following my little boy here and there.

Indoor playground of the Parenthood

We ended up at Papa Rich for dinner and spent about RM52.50 for noodles and chicken rice and 2 drinks. Walked the mall a bit before returning back to the room for bath and TV. Went to bed at 1130pm with some resistance from K who wanted a few “last” books before lights off.

Coffee with pudding and carrot juice
Instant noodle with luncheon meat and egg
Hainanese Chicken rice

Kuala Lumpur 2017 Day 1 – Arrival in Kuala Lumpur and Sunway Pyramid Mall

The alarm clock sounded at the same time that I was used to for work and I got out of bed to do the final packing before our short getaway trip to KL begin.

K was sleeping until the final hours and I managed to get him in his clothes without him waking up. Only when I tried to carry him did he finally stretch and wake up. Luckily the interest in getting onto a plane kept him in a good mood.

After scanning the options of Grab, Uber and Comfort Delgro apps, I chose Comfort as it was at a fixed rate of $30 excluding ERP charges but came with $3 off from some webby promo codes and also a $3 off again as a new sign up for the app. The rest were a whopping $40 for peak hour call on this normal weekday Wednesday.

730am and the taxi came and picked this family of 3 before we hit the road. Met the expected morning hours traffic for half the journey on PIE before it was smooth till the airport. We were prepared for any road sickness with a plastic bag on hand but K was alright.

820am and check in counter was not even indicated on the board of flights yet, which was filled with earlier flights. We went to the self help to print the luggage tag anyway and dropped off the luggage at the not too long queue of SilkAir before heading to the departure. The T2 fish pond and playground was a natural magnet attracting K’s interest and he spent some time looking at the fish and a lot of time running at the playground. Meanwhile we managed to get some drinks and I went to print a KKday ticket which I had forgotten to do so at Ambassador Transit lounge for $1.2 per piece.

Indoor playground at T2 terminal

Mommy bought herself some Khiel products and registered her receipt at the kiosk for the Changi Millionaire draw before we walked briskly to far end of F59 for boarding, being the last to board the full flight.

The journey of 40mins were uneventful and was even too short to notice or drink a beverage. It wasn’t so for another family who’s child was screaming the entire journey and only managed to fall asleep once the plane landed. We were thankful for K’s beautiful behavior.

KLIA hadn’t change since we last visit and we had to take a train ride to the baggage reclaim but at that time, it was pretty crowded with only one train with limited doors functioning. Immigration took a while to clear with at least a row of people queuing in front of us before we got our luggage from the belt. K spent some time exploring the MnM store wanting to test all the battery operated items until the staff warned about the excessive battery drain and we exit to the arrival hall.

With the free airport wifi, I used Grab to get us a ride to Sunway Resort and Spa for fixed rate of RM65 excluding tolls. Grab promo was available to shave off RM5. The driver was pretty prompt in keeping in contact with us and we were soon in the private car to the resort, a 40 mins drive where both K and I had a quick snooze.

After a short stretch of traffic at Sunway, we entered the entrance of a rather grand looking design entrance of the resort. The porter immediately helped with the luggage and we tried checking in at 1pm and luckily, our room was ready. 17th floor with a view of the park, it was a comfortable one though a little old. The best part in my opinion was the complimentary mini bar that came with 5 non alcoholic drinks and was refillable, I thought this was the only hotel fulfilling the main purpose of the minibar! Our luggage arrived shortly after we were about to leave and we proceeded to the Sunway Pyramid mall walking through a short connection.

Grand looking reception
Hari Raya deco
High ceiling and huge wall design
Bedroom
Bathtub
Excellent minibar
View from the room

 

We looked for Old Town White Coffee in this huge mall and had our lunch of macaroni tomato soup, curry noodles and Ban Mian before we took some time to shop around. The mall short of remained me of Dubai Mall (in terms of space and variety and design) although it was not as huge as that one but big enough. There was ample walking space and stores of brands that we were both familiar and not. Spent some time at the T&T Kidz park where we took some rides ( car ride for RM5.5, whale RM 7.5 and a animal train ride for RM5.5, refundable top up card for RM3) and some time at the playground while mommy shopped in Parkson and got K some tees. She also did a money exchange at the money changer near the T&T Kidz park which offers very good rates of $1:RM3.1.

