Archive for the 'Travel' Category

Last Saturday we brought the kids to i-city Shah Alam. We were not sure whether the lights would still be on after Christmas and Chinese New Year. We thought we would be taking a lazy evening drive. We were afraid that it would be too lonely and quiet now that the festive period is over. We were wrong. We ended up in a traffic jam to get to the car park.

Traffic jam at i-City

We also got caught in a people jam to view the indoor lights display. We had to queue up to take photographs. There were just so many people around. You had to wait your turn, then quickly run to pose and then afterwards there would be others waiting to pose at the same spot. Still, it was worth it to go “ooh” and “ahh”.

Colourful Christmas trees at i-City

It was really quite nice to see Christmas trees in March. It is like visiting the magic of Christmas all over again. There were pine trees, snowflakes, reindeers, white and coloured christmas trees, snowman, penguins, castles and falling snow.

White Christmas at i-City

Right beside the Christmas trees were cherry blossoms, peaches, mandarin orange trees, bamboo trees, pandas, storks, red lanterns all made up of lights. It was very beautiful indeed.

Here is a video of i-city shah alam for those of you who have yet to visit the lighted park. Nice, isn’t it?

And here is the i-City Shah Alam map.

This year when we were back in Penang, we made a visit to the Penang Toy Musuem. I am afraid that I was rather disappointed. As a personal toy collection, it is indeed a very impressive collection. However to be touted as a toy musuem and charging RM10 each for adults and RM6 each for children, I left with a feeling of being cheated. I feel that it is much too hyped about.

My husband and I plus our maid and two children made our visit cost up to RM42. We were in and out of there in about 10 minutes. That is one of the fastest way my RM42 disappeared. The other fast way was playing those arcade or funfair games at Genting Highlands costing about RM1-RM3 per throw or try.

The toy musuem was small, crowded and a tad bit dusty. Personally, I feel that if you watch this Penang Toy Musuem Video tour you would have seen most of it. Anyway perceptions and individual tastes differ. So if you like to see little collectibles and poring over little figurines of your favourite toy characters in detail, then perhaps you may feel that it is worthwhile.

We got the boy to pose with Spiderman and Iron Man but it was hard given the little space. My girl liked the M&M toys and I liked the China dolls and that is about it. RM42 out the window.

Travelling with baby is not easy at all especially if you are a new parent travelling with baby for the first time! Don’t be surprised if baby’s luggage is bigger than yours. lol. Even going out for a short visit to the mall requires a little “luggage” of sorts with extra diapers, pacifiers, extra clothing, baby’s favourite blankie or toy etc.

What more when you are travelling with baby out of town. I find that most hotels are not baby friendly at all. It is not safe to have baby on a big adult baby or asleep in our arms. Baby may fall off the bed or from our arms during the night.

It is during times like this that an eddie bauer infant travel bed comes in handy. It is collapsible with side pockets for extra storage. The fact that it is collapsible makes it easier to bring along. It is padded for baby’s comfort and it is made of material that you can easily wipe clean. This is a must for anything to do with baby. Just perfect for travelling or even for an afternoon out to your friend’s or relative’s house. It is just nice for baby to have a short nap in.

Last weekend we made an impromptu visit to Zoo Negara. Dad was with us. Usually when we ask him whether he wants to go out or stay in, he would say “Don’t know”, “You Decide” or “Anything”. This time he said “I want to go out. I’m bored.” So we took him to the Zoo.

Naturally the kids were thrilled. Kong Kong going to the Zoo with them. That is surely a treat. Since it was the first weekend after school going kids went back to school, I had expected it to be quiet. I was wrong. The carpark was full.

I think Kong Kong has not been to the Zoo in years! Luckily there was the tram to ride in. For RM4 per ride, we could ride in the cool breeze so it would not be so hard on Kong Kong to do a walkabout. I enjoyed the tram ride because it was very cooling. We were crazy enough to go in the hot afternoon sun at about 12.00pm. We all enjoyed some hand held cone ice-cream too at RM6 each! Kakak was amazed and excited because she had not seen so many wild animals before accept in books and TV.

