Road trip to Hatyai & Penang with the momsies <3

For the first time in our entire dating history, we decided to throw our mothers together.

For four full days, from KL to Hatyai to Penang and all the way back to KL, they had to sit together in the car, walk together in the sun & under the moonlight, eat the same food, sleep in the same room and on top of all that, deal with the two monkeys that are their son & daughter.

Our first meal on the road trip was Ipoh’s famous steamed chicken, sprouts and kueh teow noodles for lunch. DELICIOUS! I could eat Ipoh kuehteow everyday.

# – With my mom.

# – With his mom.

It was a great holiday. I can’t believe it took us this long to do something like this. Holidaying with our moms is awesome cause we get to be children and get doted over.

Like you know, when we went swimming, there’s always someone who would pass us towels and sunblock. Or when we’re out exploring, someone’s always got an extra bottle of water or someone’s always got an awesome hat that I could borrow to hide from the hot sun. I LOVE IT!

# – My mom’s incredible hat that kept me in the shade.

Like how we could also snack like monsters and make a mess in their room till late at night before scooting off to our clean hotel room to sleep :P

# – In moms’ room, eating on their beds /evil laughter.

I don’t know if it’s holiday for our momsies, but it’s definitely a kickass holiday for us…hehehehhehe.

# – Mummy taking pictures of fish.

# – Mom taking pictures of floating market.

# – Mothers walking down a hill in Hatyai Municipal Park.

It was our first time seeing the floating market in Hatyai. It was pretty impressive actually. Loads of food and touristy stuff but most things go for only 20Baht. Cheap and fun!

# – On the bridge to the floating market.

There’s this fella in Hatyai that sells clothes who was particularly attached to Gareth. He kept shoving a clothes hanger into G’s crotch, while threatening G to buy clothes from him.

# – G looking far too happy with a clothes hanger up his…

And when he refused to buy anything, he just hugged G, very tightly.

# – Affectionate.

We shopped quite a lot. My mom basically wiped out the pet section in Tesco Lotus. The dog beds were ridiculously cheap, like 370Baht for a mid size one! Where to find?? We got cashew nuts, dried fruits, booze, the usual suspects.

G also bought me a set of 10 piece Anolon saucepans and pans with some kind of awesome copper base and oven safe up to 260 degrees celcius. My oven doesn’t even go up that high! <3 Sorry, housewife talk overloads :P # - Car so full with shopping until back window completely blocked out.

From Hatyai, we drove down to Penang for an overnight stay. There was an episode where someone went hysterical because she almost couldn’t hold her pee anymore while getting stuck in a traffic jam in Penang.

# – Stuck in crazy jam for over an hour to see this.

Of course, that person was me cause I have an abnormally small bladder. I had to endure my mom watching over me while I peed behind someone’s car. Pee patch was so massive on the ground she had to skip away from it, while I was STILL pissing T_T

Anyway, like we always do in Penang, we ate too much and still ended up wishing we could eat more. We left Penang on a ferry, the perfect ending to our holiday.

# – On the upper deck of a ferry back to mainland.

I shall end this post with a picture of a random buffalo at a petrol station in Penang. It had really saggy, large testicles.

Have a good weekend, peep!

Diving in Redang – October 2011.

I want to dedicate this post to C, who tragically passed away from a car accident while on the way back home from this trip. Although it was only very briefly, I’m glad that our paths crossed and that we had so much fun in those 3 days. I will always remember you – chatty, animated, funny and carefree. Rest in peace.

+++

We took a slow, leisurely drive to Kuala Terengganu (KT) a day earlier. On the way, we stopped by Kuantan and met up with an old friend, Damien for dinner. He took us to this chinese restaurant called Alor Akar Seafood Restaurant and had very a yummy dinner.

# – Noms.

# – Me and Damien. On an unrelated note, my eyebags remind me of sausages.

After dinner, we continued our journey to KT. We found this budget hotel called Hotel Indah going for RM70 per room per night. Well, in spite of its name, there’s nothing “indah” about it.

The bed was basically a plastic mattress covered in really thin, well-worn sheet. Actually, I won’t even call it a sheet. Blanket was just a thin beach towel…for my 6’5″ bf and myself? Oh well, I guess you get what you pay for. Next time, we’d have no qualms putting down RM50 more for a real bed and blanket!

# – God and Moobs sharing a room with see-through bathroom.

Anyway, before bedtime, we walked out to find some beers. We went to a 7-11 but surprise, surprise, 7-11s in KT don’t carry alcoholic beverages.

Then God proceeded to ask the first person he met outside 7-11 where to find beer, a middle-aged lady in traditional headscarf, “Kak, you tahu mana ada jual arak??” (Sis, do you know anywhere selling booze?). I was ready to run, to be honest.