Different designs of the Sunway Pyramid Mall
Ice rink available
Another design, like a souk
Curry noodles
Tomato macoroni
T&T Kidz park top up
A few kiddy rides
Card for utilizing for the rides
Drift cars
Free playground

We shopped for ingredients at the large Aeon supermarket before heading back to the hotel for the afternoon nap where K knocked out for almost 2.5hrs. The staff delivered a birthday cake during that time but it was 1 day too early. Mommy made K dinner and after having some fun at the bathtub, we finally got out of the room at 830pm and while back at the same mall, we went to another familiar name Secret Recipe that had a promo going for Maybank, where we ordered a chicken chop, a satay fried rice and hazelnut latte and getting a slice of marble cheese cake and an iced lemon tea for free as we hit the RM45 requirement. Expectedly it was a very filling dinner ( Mommy even got herself Hokkaido baked cheese tart to try).

Aeon supermarket
Variety of fish
Sunset view
Complimentary birthday cake
Chicken chop with rice
Satay with fried rice
Marble cheese cake
Hazelnut latte
Ice lemon tea
Hokkaido baked cheese tart
3 levels of the mall, Egyptian design

Unfortunately for us, by the time we left, it was almost 10pm and everywhere was closing. We managed to catch a glimpse of the ice hockey game that was going on at the ice rink before we brought the disappointed K (because the rides were closed) back to the hotel.
It was some TV time while I washed the dishes before story time, milk and bed, ending the day at 1130pm.

Escape to Kuala Lumpur July 2017

A brief summary on the itinerary

Escape Plan to Kuala Lumpur 2017:

Total duration 5D4N
Kuala Lumpur is in the same timezone as Singapore. Flight time is 1hr on Silkair from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur. Return is 1hr on Silkair from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore.

Flight from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur at 1015am, arriving at 1115am in Kuala Lumpur. Return flight from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore is at 510pm and touching down in Singapore at 610pm.

Day 1 – Arrival in Kuala Lumpur and Sunway Pyramid Mall
Day 2 – Sunway Lagoon theme park and the Parenthood
Day 3 – Sunway Pyramid and transfer to Kuala Lumpur downtown
Day 4 – Sungei Wang, Berjaya Times Square and Indoor Theme Park
Day 5 – Home Sweet Home

This trip was planned as a getaway birthday trip for mommy. We didn’t plan anything other than a visit to the Sunway Lagoon theme park. The rest of the trip was based on ad hoc shopping and just on impulse visits.

Budget – Quite affordable other than the accommodation.

Everything was quite affordable comparable to Singapore, especially with the currency of 1:3.1 now, effectively reducing the costs of living by a third. With free wifi at airports and hotels, Grab and its promos reduce the costs of transport as well. The accommodation was expensive but it was chosen for the purpose of comfort, and was worth it in my opinion.

Complexity – Easy with Grab

We didn’t go many places and for transfers, Grab was a good choice. For the visits around the area, walking was our choice and it was quite easy since everywhere was within 15mins walking distance.

Legoland Johor 2016 Day 2 – Legoland theme park and Home Sweet Home

New Year day we awoke in the pirate theme room stayed in as long as we could be heading to the buffet breakfast at the same restaurant where we had dinner the night before. The same tables that had the dishes were replaced with breakfast varieties. K enjoyed his cereal like how he did everytime he was on holiday.

Big foam lego bricks that can be used to built a brick house

Before heading out to the theme park itself, we checked out of the room and kept all the luggage in the car. Then we proceeded to the main theme park to utilized the 2nd day pass of our tickets.

The park was arranged in different themes, such as Star Wars, Miniland, Kingdom and City. We started in one direction and walked around. There weren’t many rides that K could take as he was too small, and there were height limitations. The place wasn’t crowded probably because of the sweltering heat and bad humidity.

As there weren’t anything that were particular interested with, took the general direction going anti clockwise. There was an area with water gun features where people can get on a ride going in circles and using water cannons to shoot. We could only watch as this was not meant for toddlers.

Lego giant octopus

Moving on, there was a building with the huge face of Einstein made out of Lego. Within the building was an activity room where there would be sessions on building Legos being held, to get the best of creativity out of kids. Of course K wouldn’t be able to do so since the only thing he knew how to build was upwards. He wanted to play with the blocks though, trying to pull himself it while I held onto him, worried that he would mess up the place.