We made it a very short visit so that Kong Kong would not get too tired. I think the kids “tak puas”. (was not very satisfied). They pouted a little bit but cheered up when daddy said he will take them again the next time mummy goes out with her sisters. So far this is their 3rd visit to the Zoo. The first two times was when mummy went out with her sisters. Daddy took them on their own. Kakak was not with us yet at the time. He is very brave indeed to handle two young kids on at outing to the zoo all by himself. Kudos to daddy!

We got a new toy recently. A GPS. With this toy, as you can imagine, we’ve been doing a lot of driving to faraway places recently. Haha. Just to test it out.

It asked us to turn right at a no right turn. It wanted to make us make a U-turn when we know roughly that the way to go is forward. It refused to take us to our destination. It kept on wanting us to turn back!

It took us to Jalan Hulu Kelang in Shah Alam when we really wanted to go to Ulu Kelang in Ampang. It wanted to take us to some other place called Taipan in Klang when we really wanted to go to Taipan in USJ Subang Jaya.

It led us round and round and round on a wild goose chase. Still, its really interesting and we like it. The verdict is… it helps some but you should still have a general idea of the place you want to go. You should also make sure that the map is taking you to right place as there are many similar street names.

Why do you blog? Why are you so free? Eat full nothing to do ah?

I am sure many of you bloggers out there have heard the same questions? Well, I blog because I enjoy writing. I blog as a record of my activities to remind me about them. Afterall, a blog is an online diary so that is what I use it for. Finally, I blog for peanuts. In other words, I try to kill two birds with one stone within a blog post.

How to I get peanuts? Its all about keywords. Heheh.

I just came back from a trip from Genting Highlands. I write a lengthy blog post about “First World Hotel, Genting Highlands.” From there I garnered lots and lots of search engine results from good ole Google. I love to be on the first page of search results. If I had written a blog post about “My year end trip” I would not be appearing in the search engines for those terms. Who would search for “My year end trip?” So you have to be specific. It also helps myself to be specific because I too can search for my “Genting Trip” by typing “Genting Highlands” in my own customised google search box on each of my blogs to recall details about my trip.

Unfortunately, for that particular post, I only managed to get on the first page for the search term “Genting Highlands brochure” I was No. 3 out of 4,770. See? See? Click on the image for a better view.

I am on page 2 or #12 out of 43,600 for the following search terms “Genting Indoor Theme Park Map” and page 2 or #13 out of about 46,200 for the search term “Drive to Genting”

I am on page 3 or #23 out of 217,000 for “What to do in Genting Highlands”

I am on page 5 or #47 out of 37,700 for “First World Hotel, Genting Highlands”

I am on page 7 or #61 out of 174,000,000 for “First World Hotel”

This list is dynamic so if you were to do a search for the terms right now, it may not appear as what I have listed. I may move up or down the list. That is why I did not include the links here. If you search for the very same search terms yourself, you may find that the list is not as what I have mentioned. This list is as at the time of writing.

I may also appear for various other computations of search terms related to Genting Highlands or First World Hotel or Genting Theme Indoor theme park. Hehe.

And if you were to search Google blogs for “Genting Highlands” or “First World Hotel” today 16th December, 2009, you will probably find my “First World Hotel, Genting Highlands” post from Parenting Times right there at number 1. (This post is Number 2).

It won’t stay up there for long though. It will be replaced by later blog posts by others later on. I find that you move down the list on blog search faster than web searches.

So if anyone were to ask me, why you eat free nothing to do ah. You write such a long and boooring post about your trip to Genting Highlands. Who would want to read it?

Well, the answer is… its for myself to read. I sometimes use my own google search box to search for things I can’t recall. It is really useful. Apart from reading it myself, and perhaps it being read by a handful of blogger friends, I hope that it will be found by the search engines.

