Cuti-cuti Malaysia - Day Two - The Mosqito War at Fraser's Hill

We stayed at a rundown condominium managed under a time-sharing scheme at Port Dickson the night before. The buildings and the facilities were constructed quite nicely. However, the conditions had since deteriorated due to poor maintenance. Although the free-form pool seen from our apartment window looked inviting, we were cautious on letting our one-year-old Caden crawling around on the floor. The tiles were dirty.

Anyway, we were there just for a short night and we got out of there first thing in the morning. The condominium was not at the beach. So we had to stop by one of the many beach resorts located along the Port Dickson Beach to have at least a photo taken to prove that we had been there. Here it is.

The drive towards Fraser’s Hill took two hours. The road up the hill got more winding as we went further. The lush green tropical rainforest offered some refreshing atmosphere. We spotted some monkeys and colorful birds. But our boy was too tired to look at them.

The last 8 km up to the top was a one-way single lane tarred-road. This road was called ‘The Gap’. Before a new road was constructed not too far from The Gap, there used to have restriction on the timings to drive up the hill. Traffic was only allowed in one direction on alternate hour. For example, going up was only allowed during odd hours and going down during even hours. Not anymore now. Another one-way road had since been constructed and it had brought much convenience to the visitors.

We stayed at The Pines Resort at Fraser’s Hill. We were initially quite pleased to see so many plants and flowers that added to the serenity of the place. The big rooms of the apartment also came with kitchen and dining table. However, the sofa and carpet were dusty and moist. As a family, there was really nothing much to do except to drive around in the car for sight seeing. There was a golf course, a horse riding track, numerous juggle tracking paths and a small pond for canoeing. Dinner was settled at the resorts’ restaurant. The food was not too bad although pricy.

The weather was naturally cool due the high elevation and hence no air-condition. So we left the bedroom door open for fresh air and ventilation. Unfortunately, that also allowed uninvited quests – mosquitoes – to come in.

I was woken up in the middle of the night by the irritating buzzing noise of the mosquitoes. My son who slept on the same bed with us was busy fencing off the mosquitoes’ attack on his chubby face. I quickly applied some essential oil on his face and hands to repel the mosquitoes. That helped him quite a bit but not enough. His grandma counted twenty over mosquito bites on his face and hands the next morning. I felt quilty as a father. I could have done more to fight those mosquitoes. Although at that time, I could not think of any other way.

Both my wife and I agreed that we would not go back to Fraser’s Hill for a long time. Not just because of what the mosquitoes did to our son, that place was simply boring. Nonetheless, the place was great for practicing meditation. It was a perfect place for those who want to get away from the crowd to ‘find meaning in life’.

Cuti-cuti Malaysia - Day One

I did a seven-day driving holiday trip in Malaysia recently. The itinery went like this:
Singapore- Melacca - Port Dickson- Fraser’s Hills - Ipoh - Sungai Petani - Kuala Lumpur - Singapore.

Day One

We started off driving from Singapore up north to Melacca where we stopped for a Peranakan (Straits Chinese) lunch.

The drive through Singapore and Malaysia immigrations was a breeze. Not so much waiting as it was a weekday morning. Stopped by a money changer in the southern most town of Malaysia – Johor Bahru to get some local currency – Ringgit. The number of money changers in Johor Bahru astonished us. There were just so many of them in one area. And they offer very good rates too as a result of stiff competition.

Traffic along the North-South Highway in Malaysia was smooth. The gentle rocking movement of the car made my boy slept through most of the way.

First stop – Melacca. Malacca was one of oldest places where the Chinese Immigrants first settled in. They arrived in the 1800s and cross marriage with the local Malays gave rise to a unique ‘Peranakan’ (Straits Chinese) Culture. The men were called ‘Baba’ and women ‘Nyoya’.

A few well-known Peranakan foods include Curry Laksa, Mee Siam, Chicken Buah Keluak and Ice-kacang. We stopped by a restaurant in an old shophouse behind the OCBC bank for some Peranakan food. It was not our first time there. The carpark in front of this restaurant used to be free. Not anymore. We were warned by two friendly and helpful Melaccans as we parked the car. One even offered to sell us the local parking coupons.

The food used to be tastier as far as I could remember. The Ice-kacang (an iced dessert with red beans, green jelly, sweet corn and Atap seeds topped with colourful syrup and brown coconut sugar syrup) was as mouth-watering as ever!

Next, as requested by my beloved wife, we went shopping at Mahkota Parade Shopping Mall – a huge and spacious shopping centre with lots of variety of goods and services. Prominent shops include Parkson Grand Departmental Stall, MPH bookshop, Nose Shoes, etc.

http://www.virtualmalaysia.com/directory/shopping/view_shopping_centre.cfm?ID=F295A0E7-1792-11D6-B32A00D0B78F6634

And guess what did my wife and mum-in-law buy? Let me give you a hint: Women usually have more than one of these. Different colours and designs to match their outfit. And most of those bought are worn just for a few occasions, then kept in the rack for most of the time.

Got it? Yes, shoes!

As we drove away from Mahkota Parade, we discovered looking out from the car that there is a new shopping centre right opposite Mahkota Parade – Pahlawan Square Mall. There is an even bigger local women shoe retail brand in the mall – Vinci. Looks like we will go back there for more!

http://planet.time.net.my/CentralMarket/melaka1001/pahlawan.html

Energy Level

My wife and I attended “Unlimited Power” Seminar featuring Anthony Robins, Allan Pease and Stephen Pierce recently. We have heard of Anthony Robins for a long time. We have heard of how powerful he is in motivating people and empowering people to change for betterment.

You probably do not need me to describe more about Anthony Robins. A lot of information about him or furnished by him is readily available on the internet and in reading materials all over the world. Basically, he uses Neuro-linguistic Programming to change our emotional state to optimum level to achieve results that we wanted. During his seminar, he highlighted how important it is for us to be at the ‘peak energy state’ to be able to attract people and also to continue to strive towards our goals.

When we realized we are down or not at our ‘peak energy state’, one way to motivate ourselves is to change our physiological state such as exercising or dancing. When we move, motion brings about emotion and we change our emotional state.

During the seminar, for countless times, Anthony asked the 5000 strong audience to be on their feet to jump and dance to upbeat music to elevate their emotional state. He told us to let go of our adult inhibitions. He asked us to be spontaneous like children to be able to experience the extremes in emotional states again. He talked for more than two hours. Not even a minute did he let us feel boring or dull in his presentation. Allan Pease and Stephen Pierce were not as energetic compared to Anthony, although their speech content were no less important.



So rate your energy level now, 0 being the lowest and 10 being the highest. What is your energy level now?

Do you notice Anthony Robbin’s energy level? If your current energy level is low, come on, move your body, pump up the volume and dance!