Lego Einstein face

We entered the Star Wars exhibit which had a queue and took a while to get in. Within the building there were aircon rooms and rooms of different scenes of Star Wars shows, and came with movement and lighting effects that was impressive. Though not a fan, it was quite nice to see the huge display made of Lego showing the robots and spaceships. The aircon was even more welcomed!

Darth Vadar guarding the Star Wars exhibit

Depicting a scene in one of the episodes…

Lego Millenium Falcon

Another scene…

Then entering the heat again was kingdom that had a huge castle with again roller coaster rides that K couldn’t take. We just explored the surroundings, climbing to the second level corridor that was meant for queues. Took a photo with a Lego character knight and proceeded to move on.

Face to face with a wolf

Blacksmith with his tools

Then there was a central area called Imagination. There was a rotating viewing deck of the Observation Tower that we lined up for it (short wait) and that brought us high up to get a viewpoint of Legoland and it’s surrounding, not much to see though but at least it was one ride that K can have. Then we went to the sheltered playgrounds meant for toddlers.

Entrance to Imagination

View of the park from the top

Static rides in the sheltered playground

Another one of the rides, this time an ambulance

Steering wheel to a propeller

There was a train ride that I took with K and it was a pretty fast one. Then K took to the playground, climbing the steps and going down the slides and playing the static stuff. It was difficult to get him to leave for lunch, at Pizza Mania just across this central playing space.

Ordered some pizza and pasta, both of which could be eaten by K. K had some fun at small tables with a hole in the middle, where there was more Lego blocks there for him to play while mommy and I took turns to eat. After lunch, we even took a photo with Lego chef, which frightened K quite a bit as he tried to touch K with his signature 2 fingers.

Pizzeria lunch stop

Lego chef getting too close for comfort

There was a Ninjago ride that K also took, which had an element of 3D in it, the ride bringing its passengers as ninjas to go fight and defeat some baddies, we could fight off projectiles through some hand actions. It was pretty fun and tiring for the adults but I think K felt a little scared by the monsters that came his way.

Ninjago 3D ride

Lego dragon at Ninjago

Later we did another ride at Land of Adventure called the Lost Kingdom Adventure that we could aim laser guns at targets that would activate the displays. Of course K didn’t have he skill to aim yet and he also mentioned that he was scared.

After the ride and he seemed tired because it was almost nap time that was when we headed for the exit. At the same time there was also a drizzle coming, we had decided to skip the section on Lego City altogether. Just before hitting the roads, we had to visit the huge Lego store to see what was available. There was a huge variety of Legos to choose from but as usual, it was not cheap. Mommy bought a container in the shape of a big Lego brick and we all left.

Empty in drizzling Lego City

Huge Xmas tree for Xmas a few days earlier

Boating activities that we didn’t do

Huge Lego store to buy some home

The return to Singapore was straight forward even for road idiots such as I, but preloaded GPS would help. The immigration was not crowded as there was another holiday the next day. K fell asleep on the way back home.

Legoland was fun but very limited for toddlers. The water park was nice and had more stuff for toddlers to explore but the theme park itself was really limited since a lot of the rides had height limits of 92cm and above. It didn’t really seemed good value to do a day trip of toddlers then. The hot and humid weather didn’t contribute to the fun as the park was quite unsheltered, leaving visitors exposed to rain or shine. For myself, I would enjoy the park more if I didn’t have to sweat so much while queuing, the reason why I enjoyed theme parks in other countries (in the cooler seasons) much more than in Singapore or around the region. Thankfully it wasn’t crowded during our visit in the New Year period which would reduce the joy of the visit.

Legoland Johor 2016 Day 1 – Arrival in Legoland, Waterpark and Fireworks

The end of 2016 was a long weekend but we didn’t had any long travel plans since we had only recently came back from Taiwan in late November. However, there was always the feeling of “wastage” of such long weekends and so we decided to just escape to the our neighboring Malaysia, Legoland in Johor for some theme park fun and stayover.

We left our homes pretty late on the last day of the year for 3 reasons. The first being that we were still packing in the morning which was not a surprise for travellers with toddler. Second was that we wanted to skip the queues that would likely clogged up the 2nd link as Malaysians and like-minded travellers might be heading north early in the morning for the long weekend. Lastly, we weren’t expecting to check in early since early check in required additional payment.

