Colmar Tropicale, Bukit Tinggi

27 Oct 2013

We were supposed to let the steam out and relax at Fraser's Hill on a weekend but luckily I made a phone call to the caretaker and found out that there was a problem with water supply at the resort. 

So then, came Plan B. Plan B was daytrip to Colmar Tropicale, Bukit Tinggi.

 We arrived at Colmar around 10.45 am and the weather was just perfect...not too hot and breezy.

Little button was excited and kept pointing his finger to everything :)

When it's time for lunch, we headed to our favourite restaurant that serves the best pais patin we ever tasted....but to our dismay, the eatery was closed. Even Pak Usop also closed. A quick Google search directed us to here:

Go Bang Maju Patin Tempoyak

The service here is slow but the patin tempoyak is tasty. Some of the waitresses do not seem to speak or understand standard malay language ... so that was quite troublesome. 

Mentarang @ Kuala Selangor

hari ni nak cite pasal trip ke kuala selangor yang kitaorang g mase new years day aritu. ad-hoc trip ... tak plan pun. kisahnya, pagi tu lepas mandi, pwincess tetibe tringat nak share info yang dibaca kat suratkhabar sehari sebelum tu ngan encik mon. artikel tu pasal mentarang, katanya sekarang ni musim mentarang, jadi mentarang ni bersepah-sepah dijual so harga dia pun dah turun.

oh ye. tau tak amende mentarang tu?

mentarang tu sefamili dengan kepah/kupang dan seangkatan dengannya. kitaorang kenal mentarang ni pun mase menghadiri jemputan kawen sepupu encik mon kat kuala selangor. mase on the way tu, kat sepanjang jalan nampak gerai-gerai yang digantung banner yang ditulis MENTARANG DIJUAL DI SINI. uih....apakah? haaa ... tu sebab orang kata, tak kenal maka tak chenta. kitaorang pun beli mentah and balik rumah, cuci bersih-bersih, masuk oven dan bakar. simple je tapi sedap!

so, back to my original story.

encik mon dengar je pwincess cite-cite pasal mentarang, tetibe jek dia kata, "Jom g carik mentarang, nak?" (korang kena imagine ade bulb lampu kat tepi kepala dia, pastu ade bunyi tingggg...) mamat ni siyes betul nak drive jejauh carik mentarang pagi tu. tapi takdela jauh sangat, dengan adanye highway LATAR. eh promote lah pulak kan. so dipendekkan cite, kitaorang jupe la mentarang kat tepi jalan tapi tak banyak macam mase fes time kitaorang lalu situ dulu ... rupenye suratkhabar utusan tu salah info ler ... sekarang bukan musim mentarang. harga pun mahal gak la. sekilo rm7 saiz kecik. pakcik tu kata musim mentarang dalam bulan april-may cenggitu. bleh la dapat dalam rm4-5. mintak pakcik tu bakar and kitaorang makan terus kat situ. settle dalam perut. heee~

Terrific Terengganu - Part 3

Day 3 - 15th September 2011

arini macam biasa, lepaih encik Mon balik dari training, barulah pwincess ade kaki nak explorace. kali ni kitaorang terjah ke kedai keropok lekor B.T.B 2209. tau tak BTB tu amende? haaa ... it actually stands for Bukit Tok Beng ... bunyi macam adegan tembak menembak je kan .. beng beng beng gitu ... tapi bukan ye, sbenarnye tu nama tempat tu. sape nak g sini, ni hah gps coordinate 5 deg 21' 23" N 103 deg 7' 9" E

kedai ni besar jugak laa .. kat tepi selekoh. boleh opt nak makan situ or take away. mase kitaorang kat situ .... ramai sgt orang, ade yang q nak tapau, ade yang makan situ .... ade yang siap order awal-awal pastu sampai je situ terus angkut dan bayar. ha, lagi satu nak cite. kedai BTB ni kan, siap ade sistem nombor giliran macam kat bank-bank tu. mantop gitu.

kat bahagian tepi kedai ade jual yang dah siap direbus, frozen dan di-pek. yang dah siap digoreng pun ade.