Why do I want my blog post to rank high in the search engines or my blog to be discovered by random seachers? Hopefully that will cause a ripple effect and it will increase my page views, my blog value for advertisers and hopefully those who came will click on a few of my google ads on the way out. In that way, I would have killed two birds with one stone or rather achieved two objectives with one blog post.

And what is the point of this post? Why, to rank high in search engines for ”Genting Highlands” related searches of course. ;) Oh and did you know that apart from placing relevant search terms in your blog post, it matters when you highlight or put those terms in bold. You should also repeat those terms as often as you can without appearing to do so. For example, you can keep on saying “my Genting Highlands trip” instead of “my trip”. Don’t be lazy with your words. Relevant and related links within your blog posts are important too.  This is very simple SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Even an aunty like me can tell you this. ;)  Try it. It is fun. You can see results within an hour or less after your post is up.

Oh btw, if you got here because you searched for “Genting Highlands” or “First World Hotel”, why not check out my post on my other blog “First World Hotel Genting Highlands”. It will be much more relevant for you than this.

I was reading an article in a magazine that more and more people are now turning to cruises for their functions or parties instead of holding them at a posh hotel. Cruising is no longer just for celebrities but they are still for the rich. You don’t have to be famous but you need to have $$$ to hold a party on a cruise. The rest of us can only look at a Cruise Guide and dream.

There are cruise ships that are huge with lots of entertainment within, casinos, gyms, eateries, you name it. Well, if you are not rich enough to own a cruise ship or to charter an entire ship for your party, you can still go on a cruise holiday, I suppose. Its not like having your own party on your own boat but its still an experience to add into your memory bank without denting your bank account too much.

I have not had the chance to go on a cruise before. I hope I have the chance to… one day.. How about you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Took the kids to the KL Bird Park recently. Also known as the “The World’s Largest Free Flight Aviary” it certainly houses a large collection of birds. They look well fed too. I could see that they were feeding on papayas, corns, bananas and other fruits. Yum yum. The fruits do not look like discards. They look fresh and good.

The birds were used to tourists I suppose because they flew about freely right before our faces. Some of them were really colorful and some looked like they were wearing pretty headdresses. Now, I know where some designers get their ideas. The colors were really beautiful and striking. Bright hues of red, yellow, turquoise, blues, greens, purple and pink. There were quite a number of peacocks too and one of them decided to showoff to us, spreading its beautiful tale wide open. It was quite a sight to behold.

To my amusement, I saw a signboard in front of some green leafy plants. There was a brief description about the plant. The signboard labelled it as the Malaysian Ginseng. It was a Tongkat Ali plant. Hahahaha. Well, I guess it belongs in a bird park alright since its suppose to treat another type of “bird”. Lol!

Since its Friday, those of you who have kids and have not been there before can consider going there for the weekend. Its RM30 for adults and free for kids under 3. Can’t remember how much it is for kids above 3 but if you flash them your MyKad, you get a discount so your ticket costs only RM12 for an adult. Please forgive me if I get the ticket prices wrong. My memory isn’t quite what it used to be.

There! Done my bit for Malaysian tourism. Happy Weekend to everyone. 

Have you tried having a City Vacation? Vacations aren’t only meant to be in exotic lands with beaches, hills and natural wonders. You can have just as much fun having a Vacation in a City. Have you ever tried having a holiday in a City and feel the pulse of the City? It can be quite exciting. If you are considering a City Vacation anytime soon, you can go to www.cityvacations.com to read up on its travel guide.

For example, if you want to visit Kuala Lumpur you can read up about the Events and Happenings in Kuala Lumpur plus the Shopping, Eateries, and Night Life Guide. Find out about the Tours and Excursions, the Hotels, the Entertainment, the Art and Culture and be directed towards other useful links with photos etc.

You will find guides to many cities and capitals in the world here. Do note however that the website is being improved further to include reviews, articles, forums, blogs, photo galleries and maps to make it the ultimate guide when you are thinking of vacationing in a City.