.....times of refreshing.....

It was a holiday last Thursday and I decided to take a day off on Friday for a short getaway to Desaru. It's been a long while since I have been to Desaru with the last trip back in 2010. Prior to that, I always drove there frequently for a day trip and always stopped by places in Pulai Desaru Resort as well as Sg.Renggit for its seafood, and not forgetting Sebana Cove. Since it's been a while I have been there, I thought of staying a night at Pulai Desaru Resort as I love this place, where I find it to be one of the best resort around that area. However, time seems have taken a toll on this resort as its no longer that 'great'. The rooms are not well-maintained as it is a little dirty especially the bathroom, though I like the spacious room.

The drive to Desaru from Senai via the Senai-Desaru highway has cut down a lot of travelling time compared to the old route from Kota Tinggi. It only took around 45 minutes to reach there on an almost empty highway. After reaching there, I was surprise to see so many shophouses at Bandar Penawar, including a KFC. These were not there back in 2010.

One good thing over at Desaru on that day is we managed to escape the thick haze in JB and SG. Over at the east of Johor, the skies was bright and blue though it became slightly hazy in the evening. I let the pixs do the talking.

Blue skies greeted us at the resort

I got the Superior twin bed room at Rm340, including two breakfast

Spacious room with tiles, but a little dirty at the balcony and bathroom.

The sofas where I can enjoy my complimentary coffee but too bad, no wifi there. Wifi only available in the lobby area.

The bathroom.

Set of complimentary toiletries, my wife love it!

Sadly , the water tap is malfunction for the bathtub. :(

A fine view from the balcony. They should have added a new coat of paint to the blocks, though I love the greenery.

My kids having a good time at the pool, and this is what they want ! We spent most of the time at the pool.

The beautiful South China Sea and I must feedback that the beach is not as clean as in the past. It's difficult getting down to the beach as some sort of a 'sand dune' was built up there which makes it slightly steep to get down to the sandy beach.

My precious ones...

The sea is still as beautiful like in the past

A view of the beach

The haze was clear up the next day

Heading for breakfast!

Quite a nice restaurant but the food is average only. Not much selection for I think for RM30 per person, its allright with me.

Waiting for my omelette

A view of the hotel from 'inside'

My little princess enjoyed another dip before heading back to JB soon

The 'beach' like pool

The stay is not as pleasant as before though I still love the environment there. Hope they will improve the resort by giving a new coat of paint to the blocks, make the beach and rooms cleaner as well as introduce more activities there. It's so quiet at night time, compared to the Lotus Desaru resort next door.

Have a good week!

The 7th month is over and Halloween not here yet but that doesn't stop me from telling an eerie story in this post. :) Well, my wifey's aunt had passed away recently in Ipoh and my sis in law decided to go to Ipoh to accompany her cousin sister, who went back to Ipoh to pay her last respect to her mom. Everything goes on smoothly in the funeral and wake. Though everything settled down where the funeral is over, my sis in law decided to accompany her cousin sister till the 7th day, where Chinese believe the soul of the dead one will return for a short time to see their loved ones for the last time.

On that night itself, my sis in law recounted suddenly there's was a cold wind blew in the house and then, the deceased's grandson, who was a teen, was saying he smelt something smelly and seems like the smell of his grandma. Everyone in the house also smelt it, which seems like the body odour of their late mom. They felt the presence of her. Anyway, they felt horrified and one of them decided to offer joss-sticks to her mom and asked her mom not to 'scare' them. After that, everything went back to normal.

Well, I also remember one of my friends, who's a Catholic, show us pictures of footprints in flour, of his late dad in the morning after the 7th day. hahaha... So, what do you think ? Do you believe the dead ones will returns on the seven day after their pass over?

OK, let's relax now and calm your nerves. I patronise Uncle Jang in JB and this is the first time I tried it. It was nice though not really my favourite , but it's allright.

Bulgogi Pork ... really to be cooked

Half-way there before the ramen added in .. We were served by their staff who cooked for us.

And, here you are ... ready to eat!

Egg Pancake

Marinated chicken .... it's sweet like teriyaki chicken. I forgot the name of the dish in Korean.

