The Journey {一路有你}

The Journey is a Malaysian movie released on the eve of 2014 Chinese New Year and by now it has already hit 7.5 million tickets sold record. This fun yet heart warming movie about the misunderstanding and bond between parents which most family would go through due to our age and generation gap.  As Chinese has a saying that "Blood is thicker than water", no gap in the world could ever separate the love and bond that parent and child would have.



Beautiful scenery and the unique way of shooting the movie had made the story line even more heart melting so prepare yourself some tissue papers to wipe away that drop of tear. After watching the movie, our hearts were filled with so many thoughts, all happy, sad, and everything in between that made our life a meaningful one...



Overall, well... I'd just say, go watch the movie or buy back the DVD (when it's out) with your family... See how a father's love was misunderstood from the beginning and how the new couple made it through and discovering the love that was there all along just waiting for them to come home. It is definitely worth every penny and more... :)



Happy New Year~!!

SIM FLIGHT KL, Subang Skypark

Location : SIM FLIGHT KL, Subang Skypark

Date of Visit : 17.08.2013, 8pm

Aircraft Simulator : Airbus A320, 30 min.

URL : www.simflightkl.com

My Husband had always told me that he had a dream of becoming a pilot, but sadly he didn't have the chance. So in conjunction of his upcoming birthday and the Hong Kong series now showing, I thought I'd let him be a pilot at least for once. Even if it's just a simulator, I guess it's the best I can do for now to let him experience how a pilot feels like in the cockpit...

The Environment 

SIM Flight KL is located at first floor in the Subang Skypark Terminal. The space is smaller than I expected as it was just about 3 small shop's width where the Airbus A320 simulator will be on the left, the middle section will be the waiting area and on the right they have the 737 Boeing flight simulator. They have another simulation on the computer and the counter where the pilot on duty there would practice to accumulate hours. 

The cockpit is dark, there are 2 pilot seats with buttons and controllers all over the place and about 4 seats behind the pilot for friends to tag along on your adventure. You will be surrounded by 180 degree visual exactly like how it'll be like in an actual cockpit. Although the seats and cockpit doesn't move but the visuals surrounding you will give you an illusion that it is actually moving. Well, I guess it's real enough since it made me a bit dizzy as we made sharp turns.

The Fun & Entertainment

You get to be the captain of the flight! Well... the pilot probably did more to avoid any crashing though... But hey~ you get to control the aircraft! We had the 30min simulation package where it's about 10min on briefing and 20min on flight. You can choose either to cruise or take-off & landing. My husband chose the take-off and landing option since he said it would be more challenging. As they fly, you can take photos and videos from behind then enjoy the ride along with the views. Experiencing how it feels like to be in a cockpit as well~ 

After the flight, you can take more photos in the cockpit~ they even have captain hats for you to wear for photos. I can't elaborate more on the pilot experience as I'm not the captain of the day :p But my husband says arms are a bit tired due to controlling the joystick but it was fun non the less. But as a person who tagged along in the cockpit, I think it's a nice experience~ To be in the cockpit, monitoring how the pilots control and communicate. To see different view~ from the front and not the side as always.

Summary 

If you really like pilot, you should give it a try just so you can experience it for at least once in a life time to be a pilot. It's probably the safest way for first timers to fly :p The Airbus cockpit is way more complicated than those usual small aircraft that people can fly with short courses. Again, remember to bring your camera to record your experience too! Preferably a DSLR with a good lens as it's really pretty dark inside and I don't think it's a good idea using flash in the cockpit while they're flying the airplane... @_@" 

It may be a bit high on price but hey, look out for their promotions on their website, Facebook and media like Groupon or Living Social. I got mine at RM120 from Groupon for a 30 min session :) 

Red Carpet, I-City

Location : Red Carpet, I-City Klang 

Date of Visit : 10.8.2013, 11am

Entrance Fee : RM72 (Malaysians with MyKad)

URL : www.I-City.my

Had always heard about wax museums where you can "meet" your favorite star and idols up close and when I knew that one is opening in I-City I was so excited and sworn to pay a visit. With luck, I so happen to come across their pre-opening sale at RM40 per adult entrance fee on their online ticket purchase page! Lucky~~~ 