With the GPS to Legoland punched in on Google maps, we were off by 11ish heading towards the 2nd link. There wasn’t much of a crowd but still quite a couple of cars but we cleared the immigration pretty quickly. Having borrowed the a Touch n’ Go card from my friend, I drove towards the lane with “Tambah Nilai” to top up another RM40 which should be enough to cover the RM20 for the entry tolls and the round trip tolls for the highway to Legoland. It was a surprising short drive from the 2nd link, and within 15mins, we found ourselves on a relatively quiet road on the way to Legoland after following the obvious signboards and the Google GPS, preloaded while in Singapore. K fell asleep en route before we arrived into Legoland hotel carpark.

Went to the reception to check if early check in was possible and was informed that rooms would only be available at 4pm and any earlier they would contact us. However, I was already given the 2 days combo tickets that we purchased online. Went back to the car and after a while, K woke up. Without any room, we first proceeded to get ourselves some lunch.

Legoland hotel reception

Big Lego pirate ship in a sea of bricks

We checked the hotel first and there was a main restaurant with buffet and another sushi bar, both we weren’t particularly interested. K was excited to play with the bricks that were readily available at the reception that he sent some time fiddling around with them and running around the Lego castle before we finally convinced him to leave. Outside the hotel room, there was a mall nearby and we walked through to find many eateries. Got into trusty “Old Town” restaurant (seemed very often that we have our meals) and had our lunch there.

Main theme park

Inside the Mall of Medini

Xmas tree in the mall

Inside Old Town restaurant

Legoland hotel ground floor

After lunch, we walked back to the car to pick up the swimwear and swimming diapers for K and we proceeded to visit the waterpark first. For toddlers 0-2 years old, an additional RM11 had to be paid for entry and receive 2 swimming diapers. Then we climbed the steps to a large changing room with many lockers for rental and changed.

Legoland waterpark

It was a crowded day and although there were quite a lot of lounge seats, those were mostly taken. Fortunately mommy was able to find one to sit and take care of our belongings while I brought K to the waters. Alot of the rides were meant for bigger kids and therefore we only restricted ourselves to the smaller slides. There were some small life jackets available and I got K to strap up in one before going into the pool. Even these few places he was already enjoying himself, either playing in the waters or playing with bricks at the Imagination Station. We also went around floating on a donut float at the build-a-raft river (there are some foam bricks that can allow you to really build a raft with) with K sitting on my tummy.

Lots of places to climb and slide at the Joker Soaker

Toddler area at the Splash Safari

For younger kids

Animals theme

K busy at the Imagination Station

While sitting on the float round the build-a-raft river

After about 2 hours at the Waterpark, we changed at the changing room and left for the hotel, as the sky was about to drizzle. The check in counter was quite busy now as guests started to check in. We were given a room on the 5th floor and after we excited the lift with a disco ball (disco music as it brought guests to their rooms), we arrived at a floor totally decorated to the theme of pirates. The rooms were also decorated as expected, with skulls and spiders made from lego bricks complimented with other items associated with pirates. There was even a treasure hunt game to unlock a chest that had a small lego gift by solving questions associated with the room, it was fun for both K and us.

The room was also quite spacious, separated the huge super king bed with the kids double decker and both areas have their own TV. K wasn’t old enough to have his own bed and thus only used the bed for watching TV. There was also a big bucket of lego bricks to play with but we didn’t utilise that.

Huge super king bed

Deco in the room

Kids bed with their own TV

Shower and toilet

Lego toilet accessories

Monkey on a treasure chest

Treasure hunt!

Put in the right combination…

And the prize!

After taking a bath, in a toddler’s tub that we asked for and was delivered to our room, we got K to take a short nap. By the time we woke up, it was already 7pm. Quickly we got ready and left the room, heading to the main theme park for some fireworks display. As we arrived at the main entrance, staff were handing out 3D glasses for guests who steadily streamed into the park. Since we had 2 day passes, we were also let into the park. We didn’t go around looking at other exhibits as we wanted to get a good spot for the fireworks, but we did manage to catch the miniland exhibits, showing some popular buildings like the Petronas towers, lighted up.