kat bahagian kanan kedai pulak ade tempat pemprosesan kepok lekor. macam kat dlm gamba tu dia tgh merebus kepok lekor. pakai kayu bara lagik ... tu yang buat sedap tu. brader ni sporting aa, siap senyum lagi mase kitaorang nak snap gamba


ni pulak kaunter kalau sape nak bli keropok lekor rebus in bulk. ade option kalau korang nak vacuum ke tak packaging korang tu. kalau vacuum, tahan lama sket, takde lah berlendir dan cepat basi. tp ade extra charge sket lah.

kitaorang beli yang dah siap goreng as well as mini rebus pastu plan nak dating tepi pantai teluk ketapang sambil makan keropok lekor. okey gak la, lepak situ ptg2, altho aritu panas sket tapi kitaorang tgk ramai betul orang lepak2 situ takpun kayuh beskal fixie. mcm lawak je kan beskal fixie ni.


sedap gakla keropok lekor btb ni. kalau tanye mon, dia ckp biasa-biasa je ... nak kata byk ikan, tak jugak, byk jugak tepung dia letak. tapi pwincess suke sos cecah keropok lekor btb ni. dap. dah sudah tu, kitaorang saje g leisure driving around KT. singgah masjid tengku tengah zaharah untuk snap-snap gamba.

tenang je tgk kan

Day 4 - 16th September 2011

yeay, arini ari malaysia!

masjid kristal during day time

training encik mon pun dah habes. lagila ligat nak berjalan nih. kitaorang sbnrnye dah plan nak g pasar payang lepas checkout riyaz, and then from there either terus ke KB atau balik je KL. tapi terkojot tengok pasar payang boleh lak tutup aritu .... adeh. punah plan. huhu. oleh kerana pwincess ni nak jugak singgah pasar payang ni pasal nak shopping batik terengganu, makanya kitaorang buat ad hoc plan untuk check in nearby hotel untuk semalam. setelah dirisik dan direcki, hotel yang kelihatan sensible pada mata kitaorang ialah grand continental tapi masalahnye, penuh lak. alaaaah. next, gi la tanye ming paragon lak. penuh jugak! dengan budak-budak rombongan sekolah. alahai. mencik tau. last-last ade la kosong satu-dua bilik je kat ming star hotel. hotel ni 2 star kot ... cokia gak la ... tapi demi nak merembes duit beli batik terengganu, pasrah je lah. dari hotel ni, kalau jalan kaki ke pasar payang dlm 15 min je, kalau korang naik kete adelah dalam 2-3 minit. boleh la ... convenient la jugak.

Lepas checkin, kitaorang g isi perut kat secret recipe. saje nak upkan balik mood since pasar payang tu tutup. lepas dah ok tu ... pwincess ajak mon g kompleks batik noor arfa lak. adehhh ... sekali lagi kami kuciwa. dia tutup!!! kul 6 dah tutup. kitaorang sampai macam kul 6.05pm gitu.. sedeyy tau. dah macam tu, on the way dari kompleks tu nak balik ke otel, kitaorang singgah lah kedai keropok lekor 007 yang penah glamer satu ketika dulu. saje beli nak buat comparison. hehe.

dah sudah tu ... ronda ronda lagi ... oh bosan gak la ... last2 kitaorang decide nak dinner kat luar. kata orang, kalau nak makan seafood sedap, g lah kat area pantai batu burok/kuala ibai. to be specific bawah jambatan. and then, kitaorang thought ade satu diner ni la yang dimaksudkannya. turun la ... baru je usha ikan-ikan fresh ... sekali mata kitaorang dah nmpk dari jauh ade satu lagi tempat yang lagi happening. tengok nye tengok .. terpikir jap, caner nak g belah sana eh. takkan nak tanye kedai ni pulak. competitor la katakan. last2 kitaorang pun figure out sendiri lah. cari dalam gps, boleh tak jupe position kedai tu. adelah dekat 100 kali (exaggerate!) kitaorang drive kulu kilir turun naik jambatan yang sama ... and last2 ... jumpa jugak!! nama tempat tu medan ikan bakar selly kuala ibai.

gps coordinate : 5 deg 16' 45" N 103 deg 10' 5" E

sotong kat sini besarrrr sgt! kitaorang ordered sup sayur, ikan bakar and sotong celup tepung. sdap gile sotong celup tepung dia tp sos out.