The Environment

It's 2 storey high with the lower ground reception and most of the wax figures on the first floor. It has about 90~100 wax figures from categories like Historical, Political, Actors, Sports and a few "world's most". The figures are at actual height (or so they say) which makes us felt so tiny as all of them are surprisingly tall! You're free to take photo up close without any barriers with the figures. I was a bit disappointed when they said you can sing and dance with your favorite idol as I was imagining the figures could move, but nope, they don't. I guess what they meant was for YOU to move, talk and sing if you want around the figure while you take photo, so it'll look like as if you're dacing and talking to them... but of course, they have staff all around the museum to keep an eye on you so that no one gets to bring a finger or ears home for souvenir :p 

They have these foreigner as photographers here and there to snap your photo, but trust me, bring your own DSLR if you have one... Their photography skill is nearly 0... At the end of the museum you might see your photo already printed out by them and displayed on a rack. We've got one of our's printed out and since we're not fond of leaving our photo hanging around like that we bought it home at RM35 per piece. They said if you buy more photo you'll have discounts but again, they failed to find all our photo, so... we never knew any further about the discounts...

They have a small cafe at a corner of the museum, mainly just drinks and small snacks I think. Everything inside from drinks to souvenirs are to be paid using a top-up card which they will give you at entrance as a complimentary gift. They will have top-up counters where you may need them so don't worry if you didn't top-up before you enter. In-fact, I'd prefer to top-up if I really wanted something cause the balance amount in the card will not be refunded! Not sure about the minimum top-up by cash but with credit card, the minimum was RM50.

The Fun & Entertainment

Find your favorite star and take photo with them of course~ They have props for you to "interact" with the figures as well so your photo would look more lively. It's also rather fascinating to see how realistic can sculpted wax figures be. They don't put tags on the figures but you can always ask the staff around about the figures. Well, I guess since these wax figures are not as good as those in Madame Tussauds, you could have some fun guessing who they're suppose to be too :p

Summary

It's a fun place to go if you never been to any star wax museum before but at rather high price. But if you're not planning to visit other countries with such museum then I guess RM72 is always cheaper than air tickets~ We had fun taking photos and posing with our favorite idols... but if you've been to Madame Tussauds then Red Carpet might be disappointing to you as their sculpting skill might still no match for Madame Tussauds (judging from the fact that we had ask many times "Who is this?" and after a while only goes "ohhh.... it's him/her..." and realized some photos saw in their website was not in the museum but saw it on Madame Tussauds webpage... Well, I haven't got the luck to visit Madame Tussauds yet so... I'm still just guessing ^_^ Hehe~ 

Just in case you're still wondering who is  Madame Tussauds ->  http://www.madametussauds.com/hongkong/en/default.aspx 

 

Bao Sheng Durian Farm

Location : Bao Sheng Durian Farm, Balik Pulau, Penang

Date of Visit : 19.6.2013

URL : www.durian.com.my

The Environment

 It takes about 30min. from George Town up in the hills at a more rural area of Penang, with winding roads and small towns along the way. There is a waterfall near by right before reaching destination. You will see the Bao Sheng wordings in chinese and the first thought was you'd be going off a cliff but don't worry, just turn in when you see the chinese wordings and you will have to go down a steep narrow road to reach the reception area.

They have only 3 home-stay rooms, 2 opposite of each other with a swimming pool in the middle and another isolated down below with a private pool. All pools are filled with cooling hill water so you can go for a relaxing dip at night. We took both the opposite ones and the rooms are quite cozy with air-cond, fan, TV and water heater showers. The only set back is the ants crawling all around the toilet bowl... and erm... just our luck... a snake in the room (will tell more on the story down below) The room on the left is oven warm during the afternoon though... but everything will be OK when night falls :) As a plus point, they are PET FRIENDLY too... You can bring your furkid along for the stay~ Just above the rooms you have the reception or actually it's the owners home and where people try out all the durians. While you enjoy your durian you can relax and feed your eye with the green hill scenery as well~

Tips : Mosquito comes out at about 7pm ~ 9pm (around that la... as told by the farm owner) so you'd probably wanna shut all doors and windows so they don't get a tasty meal while you sleep...

The Fun & Entertainment

Basically... eating Durians... they have many many varieties of delicious durians from different grades, but since you're at the "Durian Farm" I'd really high recommend  that you check their durian schedule on the website and go for the 4 star and 5 star grade durians... trust me... it's delicious!! take it from a person who usually hates durian smell (a.k.a ME - in case you're wondering why I went there, it's because my parents LOVE durians...) My favorite would be the Hor Lor which it taste a bit like wine~ Yummy!! 