Legoland miniland

There was supposedly a VIP package for the fireworks, which included getting a drink and confirmed seats. We didn’t get those as we thought that we could just see from afar, and we were glad we didn’t do so. Sure enough guests would be seated exclusively from the crowd and even get a live show of Lego characters dancing up close to them, just before the fireworks, we thought those weren’t really worth the additional RM60 per person. As we stood close to the entrance of the VIP seating area, and got unblock view, we managed to see a great deal of the fireworks. The 3D glasses was a interesting thing as it converted the fireworks into bricks, and therefore we could literally see bricks falling from the skies! After the 5mins or so fireworks with music that wasn’t aligned with it, due to technical glitches, the Lego characters that escorted the VIPs to the park exit, with us following behind as we head back to the hotel.

Waiting for the fireworks, VIP seats in the front

3D glasses on

Fireworks of bricks!

Lego Darth Vader

We went to the Bricks restaurant to have the New Year’s Eve buffet dinner which was pretty expensive but expected. Even so, it was crowded and we had to wait for a table in the large eating area. The tables were covered with colouring paper with lego characters which kids would have a great time colouring them. There were also 2 boxes of parties accessories that could be used. Variety of food was not bad but it wasn’t very delicious. We had our fills and K had his icecream which summed up our dinner.

Dinner buffet

Table cover for colouring and box of party accessories

Bricks restaurant

Xmas deco

Just outside the restaurant was a play area with huge foam bricks that kids could use to build a decent size house. Nearby was a projection screen where lego movie was playing. We had a hard time getting K to go back to the room as he sat in the pool of foam bricks, having fun.

We welcomed the New Year, already snoozing in bed as mommy wanted K to stick to his sleep routine. At midnight, we were awoken by further fireworks set off by the Malaysian people nearby, we saw glimpses of these from our windows and then welcome 2017 by jumping back onto the huge king size beds.

 

Escape plan to Legoland Johor 2016 NYE

A brief summary on the itinerary

Escape Plan to Legoland Johor 2016:

Total duration 2D1N
There is no time difference between Singapore and Johor.

Day 1 Arrival in Legoland, Waterpark and Fireworks
Day 2 Legoland theme park and Home Sweet Home

This trip was planned as a getaway to celebrate the New Year of 2017. We didn’t cater any trips and therefore a short escape to Legoland to spend the night was planned instead.

Budget – expensive in theme park.

As expected, theme parks were never cheap places to visit. The hotel stay itself costed SGD$500 already and things sold in the theme park were expensive. However, there were some discounts for purchase of the 2-day tickets, for about SGD$160, together with the hotel stay.

Complexity – Driving took only 15mins from Tuas Checkpoint

It was a pretty straightforward drive, with signboards showing directions to Legoland. We were surprised that it was even that close! However, I felt that the area around it was still a little undeveloped and thus secluded and personal transportation should be easier and offers more flexibility, though there should be available day trips and transportation options available.

Langkawi 2015 Day 3 – Underwater World and Home Sweet Home

The last day started early, just like any other day since Jr. came along. Woke up to quite a few mosquito bites on Jr. and my wife, apparently the mosquitoes had found a good food source. Unlike in Bintan where there was a mosquito net over the bed, the beds here were exposed and there weren’t any anti-mosquito fragrance.

After feeding and cleaning up, we proceeded to breakfast at the Spice Market restaurant near the reception. It was filled and we were told to go over to the Meritus club instead for the breakfast, where the similar buffet was set up. As we entered the classier setting and cushier seats, I felt that the buffet on offer had slightly less offering than the main buffet. After breakfast, we returned to the room for our final preparations, which included preparing baby meals, storing the expressed milk and bathing the baby. Of course we couldn’t complete these in time and so we overstayed for a good 30mins. The recept had to call us to remind us and asked if we needed a buggy, to which we said yes. The buggy was here in a flash, the fastest I have seen the 3 days we were here. Still we took some time before finally leaving the villa.

Meritus Club
Meritus Club

Cushy seats.
Cushy seats.

Buffet spread.
Buffet spread.

View from the club.
View from the club.

Brought a fridge-to-go for us to bring back the expressed milk. These we couldn’t bring along during the afternoon trip, we left it at housekeeping which they said could help us store in freezer, along with the luggage that was left with their temporary luggage storage.

