Family Vacation

Hey there!

I've been viewing my previous posts and I notice that my blog has now turn into 'parenting blog' heh. Well at least is much better than having 'venting blog' like before right??

So what have I been up to? Well, work as usual, and taking care of the baby. However, a couple of weeks ago we had our first family vacation! Woot woot! This vacation was planned way back when I was still in 'pantang' ok. Actually, my sister was the mastermind behind all this as last year we did not go anywhere as family. How could we? My SIL and I were heavily pregnant, so it was best just to stay put.

We went to Penang over the long weekend and stayed at Hard Rock Penang. I made a point to suggest that we stay at a more luxurious (luxurious ke hard rock??) place as we don't go for vacation as often. FYI, for our family vacation we have a tabung which we collect from everybody every month. So, my siblings and I, instead of giving some of our salary to our parents, we contribute it to the tabung instead. By the time we plan the next vacation we have sufficient amount to kinda spoil ourselves ;) Hence, the Hard Rock Hotel.

Mr D, Manja and I took the flight to get to Penang. My brother's family drove there from KL and my parents cam from Alor Setar. This is Manja's first flight and mommy was so worried. Our flight was at 9am so I woke everyone up at 6am. Kesian si kecik kena paksa mandi siap2 awal pagi but she was thrilled! My bro sent us to Subang airport at 7am. Tup tap tup tap it was already time to board. By this time Manja was so sleepy but she refused to take her nap as there were too many distractions! Biasala, kat airport ramai orang so she got so excited. By the time we buckled up in flight she fell straight to sleep. So she missed the whole experience of taking off. Takpe la, janji jangan meragam. We reached Penang in an hour. Alhamdulillah, Manja behaved very well. Lega mummy daddy.

Talking about firsts, this is also the first time Manja got to swim in the pool. We had everything prepared: swimsuit, swimming diaper and baby float. As we brought her into the swimming pool, she got slightly scared. Minah ni memang tak suka air sejuk haha. So sikit2 we basahkan her feet, her face and hair and she just sat on my lap in the baby pool. By this time her cousin, Zahra, dah floating sakan in the pool, and she's only 5 months! We taught her to tepuk2 the water and after a while she was much more relaxed. The next day, daddy put her into the float and they swam in the adult pool. Mommy was not around this time as mommy went to Hard Rock Spa!

A litlle review of my little vacation:

1. Hard Rock Penang - overrated. It was so crowded dah jadi macam family fair dah. The environment was different than most beach hotels which have more relaxing feel to it. Tapi kat sini it is entatertainent-based so agak macam pesta2 sikit la. Family-friendly though. Breakfast buffet spread was ok la. I like the room as it's very modern and minimalistic. There were Elvis and The Beatles potraits everywhere! Best part is the in-house entertainment. Siap bleh subscribe movies.

2. Hard Rock Spa - I went for a 'signature body massage'. The spa is a very small villa. It didn't really live up to the "Hard Rock" brand. I expect something grander like how I was blown away when we went to Nexus Karambunai. And as usual, if the therapist is local, the massage is bleeuurrghh...I still vouch for the Thais, Indos or even China-chinese.

3. Golden Thai Seafood Restaurant - Huge place with vast number of fresh seafood. Very tasty but super expensive. They have a cultural show tapi cam sedih sikit aa hehe. It's located by the beach so it's nice to hear the sound of ombak memukul pantai.

4. Batu Feringghi Night Market - overrated again. There's nothing special about the night market. Most of the stalls sell thailand-made stuff of low quality products. Jonker Street in Malacca is way better. Ada kelas la sikit barang2. Most of the sellers are not even locals. A lot in Indonesians and middle-easterners. Plain weird.

5. Paragon Penang Mall - we stumble upon this place while looking for a place to eat. Nampak macam best so just masuk. It's I guess the most high-end mall in Penang with a lot of designer brands outlet. I didn't know Penang people could afford all these. Sadly, makan place here is not so happening. They have one food court (diragui ke'halal'an nya) and some restaurants like Italiannies, TGI's and stuff. The saddest part is that there are lack of baby rooms. Basically it's not parent-friendly at all. One baby room can only occupy one baby. Unlike here in KL, there are several nappy-changing beds and breastfeeding booth, but here they have no breastfeeding room. We needed to change Manja's nappy but sadly the door was locked and occupied. As we cannot wait, we changed her in the wheel chaired toilet, on the floor! I swear to God I'm not gonna go there again.