Cuti-cuti Malaysia….. Kalumpang Resort & Training Centre

The Chalet at KRTC

The week had been pretty hectic so the invitation for a weekend getaway at Kalumpang Resort & Training Centre (KRTC) was very much welcomed. I had no idea what was waiting there but the prospect of being closer to nature was good enough to entice me to jump on the bandwagon.

We left Manjung at about 11.15am on Saturday. The 170km drive was pretty much uneventful. We made two stopovers to buy guava at Bidor and the famous “pau” at Tanjung Malim….and we were hard pressed to reach our destination as quickly as possible once the constant “Are we there yet?” started barely one hour into the journey.

We arrived at the junction in Kalumpang leading to the resort shortly after 1pm. According to the resort’s website, the place is about 2km from the junction. The road was narrow alright, at times we were forced to stop on the curb to allow the incoming car to pass through.

We were the second group to arrive after Kak Shida & her family. The resort was made of various types of bungalows and chalets nestled in between rocks and trees alongside the Inki River. At the first look it felt like being in a kampung (village). The buildings blended fairly well with the surroundings, with ayam kampung and cats running around. I even saw some Rajah Brooke butterflies flying comfortably among the huge heliconia plants found abundant in the area. The main attraction, the Inki River itself was nice and clean with lots of rocks, big and small, scattered throughout. We quickly changed and made our way to the river which was less than 50m away. I was really starving and the sight of nasi lemak, sambal sotong and ayam masak kicap was just overwhelming, so the river just had to wait a little longer. The twins wasted no time in getting into the water allowing Lin & I to really enjoy our late lunch. After finishing my second helping of nasi lemak, I was ready for all the fun. I discovered that the water was very cold despite the scorching heat…..unbelievably refreshing. The rest of the family group arrived a little over an hour later; my parents in laws, Kak Yan, Shera, Ijan & Haikal. More swimming and playing in the water until it was time to prepare for the family BBQ.

 The twins really enjoyed themselves

Fun on the first day

Natural jacuzzi

I wondered if the chalet was going to be sufficient to cater for the 13 of us. However, since this was a family get together, I was sure we’d be able to somehow work our way around it. That evening Kak Shida & Abang Pedi managed to acquire the chalet right next to ours at a special rate, thus solving the accommodation challenge.

The weather was nice when we had the BBQ. The BBQ menu consisted of stingray, chicken, squids, prawns, crabs and sausages. We also had fruit & vegetable salad and leftover nasi lemak to complete the meal. Ohh yes, food was abundant for everybody to enjoy. Hjh Azizah never lets anybody go hungry when she is around. Everything was nice, and I particularly enjoyed the stingray, the crab and the squid. Everybody hit the bed shortly before midnight. Farzana decided to try the upper bed of the double-decker……it worked well for her as she was fast asleep within minutes, but not for her over-worried parents. Fearing that she might fall down due to her lasak nature of sleeping, Lin decided to accompany her up there.

After all the effort, the tent was only useful for about 10 minutes...sighhh:)

It was an early rise for everybody, with me being one of the last ones to leave the comfort of my bed at about 7.30am. While my mother in law was busy preparing breakfast, I took the family for a quick walk around the compound. We saw the workers gathered together for a session of “poco poco” before starting to work…..that was original.

You have to know "poco poco" to work here....I do not qualify obviously

During our morning walk

The children hit the water again right at 8.30am……are you guys not cold? Then again….children will always be children. The adults slowly gathered around to have breakfast by the river bank, while the children continued to splash around in the water. Breakfast was bread, egg salad, scrambled eggs and sardines plus some left over BBQ. Perfect!!! Watermelon and all sorts of nuts were the later additions as we spent the whole morning there chatting, munching and swimming. The adults, including my mother in law (…way to go!!!) decided to join the children in water slightly later in the morning. It was fun all around…..

Everything is fun here

 The twins love photo opportunities

 The adults watching the kids while chitchatting & munching

Everybody "berendam"

We got out of the water at about noon. Then it was a super quick process of packing up to check out of the resort. Everybody was super efficient…..seasoned traveler you have to say. We bid each other goodbye and made our way home, my family back to Lumut while the rest to Shah Alam.

The Aziz Clan all set to go home...it's been great fun

Another short and sharp break but was definitely worth it. One interesting idea came up during this trip. We decided to initiate a “vacation fund” with Lin unanimously being appointed as the Coordinator. Ha..ha…a quick vote…cadangan dibuka, cadangan ditutup tanpa sebarang bantahan…kecuali yang empunya diri. Well done Lin for accepting the appointment. Everybody is to contribute a fixed amount of RM50 per head monthly and the collection will be used to facilitate a family vacation later in the year. Let’s hope there’s more Cuti-cuti Malaysia news in this blog as a result of this initiative.