Drove the car back to same location as the night before and parked just at the entrance of the Underwater World building. Purchase the tickets for 40RM per pax and entered the building, thankfully airconditioned. As Jr. had yet again pooped, we walked through the exhibits at the front swiftly, seeing some marine life along the way. When we reached the nursing room, we found it run down, without any facilities except a sink. It was a far cry from the beautiful nursing rooms we had in Singapore but this was expected. We quickly changed the diapers on Jr. by the sink (whom by the way made a mess by peeing while we were changing the diapers) and proceed on with the rest of the exhibits. Wife thought that the place was going to be huge so we rushed through the remaining half of the Underwater world, only to realised that it wasn’t as big as we thought and then we made a U-turn back to Eden cafe to have lunch.

Tickets to the Underwater world.
Tickets to the Underwater world.

Arapaima fish at the entrance.
Arapaima fish at the entrance.

One scary snapping turtle.
One scary snapping turtle.

Mamoset monkeying around.
Mamoset monkeying around.

Lazing fur seal.
Lazing fur seal.

Hopping Penguin standing tall.
Hopping Penguin standing tall.

Nursing room in the attraction.
Nursing room in the attraction.

Starfish.
Starfish.

Spider crab.
Spider crab.

Lobster.
Lobster.

Reef sharks.
Reef sharks.

Box fishes.
Box fishes.

A waterfall in the rainforest theme.
A waterfall in the rainforest theme.

Rainforest theme.
Rainforest theme.

Hexagonal tank.
Hexagonal tank.

Only eating cafeteria.
Only eating cafeteria.

Chicken nuggets.
Chicken nuggets.

Nasi Lemak.
Nasi Lemak.

Underwater world.
Underwater world.

There was quite a few stuff on the menu but what was really available was only Nasi Lemak. We bought for 2 of us and some nuggets to supplement the main dish as it didn’t looked filling. We had planned for my wife to pump at the nursing room while Jr. and I wait for her. This plan was quite important so as to ensure that there was enough food for Jr. for the whole afternoon out till we arrive back in Singapore, and also for my wife to relief herself. So she left for the unimpressive room while I brought Jr. to the hexagonal tank. This was particularly amusing as he could see many large fishes swimming everywhere and it kept him amused for some time until he got cranky and I had to feed him.

After 30mins, I went back to meet up wife and we left the Underwater World, exit led through a huge store selling souvenirs and food stuff. The visit was only so-so though I did saw a few other marine life that I thought I saw for the first time.

I drove back to the Nasi Kandar coffee shop and we ordered some Roti Canai to eat, having already digested the Nasi Lemak for lunch and also remembering the delicious Roti Canai from the dinner the night before. It was a short tea break before we left for the hotel to pick up the luggage and the milk and also to use the restroom. When the resort staff returned with the milk, it wasn’t frozen. It was disappointing but at least it was a little cool. This meant that the milk had to be taken soon after arrival in Singapore.

Drove to the airport about 10mins away and went into the carpark and parked near the departure hall. Called up the number that was on our rental sheet and went on to shift stuff from day bags to luggage for checked in a while later while wife and the baby went into the airport first. The car rental company staff arrived while I was still doing the packing and the handback was settled really quickly.

Went into the airport and had to go through the Xray machine first before going to the counter at Tigerair. There was quite a queue going on with 3 counters opened. However, we chose the right queue that had 2 counters serving the queue and checked in was done. Went through to the departure gate thinking that there should be some shopping at the waiting area but was seriously mistaken. Immediately after the gate, was the immigrations officer and thereafter was the waiting area, with a single shop serving F&B mainly. Therefore we couldn’t get anything else after that.

Small waiting area at the gate.
Small waiting area at the gate.

As we were one of the front few to board, since we were seated near the front and had a baby in arms, the boarding took some time to complete. However, the plane left on time and even arrived early in Singapore. The whole journey was quite ok, except that we felt the uncomfortable ear pressure much more than the Airasia flight and that could be the cause of Jr. crankiness for awhile. We gave him milk and he fell asleep for most part of the journey. Wife had to carry out some pumping on the flight itself. Otherwise, it was quite a easy flight home.

After touching down, unlike the past where we would almost zoomed past immigration with the auto gates. It was different this time and we had to queue to get through. There was a Singaporean line but was as long as the all passports line, difference being only that it was a tad bit faster – 10 mins to clear. We had no duty free allowance since we came back from Malaysia and so we got through the arrival gate after retrieving our luggage, meeting my parents have had came to fetch us back, the perks of bringing their grandson out for a trip.