Another pancake

Have a nice holiday tomorrow! :)

Sometimes I find it kinda amused when my direct sales friends were so happy when the haze strikes. The reason is because that's the opportunity for them to sell their powerful air purifier and they can gained a lot of value points should the transaction went through as it's an expensive product, if I am not wrong, around RM4K-RM5K. No doubt that it is a good and premium product but I find it a bit overkill for the price. (Sorry, I am not going to mentioned the brand here...) The product have a lot of functions which can even filter microbes, not to mentioned that it's compliant to the HEPA standard and anytime, can filter all the haze particles. Well, to me, I guess much cheaper alternatives which are HEPA compliant are good enough, for something that occurs only once a year or two years, for a duration of somewhere between 2-3 weeks. Unless they have a need like family members suffering from asthma and etc, most of the time, the air purifiers will be kept somewhere till the haze returns. I also remember folks in SG were panic buying the air purifiers till out of stocks when the PSI gone up to 400 back in 2013. Some of my friends even go to the extent of importing the device from overseas via online shopping.

I think it's good to have one in order to ward off the bad smell and filthy air but as long as the purifier meet the requirements, I don't think we needed to spend a fortune on something that's not frequently used. By the way, clear skies returns and I managed to go for a 13KM run last Thursday night. It was so good.

Oh.. I am back to Kinsahi Japanese Restaurant since my kids love it.

Sushi Makis....with fish eggs

Mushrooms and vegetables for a mini Shabu shabu

Salmon for shabu shabu

Salmon sushis

Assortment of sushis and makis

And a bowl of Udon for me... :)

Let's hope the haze will be gone forever this year ! Have a good week!

Well, I haven't book any flight tickets yet as well as confirmed the holiday destinations. In fact, I am thinking of where to go ...err... to be exact, the whole family was thinking of where to go for a sabbatical break during year end, including my two small kids. We went to several tour agencies, make some inquiries and got brochures back to consider. Well, since I am the only breadwinner of the family, the trip has to be affordable and which means will be somewhere near.

Thus, here are the remarks made by the four of us, including my kids ... yes... as these little monsters can wreck havoc to your plans if they are not happy!!!

1. hmm... the place safe or not as some incidents just happened (you know where....)
2. That place too hot leh. .. I heard from dunno who said they don't feel like going out as its too hot...
3. aiyo...beach again ah .... 
4. heard the public toilets very dirty there ... the people over there are like that , anyhow anyhow ...
5. cruise again ? boring le...
6. Very crowded la ..that place..
7. Flight too long la...

hahaha... Very troublesome right? Well, I guess I just need to calm down (better still, after a workout and shower), closed my eyes , sit on my bed and meditate on it.  Btw, there's also some datelines to meet by the agencies for the tours. I thought going on a planned tour is better and hassled free, since I got two little monsters with us, compared to those land tours. And, mentioning about datelines, some relatives also wanted to follow us but when we asked them for confirmation, all diam-diam (silence).

 Btw, haze is better due to two heavy downpours for two consecutive days here but I am still working out in the gym. I probably go  for a run tomorrow evening if its still clear and finished work early. Oh... it's been a while I had a ramen and I went for a Sapporo Miso Tonkotsu Ramen.


Have a good weekend!!

Drinks lots of water and let's pray the dreadful haze will end soon! Have a good week!

Do you carried medicines for some of your basic problems to work ? Well, of course if you have a condition, then you have no choice but to carry your meds around with you. However, for basic problems which could strike you on a bad day like common cold, gastric pain, headache, diarrhea and etc, do you just put one or two tablets in your bag ?

Well, I do carry meds for my basic problems in a small bag and put it in my notebook backpack. Well, my working place is far from my home as well as I crossed the causeway very often and not forgetting I also go around for meetings. Thus, having something to 'tahan' when I am not well can be a good relief. Anyway, I only carried those that I usually needed.  I also included some useful leftover meds from my last visits to the doc like non-drowsy flu pills to pull through the day.  One of my colleagues just teased me today that I am like a walking pharmacy ... hahaha.. as I pass some meds to my other colleague who was having a gastric pain. And lately, I included a small tube of heat rub for my muscles just in case I needed it before a run. :)

Oh.. Friday is polling day in Singapore and yeah...it's a holiday. For the rest of us who are not citizens and not eligible to vote, it will be a long weekend. I remember I just patronised Lavender Bistro in jb last Sunday and I feel like going there again , at least for coffee and cakes.