Terrific Terengganu - Part 1

Hooray! I can at last upload my hols pictures!

Day 1 : 13 September 2011

We drove to KT on the 13th September 2011 and on the way, we stopped by at Temerloh to get a dose of to-die-for Pak Usop's Ikan Patin as posted here in 2010 but when we got there around 12.30pm, we were informed that the first batch of lauk ikan patin just finished and they were cooking the second batch and needed probably another half an hour ... so we decided to try out the restaurant next to Pak Usop. From my earlier readings, this restaurant gets a few good reviews as well. tapi beb, tak sedap lah kedai ni. harga ikan lagi mahal dari Pak Usop, we can't choose our fav parts, and the taste is kurang kaw.

Moving on, kitaorang singgah Mesra Mall, saja round-round. Do you know that ppl from as far as KT would drive to Mesra Mall just to go to cinemas? The journey is somewhat 2.5 hours!

And bila dah masuk area between Kerteh and Kuala Terengganu, along the way tu we can see lots of sellers selling jagung madu .... tepi jalan kiri dan kanan. Then drive a bit more you can see Roti Paung Panas stalls pulak ... then Keropok Lekor stalls.


And finally, we arrived at our destination ... Riyaz Heritage Resorts and Spa would be our accommodation for the next few days. It's situated di Pulau Duyung Besar. Hotel ni kan .... cantik sangat sangat! 5 stars ... chalet style. tapi dari one's chalet kalau nak menapak ke dining hall ... berpeluh gak lah ... pasal jauh. Registration was a breeze but the place did seem a bit isolated ... sunyi sepi ... tapi kata receptionist tu, Riyaz ni memanjang je penuh kalau musim cuti sekolah ... i think that might be true, nak-nak lagi, bile dah ada annual event Monsoon Cup tu kan ...

our room

interior
jamban - best tau, dia ade another section yang ade power shower tu jugak, tak snap gambaqtempat layan perasaan

dining place - dapat free breakfast for two

cun seh ...

Then malam tu kitaorang saja drive g Teluk Ketapang ... kat tepi pantai tu ade a few tempat makan ... pasal tak sempat nak google mana tempat sedap kan, kitaorang pun gamble je la makan kat kedai makan next to Kedai ICT Haji Pok Long. We ordered sup sayur, pari celup tepung and sotong celup tepung. pari dia comel je ... untuk 1 portion. anak pari ke apa. tapi nak habaq, kedai ni sedap and murah masakan dia ... i guess tempat2 makan lain semuanya murah kecuali kat KL je lah. betui tak?

Chocolate Swiss Roll/Roll Cake

I love making and eating roll cake/swiss rolls ... kalau ada orang tanye kek apa yang paling senang nak buat, i would suggest buat swiss roll!

chocolate roll cake with buttercream

Chocolate Roll Cake - Adapted from Yani

Bahan-bahan ( 30x30 cm )

• 4 biji telur
• 35g tepung gandum
• 15g serbuk koko
• 50g gula halus

krim (I used buttercream)

• 125g cream cheese
• 150g fresh cream/ whipping cream
• 30g gula halus
• 1 sudu besar lemon jus

Cara-cara

1. Alaskan oven plate dengan baking paper. Asingkan kuning dan putih telur. Ayakkan tepung gandum dan serbuk koko. Panaskan oven sehingga 180C.
2. Pukul telur putih sehingga berbuih. Kemudian masukkan gula sikit-sikit sebanyak 3 kali sambil dipukul. Pukul sehingga kembang/bertanduk.
3. Masukkan kuning telur satu persatu. Pukul dengan perlahan-lahan.
4. Masukkan tepung yg telah diayak tadi. Kacau dengan spatula. Tuang adunan ke dlm dulang oven dan ratakan.
5. Bakar selama 10 minit dengan suhu 180C. Kemudian sejukkan.
6. Sementara itu sediakan krimnya. Pukul cream cheese dan gula sehingga jadi lembut. Kemudian masukkan fresh cream dan lemon jus. Pukul lagi sehingga jadi bentuk krim.
7. Sapukkan krim ke atas kek tadi. Kemudian gulung. Simpan dalam peti sejuk sekurang-kurangnya 1-2 jam sebelum dipotong.