This trip gave us the experience of having a baby on the flight with us which we deemed a nightmare, having sat through a few non-stop crying from angry babies. Now that we were on the other side of the scenario, this gave me a different perspective altogether. But this didn’t change my thoughts for crying babies, I still disliked them though I knew what was it like to be parent of one.

Learning from the last overseas trip, this trip was actually more enjoyable, having to be able to move about more and see more stuff. Maybe it was because the baby became more manageable, logical. Maybe because the wife was more mobile and compromised on pumping outside rather than limited in the hotel. Maybe because Langkawi offered more to see than Bintan. Still this gave us more confidence in venturing out with Jr. the next time. Next on the list would be during the long weekend holiday for the SG50, looking forward to it.

Langkawi 2015 Day 2 – Oriental Village

Sleep lasted till 730am when we woke up with the baby. There wasn’t a sunrise view since the balcony faced the West. Did all the usual activities before going for breakfast.

Not Colgate?
Not Colgate?

The restaurant was next the the reception so we decided to walk there, having already given up on the buggy since it was always taking too much time. The walk to the reception wasn’t too bad, just a 5mins walk. Upon reaching the restaurant, we were brought to a rather comfortable cushion seated round table. There was quite a crowd already but the buffet spread was consistently filled with intercontinental cuisine mixed with local favorites, an adequate amount of choices available.

Pastries
Variety of pastries.

Omelette
Omelette

Spice market 2
Spice Market Restaurant

After breakfast, we returned to the room to get prepared for our trip out and wife had to pump. The minibar had a small freezing compartment where the milk was stored. After the preparations, we walked to the carpark and drove 20mins to the Oriental village. Again, it was an easy drive, single lane roads and light traffic. We arrived after passing through some harbour near the popular Danna hotel and followed the signs leading to carpark A. The carpark was also filled to the brim and after circling once, I drove to the main road towards carpark B only to find out that it was meant for heavy vehicles. Returned to carpark A and went to the extension further away from the entrance which was also full. As usual, I found a slot at the entrance and parallel parked there. As Jr. had a habit a pooping while in a car, we had to changed his diapers in the car again before going into the village.

The Oriental village was just like a village, consisting of a couple of small buildings that were shops selling souvenirs or food, surrounding a lake. After a visit to the restroom, we went directly to the Skycab (cable car) tickets counter to get to the top of the mountain for some panoramic view of the island and also the other objective of visiting the Skybridge. When we arrived, there was already quite a crowd at the front of the ticketing counter. I carried Jr. and so the wife went to queue and get the tickets. Even though there were many people, there was a fixed schedule of boarding which was quite orderly. Our boarding time was 1245pm which was about 30mins after buying the tickets, for 35RM each. Jr. did not need one as he was under 2 years of age.

Oriental village buildings.
Oriental village buildings.

Horse carriage in the Oriental Village.
Horse carriage in the Oriental Village.

Pond within the village.
Pond within the village.

Ticket counter for the Skycab.
Ticket counter for the Skycab.

Tickets to Skycab.
Tickets to Skycab.

3D museum, similar to the Alive museum in SG.
3D museum, similar to the Alive museum in SG.

We went window shopping in the nearby shops, actively looking for those with airconditioning as the weather was just too hot. There was a souvenir shop selling products related to the Skycab but we didn’t get any. As the announcement for the queue was made over the public announcement system, we walked to the line and was amongst the last few people. As we got up to the second floor, there was another queue for compulsory entry into the Skydome. This attraction was like the Omni Theatre in Singapore, only much smaller. We had to wait quite a bit due to the limited space and since we were the last few, we had to combine with the next group of people to watch the immersive show of a roller coaster ride. Jr. who had fell asleep during the queue was awakened before entering the theatre and became really annoyed with the show. Luckily we could get out of the theatre before he cried out loud.

It was then another queue to board the cable car, which could seat 6 people. We shared with another group of internal tourists that came from Johor. The cable car then climb rather steeply up towards the middle station, providing a panoramic view yet with a little scare. The temperature became cooler as it climbed and that felt great.

Once at the middle station after about 5mins (might seemed like eternity for those afraid of heights), everyone had to alight first before getting on the the last station. We walked to the viewing deck and it had an awesome view of the beach and the sea. We didn’t hang around for too long, proceeded to queue for the 2nd cable car ride to the final station, which had the access to the Skybridge. On the much shorter journey towards the final station, the Skybridge can be seen.