My overall view of the resort – It is a nice value for money place. The chalet was very basic but when we spent 90% of your time outdoor all that we needed were a clean bathroom and decent beds. The highlight, the Inki river was marvelous, and clean. However, I just think that the workers should pay just a little more attention in cleaning up the trash, and not so much of the leaves. The place is generally clean, much cleaner than any public picnic areas I’ve seen. However, I think it’ll do the resort more good if they could pay a little bit more “detail” attention to the upkeep and maintenance of the place. I’d love to come back…..definitely, that’s my overall verdict.

They were spent....all the way to Lumut like this

Cuti Cuti Malaysia ….. Air Wing Family Day 2009

My family & I during the event

The Air Wing Family Day was held at the First World Hotel Convention Centre, Genting Highlands on 15 Dec 09 (Tuesday). It was planned to be a simple family day consisting of a treasure hunt and a family day dinner…easy enough. We were also given discounted passes for the Genting Theme Park for people to further enjoy the time at Genting with their love ones. While almost everybody stayed over at the hotel for one night, a few of us decided to extend our stay for one additional night. And with the Friday being a public holiday, taking the Thursday off really was a good idea. Here are some of the highlights of my 3 days/2 nights excursion to Genting Highlands for this version of my Cuti Cuti Malaysia.

Treasure Hunt

The whole air wing clan gathered near Giant at about 0800 to kick start our family day. The official colours of 501 Squadron (orange), 502 Squadron (blue) and KD Rajawali (black) dominated the scene while me and the few others from the Air Wing HQ, numbering less than 5, tried our best to show our presence in the bright red t-shirts of our tiny little unit. We were flagged off shortly after 8am to pursue for clues along the 95km stretch from Manjung to Bidor. This distance would normally take me less than 1.5 hour, but for this hunt, I completed the whole drive at a snail pace of almost 2 hours. Not bad. My co-pilot, Lin, was a marvelous team member as between the two of us we managed to complete all the questions. And we felt good about them too; Kg Parit Jerman, Sungai Sungkai Mati & Hidup, a temple with a name I still can’t pronounce, a factory famous for making women inner wears....just naming a few. When we handed in our Treasure Hunt Form, we were fully confident that we’d win nothing. The most important was that we had a blast doing it. And to our surprise….we won it. Oohhh yes…numero uno with a 12 megapixel Olympus camera as our reward. Not bad eh…more to come of course.

the Olympus FE 46 we won

Detour to Sungai Klah Hot Spring

Being fairly good at estimating travel distance and time, I concluded that we had plenty of time to spare after the treasure hunt. The earliest we could check in at the First World Hotel Genting was 3pm so I reckoned we had at least 2 hours to do something else. So what to do….we could make a stopover at a small rapid near Batang Kali…….or we could check out Sungai Klah Hot Spring. After convincing one of my friends, Bidin, to tag along, we took a detour to the hot spring. The 10km road leading to the hot spring was very nostalgic for me as we were flanked by the vast palm oil plantation of Felda Sungai Klah. Reminding me of childhood memories (sorry Axl Rose, have to borrow your famous lyric)…..”chop kelapa sawit” and other “anak peneroka” activities. Hmmm…..it’s been a loooong time. After paying the entrance fees of RM10/adult and RM8/child, we headed straight to the big pool. After about an hour of splashing around in the water, we had to tell the kids it was time to stop. They were obviously a bit disappointed, but the prospect of fun and game at Genting was an easy candy to lure them out of the pool…hah..hah. We then took a quick walking tour through the rest of the area; an egg boiling area and therapeutic pools where you could dip your feet in several hot springs at different degrees of temperature, and that was pretty much all the time we had. It was really worth it as Farhana & Farhana, after the short dip in the pool, were now already in overly excited mood about this trip. Bidin chose a road-side restaurant at Kg Balun (yes, I like the name too) for lunch. It turned out to be a great surprise as the food was incredible. I had kerabu kerang/pucuk paku/taugeh, masak lemak pucuk manis and a grilled catfish with air asam. I didn’t even remember to snap photos of the food as they were gone in a split second. The grilled catfish was definitely the best, no charcoal or burned parts…a perfect result of a slow and meticulous grilling process. And the air asam…with plenty of keresek. My mouth is watering just from describing it. Or maybe I was just hungry…you tell me.

Family Day At Genting Highlands

Our Arrival At The First world Hotel

We checked in into our hotel room at about 3.45pm. The First World Hotel was busy as usual. Man…running casinos is a great business. I remember when I took a tour of the Monte Carlo Casino, the guy told me that Monte Carlo’s annual taking was only equivalent to a Genting earning of one month. Lots of dough we’re talking about here.