Splendid Sabah - Part 4

Day 7 : 29th May 2011

Aristo Hotel

We stayed in Aristo Hotel, situated in between Kundasang and Ranau. Since Kaamatan Festival was held in Kundasang this year, most of the hotels around Kundasang and Ranau were fully booked, so it was considered lucky that we managed to get a room here. The room is clean, ada tv, towels, dressing table, toilet agak kecik but acceptable. Before we checked in, we had dinner first in Ranau town. Pekan Ranau lagi besar dan happening daripada pekan Kundasang. Ada KFC kalau sape tak lalu nak makan local cuisine.

The next morning, we walked around the hotel, and to our delight, there was an observation deck built di belakang hotel, that overlook Kinabalu peak. The best time to snap pictures of the beautiful Gunung Kinabalu and its peak is around 8-10am. It was chilly because Aristo terletak atas bukit yang tinggi by itself.

Then, we checked out, and drop by at the fruit stalls at Kundasang Town, just for final shopping, before we leave Kundasang for good.

Longish avocado can be found here

All sorts of junk food - the one that is wide and yellowish is made of tapioca

I discovered 2 new fruits - Buah Lemak Manis and Buah Habio, the seller said Habio tastes like coconut flesh. Ciku is also big here

Buah Lemak Manis
they truly taste lemak manis, as its name and i love it, nyums!

Kinabalu Park

For your info, the tickets bought at Poring can be used here as well, so you save a couple of bucks. We entered the park using the ticket bought the day before.

Kinabalu Park - abt 5-7km from Kundasang town

Pedestrian walk

Pasar Tamu Kota Belud

I noticed that there a lot of Pasar Tamu(s) being held in Sabah but one needs to know the time and the venue before heading to one. Kalau berada di Gaya Street, bolehlah g Tamu Gaya, it's held from morning til afternoon every Sunday. Since we came from Kundasang, we took a detour to Kota Belud to visit Pasar Tamu Kota Belud. It's also held from morning til mid-day every Sunday.

It was not that difficult to go to Pasar Tamu Kota Belud because once you entered Kota Belud, u'll find a roundabout and there will be a signboard, so just follow the signboard.

oh here it is!

Ada jual everything here, from vegetables to clothes to jewelleries to animals

Kuih Penyaram, 4 pieces for RM1. Got 2 flavours : pandan or gula merah

aha! ini barulah namanye Kota Belud Pekan Cowboy ... ada kuda dibela di rumah orang-orang local ...

Lokan Bakar dan Puding Kelapa

Dari Kota Belud, we headed back to KK but we decided to pekena lokan bakaq dulu before check in otel.

Lokan Bakar ni kat area Sepanggar, ianya jalan nak ke politeknik kk ... kalau from KK town, bile sampai kat traffic light indah permai, amek susur ke kiri dan jalan straight sampai roundabout. Amek pukul 3 (kanan) and straight on akan sampai another roundabout ... this time amek pukul 9 (kiri) ... you'll find banyak stalls jual lokan bakar and air kelapa tepi jalan.nama jalan tu Jalan Sulaman.

Ada orang recommend makan di gerai BERSAMAMU, korang drive straight sampai hujung stall yang banyak2 tu, then korang buat u-turn untuk patah balik, gerai ni paling hujung belah kiri (ada dia letak papan nama 'Bersamamu'). Gerai ni boh sambal atas lokan tu whereas other stalls just bagi cili limau je.

