Chocolate Museum

While thinking that I should try to instill some education senses, I came across this place "Chocolate Museum" located at Kota Damansara. If you don't have much time but yet you want your child to receive some education about how chocolate is produced then this is the place for you.

Entrance is free. Children get to see how the "cocoa trees" and "cocoa beans" look like, background on how chocolate was first discovered, how it was introduced in our country and how it evolved throughout these years. 

You get to see the instruments and machines that were used to process the beans and also a demo on chocolate making! 

The whole tour took less than an hour. It is best if you walk thru with your child (if he/she is patience enough) to cover the entire showcase. At the end, you get to purchase some yummy chocolates. Guess can't escape this part with excited kids waiting to be rewarded. Anyways, it was a good, short trip, recommended for those with school-going kids.

Marina Island, Pangkor

We went to Marina Island Resort located at Lumut for our company event on 4th of August 2016. The official website is here. The trip took around 4 hours (by bus) from Kuala Lumpur. The newly opened jetty to Pangkor island is available, takes just 10 mins to go there (good news for travellers!)

This place not as what the name claims "island" is referred to man-made island. They claim it is the one and only man-made island in Malaysia. One of the attraction here is what called "Wibit" located at Frenzy Water Park. It can be called as water sports with various challenges. 

The room is very spacious with 1 king size bed and another room with 1 single bed. The room adjourns with the bathroom so there is flexibility for travelers.

The hotel's restaurant is called 'Terumbu Cafe'. There were lots of flies when we were there. The food was okay. Surprisingly we did not see any fish dishes. Breakfast varieties was okay too, average rating for food.

The Lumut town is not so far away from this hotel (not a walking distance, you need transport to get there).

View from the balcony

Swimming pool

Single bedroom

Pangkor 2016

Somehow we made it to Pangkor last week during Raya holidays. Having had to promise my little one during the school holiday break,it was time to keep to the promise. It was a good break, felt refreshed and rejuvenated. Seriously, normal humans need frequent time outs as life can be really stressful at times. 

We stayed at Anjungan Beach Resort & Spa for 2 days 1 night. Wanted to book via online initially as it was cheaper however due to some circumstances we just made reservation thru hotel. It took couple of days to get the confirmation (not that efficient though!). I made my own research online as previously we had been to Pasir Bogak beach, we wanted try somewhere else. Based on some feedbacks, we decided to go for this resort. We paid RM275 per night (Deluxe for 2) as it was a public holiday. Buffet breakfast for one child was RM15. 

This resort is conveniently located in between Nipah Bay and Coral Bay beaches. So, that is the plus point of this resort, Nipah Bay beach is just a stone's throw from the resort. You just have to cross the road to get to the beach and Coral Bay is just few minutes walk. Waves were rough the day we were at Nipah beach. It was heavenly sight to see the waves hitting the beach endlessly. I must admit that I was a little terrified not to take it seriously! 

Calm sea in disguise

It is not so 'calm' after all

The resort's restaurant operates till 3PM only. Therefore we had to look out for food, but it was not an issue as there were plenty of eateries around. It was a nice feeling to have dinner at the beach side. Wish can do it everyday! :)

Sunset view

Buffet breakfast the next day was not so bad with mixture of Malaysian & Western dishes. We managed to take a lazy stroll at the beach again. And caught few rare sights of rainbow along the way before checking out and heading home. Overall it was a good time-out for us.

Hornbills!

Rainbow sighted!

An Eden Of Nature & Animals - Farm in the City

On 6th of December 2015, we visited a place called Farm In The City. It is situated at Sri Kembangan. Easy to find this place using Waze. Good place to bring kids, if you are not planning to go to the zoo. Even though this place does not have the full range of animals, but it is not too bad. I think what makes this place unique it works some sort of petting zoo where kids can experience touching the animals and see them roam freely. 

The entrance fee is RM32 for an adult and RM27 for a child. They do have family packages available too. Plenty of animals to see - divided by its own farms such as reptiles cavern, turtle & tortoise farm, aviary. They have few sessions of feeding activities such as otter feeding, parrot show, cute raccoon feeding, rabbit & guinea pigs feeding etc. Kids will enjoy pony ride (of course it comes with cost!), fish and swan feeding. They also can try to catch fish using the bucket (if they are lucky). They call it 'Traditional Longkang-Fishing Stream. They get the hold snakes, chicks and other 'safe' animals. There are also vegetable and fruits farms. It is good educational trip for kids. Something different for them to experience.

Hi 5 Show in KL 2015

If there was something extraordinary happened to me in 2015 then it must be this. Not sure how it happened though because it was never expected. Well, things happens unexpectedly, is that what you called luck?

With this, I was able to bring my the little one to the Hi 5 House of Dreams show for 2015 at Istana Budaya, KL on 12th of December. The tickets being more expensive than Disney show, it was a worthwhile lucky win!

To make things even more sweeter, the win also included the Meet & Greet session with the crews. The overall 1.5 hours show was energetic and entertaining for the already excited kids. It was full house. Too many kids who are just crazy of this team! Anyways, it was something unforgettable! Blessed just to be able to make the kids happy!

Criticism vs Kindness

I was on the way to office when I read a story (a real story by the way) on the radio. The deejay mentioned that there a 41-year old lady queuing up to buy coffee and donuts for her two kids. Then, she heard few women at the back of her called her ‘whale’. Now, that’s enough to cause someone to feel demotivated and allow some bad mood to set in. Most probably, she would pass the reactions of her bad mood to her kids too. No more sunshine.  Or she might vow to herself that she would prove those ladies wrong. Undertake some kind of exercises or diet to lose weight. Feeling of dejection is intolerable. There are so many bad auras associated with low self-esteem.

But, what amazed us was instead of feeling demotivated this lady chose to buy coffee for her newly found friends. Now, how many of us can do this? Do you think you can accept it when people talks bad about you? Can you digest criticism? Do you think you have that ability to shut off negativity from entering your mind? Or rather why is it we feel so easy to allow and feel negativities? We think we can embrace negative better than positive vibes? Or most importantly, can we turn negativity around, see it in different perspective and present it in a positive way?

Some thinks it might be related to genetics. I just feel I’m born with it they say. I’m so attracted with it that when people start being pessimistic, I find myself incline to it. “Work is so boring”, I heard one my colleague saying. I have 2 options, instead of saying, “Ya, I feel bored too” or “Be happy you have job”. Yes, you are allowed to feel bored. The question is what you are doing to cure your boredom. So, you think you have this wonderful ability? It is really a skill we can master? I seriously think this is very vital in our daily life especially when we are not in control of others. To start with be grateful with what you have and the best thing is you can change and control within your means. Try this for once. Return kindness to someone who hurt your feelings. Experiment it and lets rejoice the outcome.

School Holiday Program For Kids 2015

The school holidays are back again.Time for parents to take break is here. Some may sleep a bit longer. Some might take leave and relax with kids. Some might have planned holidays long time ago and its time to execute the plan.

No matter what you have decided, there are few places around PJ and KL area worth to be checked out :-

Petrosains
It's Yay! Time @Petrosains! Check out here for some fun programs.

Circus Time 
Who does not care for FREE SHOWS? Check this out happening at Subang Parade!

Fun with CraftyMinds
Plenty of excitements here for various age groups.

Lara's Place
Activities lined up at Lara's! enough to keep kids entertained.

Learn English @BC
Check out their programs at here.

Fun4Kids
For a real serious fun stuffs here!

STEM Exploration Centre
This would be interesting! Check out this place!

Happy exploring!