Merdeka Beach (Pantai Merdeka), Kedah

1st time here, not just for me but for the whole family. I was told this is the only beach in Kedah with sand. Place is not too bad, they do make an effort to clean the beach but I think the view is fantastic. There is also a new hotel right by the beach, Merdeka Beach Resort. We stayed until sunset and had dinner at the resort.

The Bujang Valley or Lembah Bujang, Merbok, Kedah

A trip to an archaeological site today for the whole gang. It wasn't planned but we stumbled upon the site on our way to Tjg Dawai not too far from Sg Petani.

from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bujang_Valley

The Bujang Valley or Lembah Bujang is a sprawling historical complex and has an area of approximately 224 square km. Situated near Merbok,Kedah, between Gunung Jerai in the north and Muda River in the south, it is the richest archaeological area in Malaysia.

These archaeological remains indicate that there may have been a Hindu-Buddhist polity here. The name itself is roughly translated into "Dragon Valley". The area consists of ruins that may date more than 1,500 years old. More than fifty ancient tomb temples, called candi (pronounce "chandi"), have also been unearthed. The most impressive and well-preserved of these is located in Pengkalan Bujang, Merbok. The Bujang Valley Archaeological Museum is also located here.

snail pace on the highway

It was a long drive from KL to the north last night. We started our journey at 8pm and reached the Sg Buloh rest area at 9pm. A quick dinner at Burger King we thought and maybe we could continue when the traffic subside. BBBZZTTT.. wrong answer. Traffic is still heavy and we thought maybe it would be better to exit at Sg Buloh, to Guthrie highway and join the jam at Rawang... yea yea yea.. snail pace till Ipoh, even slower up the Menora Tunnel and Kuala Kangsar. It was only after Bukit Merah that the speedometer can reach 140km/hr and that was at 1:45am. Finally reached Sg Petani at 3am. Total journey time: 7 hours (meal break 1 hr, driving time 6 hrs).

(around Menora tunnel right after Ipoh - 1am)

Selamat Hari Raya Idul Adha

Paintings @ Jl Braga, Bandung

Hotel Sawunggaling, Bandung

Our favourite hotel in Bandung city, homely, friendly.

Bumi Sawunggaling Hotel

Jl. Sawunggaling No. 13. Bandung 40116.

Tel. 62.22.4218254, 4212045, 4212043,

Fax. 62.22.4218253

www.bumisawunggaling.com

video on detik.com
article on detik.com


other posts:

http://mattingtong.blogspot.com/2010/03/hotel-sawunggaling-bandung.html

http://mattingtong.blogspot.com/2009/11/hotel-sawunggaling-bandung.html

http://mattingtong.blogspot.com/2008/01/bandung-again-hotel-sawunggaling.html

Grand Hyatt, Jakarta

We booked the family package with G Hyatt Jakarta where we paid the full rate for the 1st room and get the 2nd room for 1/2 price. Modern, decent room with large bathroom and seperate walk in wardrobe. Asked for the view of the roundabout but instead given the pool view room which is not too bad either. Quite a large selection for breakfast - Chinese, local dish, Western etc - but I think the dim sum is quite bland. High standard of service at check in and check out, even the cleaners knows my surname at least. To travel around, the Silverbird taxi will always be waiting just outside the lobby with its Mercedes fleet.

Most important I believe is the location, right at the HI roundabout, next to Grand Indonesia mall and the hotel itself is within the Plaza Indonesia complex which extended to quite a walking distance on some tired tiny feet. Good excuse to tell the missus that the family should go back to our rooms for a much needed rest after hours of shopping.

Overall thumbs up for GHyatt.

Ouch.... its stone in the kidney

It was early morning today today and I felt bloated. Was it something I ate last nite? I felt like my stomach gonna burst... and there is pain like I have never experience before that I sweat even under the blasting air-cond unit. This is too much, I thought and called dr Ghulam our family doctor just up the main road. He was already in the clinic and I made my way, in pain of course, to see him.

"Gimme some urine sample" he calmly said

"Sorry doc... I think I can't, been going to the loo too many times over the last 2 hours" I replied

"Just a little... not much, need to run some test" he told me

So off I go and managed to get something for him.. he ran some test and .. "I think you have stone, there's trace of blood in your urine"

Gosh... whatever happened to my brother and sister is now happening to me.... hereditary? So what about me? Ehem.. I'm still in pain and I got 2 jabs of painkiller on both kidneys and within 10 minutes I felt like I can run out of the treatment room. The good doctor wrote a reference letter for the urologist and sent me home with packets of medicine in tow.

Off to Sime Darby Med Centre and the nurse at the Emergency room ushered me to a Dr Kalai, nice man , good chap who spent a few years in Leeds, so we have something to chat abut other than the obvious 'stone' stuff. The MRI confirmed that there is a 3,5mm little piece of $#%@ somewhere along the tube. 3.5? I think its bloody big..what about the Jkt-Bdg trip planned for tomorrow with the kids. Do I have to go under the knife.... So the good Dr Kalai explained some stuff... so I will take the risk and go tomorrow, with some medicines of course... and we'll meet again in 1 week

Khadijah's Kitchen

• The squid in ink is very nice, i like the fish 'masak assam', daging salai is tasty too, I was told some of the dishes is cooked by the owner herself, Ms Khadijah Ibrahim, a very popular singer, well at least during my younger days, and boy.. she can cook :)

Oh BTW she's the one in black in the photo

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• Address: 21, jalan Bu 11/2, Petaling Jaya 46200, Malaysia
• Phone: +603-79601079

One loss making shop...

Why have a shop when one want to sell at loss making price?