Our room was very basic, but I think it was just recently being renovated as everything seemed to be in good condition. The casino hotel has more than 6000 room, so I obviously couldn’t expect too much. Majority of the people are here for quality time with the slot machines, roulettes and black jack tables and they don’t complain much about the room I’m sure. My room had a clean bathtub, and a wonderful view of the mountains. On the rare few occasions when the low clouds steered away from my window, I could actually see the lights illuminating from KL. The kids did a good job of convincing us to let them “go swimming” in the bathtub and that was enough to keep us occupied until it was time to get ready for the Family Day Dinner.

The Air Wing Family Day Dinner

The dinner was held at the hotel’s Convention Centre. We were entertained by a band called Los Cappuccinos. The buffet spread was okay, but food obviously wasn’t the highlight of this event. The MC, Lt Nazhar, did a great job in keeping everybody glued to the activities throughout the night. Lots of music, family games and basically just fun all around as all 350+ air wing members and their families basked in the wonderful atmosphere.

Mama & kids doing poco poco

I was convinced by Lin to partake in one of the games. Little did I know that it was a chance for me to undergo a little transformation…..enough said, this was the horrific outcome:

Oh my........

The only consolation of this whole ordeal was winning 2 giant Tweety for my twins….as I was gently reminded by Nik…”we have all the proofs we need”….scary thought…hah..hah..hahh.

Receiving my treasure hunt prize

And I was also presented with the camera I won for the treasure hunt, and I got a RM30 McDonald’s voucher. Great….

Genting Theme Park

The children were obviously tired the next morning, but they woke up early. Lots of activities to look forward to at the indoor and outdoor attractions of the theme park. These photos sum up their wonderful time, at the expense of cramps and stiffness that their parents had to endure for the next few days.

Everything was great, except the part where I accidently dragged over a tray of brooches from a stall, and broke at least 6 of them. Fortunately, all except one could be repaired (according to the owner). So, I should still consider myself lucky as I only had to pay RM40 for a broken brooch which we didn’t need. Lin somehow managed to tweak it right back to its original condition. So, it worked out well for everybody at the end. Can’t imagine if I had to pay for all the 6 brooches (must still count my blessing).

The RM40 brooch after being fixed

Dinner at the Genting Palace Restaurant

My boss, Kdr Roslan, had been raving about this Lake View Seafood Restaurant where you could have a nice Chinese dinner while being dazzled by the view of the theme park lake. What a better way to end this fantastic family day event than to enjoy great food in a great company. So it was me, him, Nik, Husaini, Bidin and Bob, and our families numbering 30+ all together. We were all looking forward to the dinner, and eagerly gathered in front of the Convention Centre waiting for the boss to lead us to the restaurant. To our dismay, the restaurant was no longer there…it was closed a few months earlier. When my boss called the Genting staff who arranged the family day event, we were recommended to try the Genting Palace Restaurant at the Genting Hotel. He said it would be shorter to just “walk up” the road to the hotel instead navigating our way via the “indoor” route. It was shorter alright…..but it also meant climbing up the steep road while cars blazing through the lightly illuminated road. With low clouds shrouding a big portion of the road and strong wind blowing against our bodies, it was a good workout for everybody, especially for Nik and Husaini who had to push baby strollers as well. Slightly damp and hungry…..it was a welcoming site to finally arrive at the Chinese restaurant. It was definitely worth the walk as we had the following course for our dinner.

The steamed Patin was exceptional. I never thought you could steam Patin fish due to its “hanyir” nature, but to my surprise…none of the smell, just plain juicy Patin meat steamed to perfection.

And as you might have guessed it, our walk back to the First World Hotel was via the “indoor” route.

Conclusion

The whole occasion had been wonderful. Farhana & Farzana were additionally pampered with a trip to the movie, "the Princess and the Frog" at the Sunway Pyramid right after coming down from Genting (complete with a treat of freshly made pop-corn of course). Me and Lin……we were beat…we are still feeling it now. The accumulation of fatigue from the trip to Genting, the “merisik” ceremony for my sister the day after we came down from Genting and our trip to Ipoh on Sunday to watch Navy Orca in the National 7’s Rugby is really taking its toll as I’m now coming down with a flu…and I can feel my body temperature slowly rising…..it’s a sign and I’d better take notice. Where’s that warm tea with honey……zzzzz.

