Trip to Pantai Timur - 17 - 21 Sept 2024

Trip to Utara 2024 : KL - KK - Lenggong - Grik - Sg Petani - Kangar - Alor Setar - Ipoh - KL (1-5 Mar 2024)

 Day 1 - KL - KK - Lenggong - Grik - Sg Petani

Depart at 7 am. Traffic was ok. Arrived at 1st stop which was RTC Perak Gopeng, had roti canai and bought some corns before continue driving towards Kuala Kangsar. Arrived at Laksa Lubuk Kg Paya KK at around 10am. The laksa was not to our liking. Kuah cairrrr.

Next we went to Tasik Raban Resort just to take some pictures then continue head to Lenggong Archaeological Museum - it was a very small temporary museum as the main building currently undergoing some maintenance. Next stop was Pio' Kopi, which was situated in the Sumpitan Glamping area. Afterwards we continue head up north to Grik.

Grik town was actually quite small town, not much to see. So after refueling we went straight to Sg Petani via the Baling-Grik Highway - it was interesting, quite scenic drive.

We arrived at Sg Petani around 2-3pm. Our homestay was a semiD house which was so big it can easily fit in 15-20 ppl! Very spacious and clean house, definitely will consider to stay there again if we come back to SP.

After getting some rest, we went out for early dinner at Arab Kitchen which was a shellout restaurant. It was raining heavily when we arrived there. Although the open restaurant was huge, there was relatively small crowd maybe since it was at the end of the school holiday. 

Afterwards, we went to Amanjaya Mall, spending some time there jalan2 and beli some goodies. We arrived back to the homestay around 9pm.

Day 2 - Sg Petani - Kangar

We head out for breakfast around 7am. We had breakfast at Kedai Makan Pokok Ceri. Again there was no crowd. Had simple breakfast of nasi lemak/ mee goreng and peknga. It was so-so.

We then went to Lembah Bujang's  Archaeological Museum  situated in Merbok which was about 30mins from SP. Spent around an hour exploring the site where it has a collection of candi or temple indicating Hindu-Buddhism had settled in Kedah long time ago (600-1100 AD).

Next we head back to SP to go to Masjid Madad. While along the way, we decided to make a quick pitstop at Cik Haza's Warung Strawberry - quite disappointing..not much products and price is quite expensive.

Upon arriving at Masjid Madad, we noticed large crowd there probably there was a special event that morning. Went to Taman Kucing but we can only see the cats from outside since the park was not open yet at that time.

Since the weather was quite hot we decided not to wait and instead decided to straight away head to Kangar. It was about 11am when we left SP.

Upon entering highway, to our surprise it was quite heavy traffic unlike yesterday. It is most likely ppl traveling for kenduri or jalan2 since it was weekend (Saturday) in Kedah.

We arrived in Kangar around 12.30pm and decided to have lunch at the well-known Anjung Keli. Despite the huge crowd, we managed to find a table and had our lunch there.

Before heading to our homestay, we went to bandar Kangar 1st to try the exotic coffee menus such as egg coffee at Kopi Vietnam. It had interesting eggy taste  - not gonna lie, its not for me.

The Kangar homestay was located just off the main road Jalan Kangar - Padang Besar. Interestingly, the owner of the homestay live next to the homestay. It is a semiD single storey house. It was a small yet comfortable house. We stayed in 2 of the 3 bedrooms since 1 was locked. Only when we checked out that the owner informed us about this.

After we had some rest, we had out to Kuala Perlis, to check out the kayak place. It was crowded with people. Kayak cost about RM20/pax for 30mins. Since it was raining on-off that day, we decided to postpone the kayak activity to the next morning.

For dinner, we chose Api Api Ikan Bakar - Had Jenahak bakar, sotong celup tepung, tomyam, telur dadar and satay. We opt against choosing other seafood as the price was expensive. E.g prawn was RM130/kg! while crab was RM70/kg.

After dinner, we had coffee at Richiamo at Kangar Jaya which was a recently developed shoplots area with plenty of food choices. Aftwerwards we decided to jalan2 around Kangar town before heading back to the homestay.

Day 3 - Kangar - Alor Setar

For breakfast we decided against going to the more popular viral warung tepi sawah instead we chose SRC or Shidi Roti Canai. It had a very nice ambience and calmness. It has a lot of choice for roti canai.

After breakfast, we then went straight to Kuala Perlis for the kayak activity. However, to our surprise the kayak operators were not there that morning. According to the kg people there, the kayak activity normally opens at evening only.