Teriyaki Chicken Rice for my kids

Nasi lemak for my wifey

I had a ham and cheese ciabatta which is my favourite.

And not forgetting my cuppa of Americano.

Have a good weekend and consider carrying a little common meds in your bag, it can be handy! :)

It's actually raising and not raisin, if you got it wrong. Me too, I was wondering where are the raisins! hahahhaha... Well, this is a charity event which  includes running as their first event. My ex-boss actually asked me to join her for the run where my other colleague also took part later, hearing that this is for charity. Though it is for charity, the goodies bag was actually quite good. They gave us 8 packs of meal replacement drinks, biscuits, isotonic drink, lots of vouchers as well as the Brooks running tee which I love it very much!! We opt for 10KM which is the longest run for the event.

The run was pleasant though its a smaller scale event compared to the big boys like Sundown, NTUC or Standard Chartered runs. It was held at the beautiful Gardens by the Bay and the route was similar to the Sundown Half-Marathon towards the last 10KM. The only complaint I had was the hazy skies where the readings are 'moderate unhealthy'. Other than that, it was really a nice, pleasant run and well-organised! Water points are available almost every 2.5KM...well done!

Folks warming up at 6.30am

The MBS in the early morning from Gardens By The Bay

It was still dark

What a nice and beautiful morning before the hazy skies

The flag off ... it was well on time at 7am . can you spot Yours Truly with the runkeeper on and wearing a bluetooth earpiece? hahaha...

Love this pix ... taken by the organiser at no cost. Mak Glam just commented that I look serious  in my instagram...well, actually I am running out of breath and finishing line is just ahead..hahaha... The run was not really difficult except after the 1st KM where we needed to run up the steep path at Marina Barrage. That was a killer stretch I guess. After that, it was all the way down to the Marina Barrage bridge and the terrain are mostly concrete and flat. Near the 5KM mark, there was a grassy path which helps to relax our feet due to the softer terrain.  The finishing line Took a pix with the sporting runners who lifted up the mood of the run. Well, they indeed finished 10KM wearing these and really kudos to them!! Initially I thought there's no medal since this is a charity event but well, to my surprise , I got another one to add to my collections!!

Have a good week!

Since I already taken my birthday leave last Monday in order to spend the long weekend with my family, I was working on my birthday on Tuesday. It seems weird to me as I always off on my birthday. Thus, my colleagues who knew it was my special day, they decided to bring me to Hard Rock Cafe in Sentosa for a treat.

We ordered quite a lot of food besides the set lunch which came with a salad for appetiser,  main course, free flow drink and ice-cream for desserts.  And, Hard Rock also has something special for birthday boys and girls..... Let's talk about the food first.

Tortilla chips with cheese to share for 5 of us. Its very nice ... love it.

Buffalo wings... luckily this is not so spicy and its tasty. A little sour and spicy.  Another finger food for sharing.

Here's my salad with thousand island dressing.

The main dish - I ordered a Ciabatta Roast beef. It's very filling and by the time I finished the first piece, I was very full!

Free flow ice tea

Dessert - Ice cream with apple pie

After the meal, my naughty colleague told the waitress it was my birthday without my knowledge. All of a sudden, she brought a sundae with a candle on top and announced to everyone in the restaurant that it was my birthday. She asked them to sing me a birthday song and make me stand up in front of everybody while holding the sundae.  hahaha....I felt so embarrassed but happy while they are singing the song and some of them are angmohs.  I thanked everyone after the song and blew the candle.

Here's the birthday sundae, on the house.

That's the first time a restaurant full of strangers sang me a song...hahaha.. And, with this I decided to foot the bill instead of my colleagues who arranged for the lunch and occasion. :)

Have a good weekend!