boleh pilih saiz besar atau kecik, satu tompok saiz besar RM12, saiz kecik RM8

gerai sebelah ada jual oyster, tapi kita dah kenyang la pakcik

ini lerr puding kelapa yang hangat diperkatakan itu .... sedap weh. dalam gelas RM2, dalam buah RM4

tengah bakar

ready to be attacked by us

Lagoon Park Karambunai

Dah kenyang makan lokan bakar and puding kelapa tu .... kitaorang explore sket Karambunai ... kot-kot lah kan .... satu hari nak nginap sini pulak ... area ni agak isolated ... kalau sesapa nak dok sini, sah-sah kena sewa kete siap-siap. Kat hujung tu, ada lagoon park karambunai ... tapi kalau nak masuk kena bayar entrance fees.

pantai nampak bersih

1 Borneo Hypermall

Dah sudah tu, kitaorang pun bergerak ke 1 Borneo Hypermall ... nak check in otel dan jugak saje jenjalan kat area situ .... nampak mcm new township ... nama area ni alamesra. very nice.

Gayang Seafood Restaurant

Malam tu kitaorang nak dinner seafood yang proper dan best ... dalam persimpangan dilema pulak, nak gayang ke salut ... mmm gayang ke salut .... last-last we decided to try gayang. nak pegi gayang ni, ikut jalan sama mcm nak g makan lokan bakar tadi tu, cuma takyah buat u-turn, u just proceed straight .... jauh ke dalam ... menuju ke shangri-la riang ria hotel ... tuaran. masa kitaorang g tu, ujan turun lebat-selebatnya ... and there were not many street lights sepanjang jalan tu ... agak challenging. but we found it at last.

Kitaorang order sepuas-puas ati kitaorang, lalalalaa ... nasi goreng cina, buttermilk prawns, ikan asam pedas, crispy mantis prawn, ketam kam heong and vege + yam basket. hah, kalau tak puas jugak, tatau lah nak kata apa kan? cube teka berapa bill? tetttt ... cerr teka sekali lagi!

jawapannye ialah .... RM123! wah ... macam nombor loteri gitu ... tapi kitaorang tak main loteri-loteri ni ... kire murah lah tu beb. mantis prawn tu bukan main mahal kat sini ... semua tu sedap belaka ... nasi goreng cina yang kelihatan teramatlah simple tu pun bukan main syedap.

halal ke korang tanye? aha ... kat sini, semua kedai2 seafood chinese punye ... belum lagi orang islam bukak ... tapi ok kot rasanye, pasal diaorang masak seafood aje, takde daging2 non halal itu ... pakcik2 berkopiah dan makcik2 bertudung bulat labuh pun kelihatan makan di sini ... pwincess yakin halal, insya Allah ...

Last Day, Day 8 : 30th May 2011

Jambatan Gantung Tamparuli

Rasa macam tak puas pulak tak singgah Jambatan Gantung Tamparuli yang femes tu ... so alang-alang kitaorang nye flight petang, we decided to zoom off ke situ jap. seb baik gak duduk di 1 Borneo, jadi taklah jauh sgt nak ke Tamparuli.

nampak tak gunung kinabalu kat belakang tu?

kat sini bleh buat aktiviti white water rafting kalau ada masa lebih

Next, kitaorang patah balik untuk pergi ke KK Town, nak beli sket barang untuk bawak balik semenanjung.

kitaorang beli avocado sekilo rm6 kat pasar besar but dia tak longish mcm kat kundasang

kat sini korang leh beli ikan masin, rumpai laut kering (untuk buat kerabu or agar-agar), sotong kering, udang kering, seahorse, gamat dan segala mak nenek lah

sini pulak jual pearls, crystals, souvenirs

kat sini boleh beli makanan kering macam kuih cincin, ampalang, etc

ni kot2 sape tatau cane rupe ampalang ... peket kecik RM20/6, peket besar RM20/5 (tertakluk kepada skill tawar menawar korang lah ye) ... yang belah kanan tu perisa sotong sira (sotoku) ... makan sebijik, terus nak habiskan sepeket pasal sedap giler!

ohh .... and then it's time to go home ...

bye-bye sabah ... lagi 2 jam 20 minit sampailah klia ....

All in all, puas ati giler lah dengan trip this time. kirenye banyak gak tempat dapat cover .... next trip insya Allah, nak g sampai simpang menggayau pulak .... and another trip nak g semporna ... lagi best bile time tu dah ada PADI open water diving license kan kan kannn ... insya Allah ....