Instead of scolding us though, the lady led us to a dingy coffee shop behind our hotel. A man was helping a very inebriated man out from the shop and we knew immediately, that we’re at the right place. We thanked the lady in headscarf, went into the semi-closed coffee shop and was met with about a dozen Thai people getting drunk and singing to cowboy country music. We bought 2 bottles of beer and a bag of ice.

At our hotel, we cut an empty mineral water bottle into half cause we didn’t have glasses. And no, Hotel Indah did not have glasses for its guests.

# – Moobs with his half.

# – And me with the other half.

The next morning, we headed to the jetty!

# – Moobs and the BF fighting before departing from the jetty.

We reached Redang Bay Resort and was relieved at our accommodation, which was very, very comfortable :D

# – OMG our room even had a mirror!

Despite being at the very end of the season, the weather held up beautifully for us.

# – Sunny sky, blue sea and white sands.

We had a total of 5 dives, including one night dive which was incredibly awesome. Ed, my dive instructor led all our dives.

# – Ed and the BF.

# – God. He took all the underwater pictures on this blog. Check out his awesome blog at www.seapixels.com

# – Meeee!

# – The BF getting friendly with nemos.

# – Me again!!!!

I saw a live turtle for the first time and it was humongous. It was amazing! Also saw a black tip reef shark and a lone barracuda and of course a lot of colourful, weird fish. I finally learnt that nudibranch is really very tiny, I didn’t realise all those pictures of nudibranches were really macro shots :P

It’s a bit hard to stomach that it will be about 6 more months before we get to dive in local waters again. The only option is to dive overseas but we feel like it’s only right to explore all of Malaysia’s diving spots first before crossing borders.

That said, I’m not sure if my willpower could withstand the temptations, already fantastic diving deals in Thailand and Philippines are being thrown at my face T_T

Truly, I’m missing it so much already :(

Pet-friendly beach resort in Cherating, Kuantan.

Last weekend, the entire family went to Cherating for my Mom’s birthday. Ruby’s Resort was the natural choice for accommodation as it’s pet-friendly and I believe it is the only pet-friendly resort in the entire nation.

# – Charlie <3

The place was truly wonderful! We had such a great time with our furkids. Mom brought along Sisi, Brad & Pitt while we brought Charlie. It’s the very first time our doggies got to see the beach!

# – Charlie with daddy.

# – My daddy chasing after Pitt.

# – My parents running with Brad and Pitt.

Chatted with Ruby about her resort and shocked to hear that she had guests who secretly took off at 2am leaving the beds soiled with dog poo and pee. I was so shocked to hear that there are people who behave such a way! It’s disgusting!

That’s why Ruby now has a policy for guests with pets to bring their own bedsheets. Honestly, I was rather taken aback when I learnt of the bedsheet policy but after listening to Ruby, I can totally understand why she decided to impose it. I’m just thankful that she didn’t decide to ban pets from her resort thanks to that terrible experience.

By the way, Ruby herself has 9 cats and 3 dogs and various other animals as pets!

# – Charlie and his sandy nose, hehehe.

# – Was about to keel over and die chasing after excited Charlie <3

# – BF taking picture of wet Charlie.

Bringing our own bedsheets was absolutely nothing considering the fun and happiness we got from vacationing with our furkids :)

# – My Dad’s still got it!

# – With the resident doggie, Stout. He is possibly the most friendly, adorable dog I’ve ever met!!!

# – Mom with Stout’s sister, Princess. Also impossibly friendly!!

Of course we had superb food while in Cherating. One restaurant worth noting is Restoran Duyong, which is less than 5 minutes away from Ruby’s Resort. Aside from serving fantastic seafood, it’s also pet friendly! :)

# – Deep fried squid. Crunchy but not overcooked…YUMMY!

# – Tom Yam fried rice. Spicy but tasty.

# – Perfectly stir fried kailan with salted fish.

# – Black pepper crabs with glass noodles. Orgasmic!

# – The interesting dish called Loy Katong. Delicious deep fried battered fish and vegetables with some raw vegetables and delicious spicy dipping sauce.

Such a fun and relaxing weekend. I can’t wait to go back to Ruby’s Resort!

Ruby’s Resort,
Lot 350, Jalan Kemaman,
Kampung Cendor,
Cendor, 26080 Kuantan,
Pahang Darul Makmur,
Malaysia.
GPS Coordinates: N04º 8.956, E103º 24.425
Tel: +60 16-938 1298

Restoran Duyong,
Batu 28, Kampung Cherating,
Cherating, Jalan Kuantan-Kemaman,
26080 Kuantan, Pahang Darul Makmur,
Malaysia.
Tel: +609-581 9578/+6013-908 1549