Feeling disappointed, we went to A&W Kangar Jaya to have some delicious waffles and root beer float in the morning!

We head back to our homestay to check out and went to Alor Setar with the intention of playing some bowling at the Aman Central. We took the jalan dalam instead of the highway and the paddy fields view was magnificent!

We arrive at Aman Central around 12.30pm and went straight to the bowling centre. However much to our dismay, there was a tournament ongoing and the lanes wont be available at least until 1.30pm. So we cancelled bowling as by 1.30 it would be too late already, and we would still not have our lunch. Instead we decided to lepak2 at tealive 1st before we left the mall and go to the restaurant for lunch. It was called Restoran Top D' Alor Setar. Main star attractions are the Sotong Buncit and Bawal Goreng Panas along with varieties of other malay dishes.

Lps makan, we went to Pekan Rabu to buy some jajan including the hot from oven bahulu and later checked in to our homestay which was located in Mentaloon. It was a single storey bungalow which behind it is the paddy field - nice view for healing!

We had planned for some light dinner at the Darulaman Uptown but sadly there was not a lot of option maybe since it was too early or maybe its more on selling non-food stuffs like shoes, jerseys etc.

After that, we head to Natuwrel Donna, a yoghurt shop in Jitra like Ilao Ilao. When we arrived at 8.45pm, we told by the staff that shop actually closed at 8pm not 10pm as advertised in Google!

Feeling disappointed, we head back to Alor Setar to have coffee at Pa Namaa cafe, our favorite cafe from last year's trip.

Day 4 - Alor Setar - Ipoh

We had to wake up early today since we are going to Jitra for ATV ride booked at 9am. We decided to go to Breakfast Station this time since we skipped it last year. Last year we went to Warung Klasik Peknga. The taste was ok, not that tasty.

Immediately after breakfast, we went to Teratak Alqarni which is where the ATV activity will be held. The cost is RM100 per ATV for a 1 1/2 hour ride, while RM30 for the passenger. We paid RM360 for 3 ATVs. There was only another family that day and a total of 5 ATVs altogether.

It was really exciting and new experience to our family. It was all our 1st time handling ATV - I must say personally as a left handed person handling an ATV using your weaker hand is not an easy task!

Here are some pictures from the ride.

We completed the activity around 11am. Afterwards, we rewarded ourselves with some delicious deserts at the yoghurt shop which we had missed out the night before.

Our final meal before leaving Alor Setar was Bihun Sup at Haji Shamat Bihun Sup in Taman PKNK. Marvelous!

 

We started our journey back south around noon. Rather than going straight back to KL, we decided to spend 1 night in Ipoh. The journey from AS to Ipoh including a pitstop took about roughly 3 1/2 hours as the traffic was mostly smooth along the way barring the usual heavy traffic as we approach Penang.

Our homestay in Ipoh was a 1-storey corner lot house which is located in Taman Sin Far. This location was chosen as it is not far from most popular eateries in Ipoh.

Later that night we had dinner at Nifayyi Kafe.

Day 5 - Ipoh - KL

Our last breakfast for this whole trip was at Canning Dim Sum. We arrived around 8am and the crowd was small. The dim sum are already prepared, you just pick n choose whichever you like. We ordered variety of dim sum plus salted egg bun as well chee cheong fun. At the end, we paid a bill of RM200++ for breakfast, easily the expensive breakfast in this whole trip!

Next we went for coffee at K'ommons located within Travelodge Ipoh. The hotel seems fairly new and looks nice. Asked the desk how much for a 5-person room - they can accommodate in a family room with an extra bed and will cost around 550++ including breakfast which seems about reasonable.

We left Ipoh about 10am and journey back to KL was about 2hrs with traffic largely very smooth. We singgah at Patin Pasu in Taman Melawati for lunch and bought some etok2 before heading back home.

Leisure Trip to Kota Bharu - 30 Aug - 2 Sept 2023

Day 1 (30 August 2023) 

Bertolak dari KL pukul 3am, ikut karak highway and seterusnya CSR. Road was very clear, although it started raining just before we exited Karak Highway. Arrived at Masjid Tengku Razaleigh Gua Musang for Subuh prayer. Headed straight to Kota Bharu afterwards since the kids dont want to eat breakfast yet. 