Cuti-cuti Malaysia…The Lost World of Tambun

Anak-anak dah banyak kali sangat bertanya bila nak ke Terengganu, Awana Kijal to be precise. Alamak, bukannya dekat, last trip pun courtesy kursus Helicopter Under Water Escape (HUET) yang saya hadiri. Anak-anak dapat mandi di kolam renang, Papanya di kolam renang juga tapi berbeza sikit……kena rendam tunggang terbalik dalam mock-up helikopter. Anak-anak memang suka sangat ke Awana Kijal…..dapat main pasir, buat sand castle dan mandi di kids pool. Tapi pada umur 5 tahun apa anak-anak ni tau pasal jarak...."Kita pergi Terengganu ye Papa!!!!" (berulang-ulang kali dah minta ni….).

Sebagai kompromi, pada 3 Dis 09, saya membawa keluarga bertandang ke The Lost World of Tambun (LWT). Pada permulaannya hampir tak jadi sebab lepas Subuh hujan turun dengan teramat lebatnya. Tapi selepas pukul 9.00am, hujan berhenti dan matahari mula keluar dari celah-celah awan. Saya dan Lin membuat keputusan untuk ‘kira jadi’ trip ke LWT sebab minggu berikutnya saya akan mula kerja semula dan kami tak prefer pergi waktu hujung minggu….sure sesak sebab cuti sekolah.

Bila adhoc jadi pergi kenalah bersiap secepat mungkin……..pukul 11.00am keluar rumah kira ok lah tu, dengan 3 beg besar….tuala, robes, pakaian untuk salin, air, toiletries, camcorder, kamera etc….macam biasalah bila bergerak dengan anak-anak kecil. Stop by restoran nasi kandar Biriyani 23 Jam untuk beli nasi bungkus. Anak-anak terpaksa ‘digula-gulakan’ supaya makan dalam kereta, “Siapa habis makan boleh pergi swimming di LWT”. Trick menjadi of course….hampir licin biriayani setiba kami di LWT. Bukannya apa, nak maximise waktu di sana sebab sampai di LWT dah pukul 1.00pm dan closing time adalah 6.00pm. Bila anak-anak dah kenyang, tak risau nak berhenti lunch (budak-budak kalau lunch, maybe sejam baru boleh settle). Bermula lebih kurang pukul 2.00pm, anak-anak dah mula berkubang. Memang mereka nampak enjoy sangat.

Sedikit highlights aktiviti kami di LWT:

Water Park. Di sini kami habiskan paling banyak masa. Kids Pool (Kids Explorabay) memang sesuai untuk kanak-kanak umur macam Farhana (Kakak) & Farzana (Adik). Crowd yang ada pada hari tersebut juga tidak terlalu ramai tapi meriah. Kakak & Adik cuba semua slides yang ada. Adik yang paling berani, dia memang nampak selesa dengan air. Kakak ada takut-takut sikit tapi tetap enjoy semua slides yang dia cuba.

Dry Park. Sekejap saja di sini. Lagipun tak banyak rides. Anak-anak naik children's carousel (named Perak Parade) dan Giddy Galleon, anak-anak nampak ok aje lepas naik tapi kami yang rasa tak sedap…. Mabuk! (benda tu berpusing-pusing… tu yang perut pun rasa mengelodak…).

Tiger Valley. Kami bernasib baik sebab sampai tepat waktunya untuk tengok feeding time. Pengalaman yang menarik untuk anak-anak tengok aksi harimau dari dekat (ada tiga ekor harimau, salah satu harimau bernama Sultan).

Petting Zoo. Petting Zoo adalah attraction terkini di LWT. Ada terdapat pelbagai haiwan untuk diperlihatkan pada anak-anak. Kakak & Adik semangat betul cuba menangguk ikan di dalam artificial parit sekeliling Pulau Arnab. Linpun semangat juga, kadangkala lebih dari anak-anak…tapi hasilnya nil.

Secara keseluruhannya, LWT memang amat sesuai untuk membawa anak-anak bermain air puas-puas terutamanya bagi anak-anak kecil di lingkungan umur macam Farhana & Farzana. Attractions sampingan selain Water Park kira biasa sahaja, tak umph sangat. Bagi anak-anak yang lebih besar, dan bagi mak-mak budak dan bapak-bapak budak yang datang untuk keseronokan sendiri, mereka mungkin merasakan LWT tak cukup thrill. Bila ditanya mana lebih best antara LWT dan Awana Kijal…….anak-anak jawab, “Lost World of Tambun”. Obviously, I got lots of hugs and kisses from them as well. Salah satu nikmat jadi Papa. Selepas dinner yang amat menyelerakan (sebab lapar agaknya) di Johnny’s di Kinta City, kamipun balik….tak sempat sembang apa-apa dengan anak-anak sebab tak sampai 5 minit mereka dahpun lena…. Cuti-cuti Malaysia trip yang simple ni amat berbaloi...Yeah.