CNY Break

Had a great 1 week back at home in KK. Nothing much mainly resting, eating and playing cards with family.....hhmmmm. After being "away" since 1992 I kinda feel like a tourist back in my hometown.

There are a couple of new things at home.....there is Warisan Square which is kinda nice with all the branded shops, 2 hotels (Radisson and Mercure no less) and some other smaller shops...having said that it is still like 50% empty, so in time to come should be quite a nice shopping place and it is just across the road from Center Point.

Jesselton Point.....this is the new attraction (to me at least) by the port/jetty where you hop-on to a speed boat to get to the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park...i.e. the islands about 10 to 20 minutes away. There are restaurants and stalls along the jetty/port and also a futsal stadium there. Quite a nice place I must say.....nice benches facing the sea, a nice jetty to stroll along and enuff lights to keep the anti-khalwat squad out of action.

Atmosphere.....this is the name of the revolving restaurant on the 18th Floor of the Menara Tun Mustapha (previously known as Yayasan Sabah building) the glass column which you won't miss when you go to Sabah. High class contemporarily-decorated restaurant....the price also 5 star restaurant price but quite nice (but didn't have a chance to eat there yet). They also offer yacht and helicopter option to whisk you from downtown jetty to the restaurant. oooohhhh so James Bondyyyyy.

KK Adventure park.....according to the brochure is a 1st of its kind in Sabah. You get some high ropes, flying fox, low ropes, dirt bike and dirt buggie track, reverse bungy etc etc activities along a nice beach.

For those who prefers DIY accommodation aka short term rental while in KK can contact my mom. She is retired and is currently running some short term rental thingy with 3 locations to choose:-

Grace Ville, Sutera Harbour - right opposite Sutera Harbour Resort. It is a duplex condominium, fully furnished, 3 bedrooms with ASTRO minus room service etc etc. Charges around RM300-plus per night depending on number of pax. (Actually don't know the exact price but think is about that) Call if yo need to rent (Cecilia - 012-833 5505).

Marina Court - right next to Center Point and Api-Api Center and next to the sea....right smack downtown....you won't get any closer to town than this.... :) also fully furnished, 2 or 3 bedrooms with ASTRO.

Melinsung Summer Bay - about 45 mins drive from city center. A quiet "holiday resort" ("Holiday Resort" b'cos it is basically a lot of apartments along a nice stretch of beach......fine sand and clean beach.....almost empty except for occupants of the apartments and they aren't that many.....really) with a nice beach, quiet surrounding, public transport available but kinda quiet at night and not much happening activity at night. You will need a car to go to the nearest "nice restaurants". 7-Eleven and some shops are available just outside the entrance to the resort. Fully furnished but no ASTRO.

So there you have it......a chipmunk revisiting his hometown......and for the 1st time the trip to and fro on AirAsia is on time, smooth and pleasant. Except they couldn't careless if we got wet or not......there were no umbrellas when we arrived back in KL and it started to drizzle......but hey KK has a new airport......LCCT Airport to be exact.......well a small little wow slipped my mouth when I arrived....pretty impressive and I hope it is of better quality then Langkawi Airport (I think the same guy built them)???

Eye On Malaysia

Did the touristy thingy last Sat. Went to Taman Tasik Titiwangsa for the 1st time after being in PJ/KL for almost 15 years since college days. Was quite lucky to get there without much hassle and was extremely lucky to get a parking space near the entrance to park.

Was quite impressive. the queue was not too bad probably waited for about 20 minutes. But the queue control could be improved cos the guard just simply cut off the queue with a divider when 1 line is much slower/longer than the other and you could almost feel the wrath of the person being just excluded by the divider. We were kinda lucky cos the the fill up the gondolas kinda randomly.....cos there was a 1 gondola with 2 adults and 3 kids and they were looking for a couple to fill up the seats....so we kinda "cut" through about 30 people in front to get on the Eye first.

Was not as scary cat as when I was taking the Langkawi cable car or the Ferris Wheel in Disney Land. Actually heart kinda stopped over-pumping by the end of Round 1 (you get 5 rounds for RM15 per adult). Quite a nice view...the usual suspects....KLCC, hotels and the likes and on the other side....parts of Batu Caves area I think...??!! Weather was superb....breezy and not too hot...was there around 6pm. Went round the lake.....very clean I must say. Maybe all done up for the VMY 2007. Walked and surveyed where to park ourselves for the Laser Show, Water Screen Show and Fireworks....(this is chinaman describing the beautifully sounding activities but essentially that is what it is :) )

Water Show....yawn yawn....have seen better and prob because the Lake is kinda huge and there is only like 1 stunt going on at at time so it is kinda like F1....wait for a long time for the jetskis andstunt to arrive at your corner and gone in seconds......then wait some more.......get few seconds of excitement and .....wait some more....you get the drift.......pun intended. That goes for like 30 mins or so......But if anything thye start on time....9pm so at least you don't wait like dungu.....and they do announce a few times regarding the starting time.

Then the Laser Show, Water Screen Show and Fireworks kinda goes in some pretty nice sequence......the Laser Show is kinda good cos the Laser is powerful and the water screen is pretty fine too so you get a pretty clear projection. I can't remember when was the last time I actually went to see fireworks, so it was quite good......all in all quite nice at least for the 2nd half.......10pm sharp.......it ends. Was lucky cos the "lorong" we parked leads us to the main road, so we managed to get out of the area very fast.