Arrived at Kota Bharu around 9ish am. We went straight to Lieniey Nasi Kerabu which we all agreed was top notch! Straight after breakfast, as it was still early to check-in, we went to Mydin Tunjong which was the largest Mydin mall (I think) in Malaysia. Shopped for clothes and food and hangout at local cafe called Naskeen Coffee - quality was so-so. 

We decided to head to Hotel Perdana earlier than the check-in time in the hope that we can get early check-in but sadly the hotel was quite busy and we had to wait at the lobby for few hours before finally getting our room keys - Got connecting rooms with buffet breakfast. Rest a while until 6pm.

Later we head out to Suwarin Jinda Cafe - need to hv a lot of patience to eat here. Best place to eat Miang Pla. After finish eating around 9pm, we went straight back to the Hotel however, the road leading to the Hotel was block as there was Merdeka celebration event and Perdana Hotel was very close to the stadium which was the event venue. Finally, managed to navigate through traffic and crowds and arrived at the hotel. End of Day 1. 

Day 2 (31 August 2023) 

Woke up early to have wonderful buffet breakfast. This is what our family always looking forward to when staying at a hotel. Since our itenerary was very loose, we enjoyed our breakfast til the crowd gets bigger at the restaurant before deciding to head back to our rooms. 

Later, we went out to Aeon Mall to do someshopping. While at the mall, Negaraku was played on the speaker and we had to stand still while shopping! For lunch, we decided to go to KB Patin House, right across Aeon Mall. Tempoyak Patin was sedap. Note: There is another kedai makan worth to try called 'Celoh Rock Sup Urat Keting' which is next to it. KhairulAming ate it here as well as there's a lot of ppl eating here.

Will try to eat here next time. Afterwards, we head out to Pantai Senok or famously known as Pantai Nami. Very nice sandy beach, with trees lined up nicely, instaworthy. Later, we went to Warung Acutera which we think its Sotong Goreng Tepung is better than Warung PokNong in KT. We also sampled Maggi Lokan and Lokan bakar, which tasted ok although I dont think I want to repeat it in the future!

Next stop --- Coffee! AlKhatiri Kofee in Kubang Kerian. Ambience 9/10 Coffee 7/10 Cakes 3/10. Along the way to AlKhatiri it was raining heavily and the rain wont stop pouring even when we went to our last stop of the day which was SIAM located in the city centre. Overall food was ok, Suwarin was better. End of Day 2.

Day 3 (1 Sept 2023)

At 7am went to Pasar Siti Khadijah. The market was just about to open. Kedai makan tingkat atas belum buka lagi. Lots of local kuih-muih and even etok! We bought 2 packs - original and sweet sour at RM5 each. We then bought traditional kuih muih to taste. Since it was fruit season, we bought duku langsat for just RM3/kg! Very nice.

We brought back to hotel and eat the kuihs together with our buffet breakfast. Decided to stay and continue eating in our hotel room as I had cherry berry most likely from eating the lokan yesterday!

Slept for several hours before finally my stomach feeling a little bit better so we plan to head out, which was already 2pm.

Decided to eat somewhere near Lotus KB, so after circling several times in the area, we decided to eat ayam penyet (Restoren Selera TTQ) which was ok la. We then followed that up with dessert at Mykori.

Once our tummy were full, we head out to Pantai Cahaya Bulan (PCB) to enjoy the ocean view.  It was very crowded as we approached PCB and cloud was getting darker, so decided to park just before the entrance to PCB. As we walked towards the beach, we saw lots of ppl playing kite and we thought it would be fine to join as well. Bought a kite for RM7-8. We stayed there like 30mins only as by then it started to rain heavily.

From PCB, we decided to went straight back to the hotel. On the way back, we noticed there was a Thai/ local food expo at the stadium's carpark  so off we went there by foot after parking our car at our hotel compound. Bought lokching, maggi celup, icecreams and ate together in our hotel room. End of Day 3.

Day 4 (2 Sept 2023)

Last day at Hotel Perdana. Checkout after last buffet breakfast..hahaha will miss its buffet, definitely will come and stay here again.

This time we decided to take the more scenic route back to KL, which was via LPT. From KB, we left around 9am, passing through Bachok, Tok Bali and Besut. Our next stop was for lunch which was at Penarek (Nasi Ulam Dapur Arang). 

After that we straight went to LPT via KT. The journey was smooth, we made pit stop at RnR Perasing (food choice limited here) until we reached Karak Toll Plaza. From here, it took us more than 2 hours to reach home. Prayed at surau alFalah and ate dinner at Restoran Hamza before rest kt rumah! END.