They don't have any restaurants or food stall so you'd have to either bring your own food and drinking water or you can ask the owner a.k.a Durian Seng to help "dabao" dinner / breakfast for you if you're spending the night there. Or if you are going in group you can actually borrow BBQ tools from Durian Seng, but you'd have to inform them earlier to check availability and bring your own food and charcoal to BBQ la... 

They don't have Astro or Vision Four channels but they do provide plenty of movies in the hard disk which you can watch all night long! Or just chill and play some simple board game or card games for the night...

Tips : must ask for aluminium foil & bring your own net if possible cause their BBQ stove is very dirty and rusty

Summary 

The durian is definitely worth the trip but we didn't get to visit the farm itself, perhaps you'll need to make a booking with Durian Seng or arrive earlier (We arrived at about 3pm) We had about 5 durians all from 4 star and 5 star grade at only RM150 in total which you'd probably be paying hundreds in George town and yet not as tasty~ But if you're a city kinda person and are not really fond of nature (example : ants, insects, funny taste hill water...) It's probably best for you to stay in the town area and just go up to the farm for the durians... If you'd decided to stay over night, make sure you prepare enough water and some light snacks to get you through the night.

The Snake Story

The snake was hiding behind the extra mattresses laying against the wall in the room. While we walked in and out of the room the whole day no one bothered about those mattresses until night falls and my husband was looking for the TV remote when he saw this 3-4 feet long yellow snake laying quietly. He then walked out of the room calmly and told me "There is a snake in the  room..." I thought I heard him wrong but then he said it again. They then went looking for Durian Seng for help... After sometime, Durian Seng came with his wife with sticks and a big net and they started the catch. They eventually smashed the snake's head as they said the snake has a triangle shaped head which means it will bite people and could be poisonous... They then bagged the snake in a big grey plastic bag while it's still moving and I can still hear it struggling (goose bumps!!!!!) After all is done they cleaned the floor and changed all the bed sheets for us lo...

Durian Seng said the snake was probably there since last night as the tenant before left the door wide open at night while they went to sleep at the other isolated room with their friends... They apply sulfur around the area once in a while but sometimes it's hard to prevent due to the surroundings... 

Lesson taught :1. NEVER leave the door open when no one is around

2. Check everywhere, behind the mattress, under the bed before bringing down all your luggage

Trick Art Museum, I-City, Klang

Location : Trick Art Museum, I-City, Klang

Date of Visit : 12.2.2013, 5pm

Entrance Fee : RM5 per pax

Decided to check-out the Trick Art Museum in I-City with my family during Chinese New Year break. I have to say, it's really worth it!

The Environment

The museum is basically about 2 double-story shop lot with lots of partition and paintings on the wall that you can actually "interact" with. They have modern, Egyptian, animals, movies theme and so on. The lighting is dim inside so a good camera is recommended so you'll be able to avoid blurred pictures (as flash will ruin the photo) The paint on the paintings are wearing off at some part due to people posing and touching the same spot over and over but since you're going to do just about the same it's not a big problem. Hopefully the management would touch up or renew the paintings when things go worse in time...

Oh ya... the staircase to second floor is VERY steep and every step is higher than usual staircase (I guess due to space saving issue) so if you're bringing the elderly with knee or walking difficulty, this would definitely be a very difficult part for them. Plus, the exit is at second floor... so is most of the paintings... So be aware of this...

The Fun & Entertainment

Shoot photos!! That's basically all you do there... take many many weird and creative photos with the paintings as you can. They have a photo beside each painting showing you how to pose with the painting but you can always let your mind go wild and make up better ones! Try using "props" like your umbrella, water bottle, jackets or what ever you feel "usable" to interact with the painting, you'll be surprised with the outcome~ Or if you really hate taking photos, then enjoy watching people around you making funny pose~ it could be fun and hilarious too~

Summary
If you happen to be in Klang, I'd definitely recommend visiting I-City~! But if you'd really want to take some nice photos that looks "real" you'll probably want to visit the museum at odd hours or odd days so there won't be many people around ruining your stunt (like people standing over the "hole" while you walk the "plank") Perhaps on weekdays mornings (Do check with I-City on what time they open) as I-City is normally crowded in the evening and weekends... So... just bring along your friends / family and your CAMERA and have lots and lots of fun~! :D

  

How bout that... I'm an Angel~!

Everyone is happy to see the croc... 

I can climb!!!

Yay~ I broke the glass~~~

Hey... where you think you're going!!

Run for your lives!!!! 

Waiting to be rescued is so boring...