Pano from the middle section
Pano from the middle section

After alighting, we searched for the access point to the bridge and found a queue as we proceeded up the stairs. We thought there was a need to pay again for the bridge access but only found out when we reached the counter that the queue was meant for hikers who wanted to take the rough route through the jungles trails to the bridge. No wonder we had to fill in our particulars. Obviously we couldn’t do it since we had a baby with us, we had to forgo this visit. That was the only route to the bridge as maintenance was still ongoing.

Similar to the previous station, there was a viewing deck which we went. It felt much hotter here though and so we left rather quickly, going back to the queue for the return trip to the bottom. At this time, Jr. got hungry and wife left me in the queue while she took a seat nearby to quickly give Jr. his bottle. The queue moved slowly and by the time we were close enough, we managed to bypass some group of people in the front as we became “fillers” for those who were already next in line to board but having a group for 4. The return journey did not require us to disembark at the middle station.

View of the bridge from the cable car.
View of the bridge from the cable car.

View from the final section.
View from the final section.

The whole journey took about an hour as we arrived at the bottom at about 145pm. We wanted to have lunch and while we looked around for air conditioned places, there was a Mizumi Japanese cuisine restaurant and so we ate there. There was a restroom within the restaurant itself and I changed out the diapers for Jr. on the toilet bowl cover after we took our orders and wife went to set up her pumps as she would pump during lunch (one of sacrifices travelling breastfeeding mom would know). I fed Jr. and managed to get him to sleep in my arms before I attempt to eat my lunch with my free hand. The food was still pretty hot and that was challenging to eat with one arm and trying not to spill over Jr. sleeping underneath my mouth. In the end, I was still sweaty all over, as the aircon there wasn’t powerful at all. The lunch costed 98RM, normal priced for Japanese restaurant in an attraction but no way the same standard as expectations.

Teriyaki salmon set
Teriyaki salmon set

Udon.
Udon.

Drove the oven like car (since this was an open space carpark) back to the hotel which was again simple. At this point in time, I knew that the amount of gas pumped the day before was more than enough since we won’t be travelling far on the final day.

Back at the room, I brought Jr. out to the beach again. Went to the waters and as I stepped in, I found the waters to be lukewarm rather than cold! That was really unexpected and was really my first time that I felt this type sea water temperature before. Jr. didn’t like it anyway as he cried when I lowered his legs in the water. Still I thought I would give him some water dipping time and similar as the day before, in the bath tub.

Beach view.
Beach view.

The rest of the time was spent lazing around when baby was asleep or preparing and cleaning stuff. It was dinner time soon and according to Tripadvisor, there was a Yellow Cafe or a Red Tomato which was popular and along the Pentai Cenang road close to our resort. So we left at sunset which was about 730pm and hopped onto a buggy which was on its way out (we gave up waiting and walking was now preferred). We drove a little longer than yesterday, passing the Nasi Kandar Almaz and until when we saw the Underwater world building that we parked the car road side opposite it. A short walk further down was the Red Tomato and it was starting to fill up. Checked the menu filled with Western Cuisine, we figured that was not what we wanted and walked down further.

There were more eating places as we walked, having similar cuisine such as seafood. I couldn’t do seafood since I had gout and my wife ain’t a fan either but we ended up in and Islandish Restaurant serving Chinese food. This small joint was already quite crowded when we arrived, and we ordered some dishes that included a fried Red Snapper, vegetables, omelette and fried rice. There was free wifi but it was just as ridiculously slow as what our resort offered. While waiting for the food, I carried Jr. around walking and chatted with a German family who had 10 month old with him. I guessed it was just uncanny link between people with common interest, in the form of a baby, to talk to one another.

Islandish restaurant entrance.
Islandish restaurant entrance.

Inside the Islandish restaurant.
Inside the Islandish restaurant.

Islandish restaurant menu.
Islandish restaurant menu.

3 dishes.
3 dishes of fried rice, omelette and vegetables.

Fried red snapper.
Fried red snapper.

Food came and we ate, with me having successfully put Jr. to sleep in my arms again. The food here was pretty ok, and the fish was fresh. There were many other forms of seafood but too bad. Went back to our vehicle and negotiated the slightly more busy road now, as people was out and about for dinner. Back to the hotel and it was same old activities, such as feeding the baby and cleaning up bottles and some packing. Caught EPL on TV before turning in for the night.