Segamat Johor, Sunrise Farm 2D1N Trip

Hello readers! So i just spend my last weekend on a 2D1N trip to Segamat Johor with Jeremy and my relatives. 

Some throwback photos back when we were celebrating our 5 years anniversary with a simple dinner outside. A short video 

We were supposed to set off at 6am, however the driver was late so we waited for 1.5hour and it was 9am by the time we cleared the customs.

Apparently we had a change of driver because the first driver is only in charge of bringing us inside and the other driver took over for this 2D1N trip.

The driver took us for breakfast first before we visit our first stop. Honestly, i had no idea where is this temple initially located at, until i came home and google this place. Hahaha. This was the first trip that i don't plan for any itinerary but simply follow but i think i would still prefer to be in control and plan the itinerary next time if i ever want to go somewhere out of Singapore. This temple is located in Yong Peng, and its called  Tian Pao Kong chinese temple, the icon should be the giant Ji Gong. Took pretty decent pictures using my new phone! 

After the praying session, as it was still early to check in at the minsu, so we went to another tourist attraction within Yong Peng, which is the fortune dragon. Entrance fee charges apply if you want to enter, we didn't pay for it, heard that it's something similar like Singapore Har Paw Villa so we only went to the opposite side to take photo of the fortune dragon. 

 I think it was a good chance for me to test my camera and my photo-taking skills to take a photo that i am happy with. Haha

Photo with my cousins and aunts.

The weather was pretty hot that day so the driver took us to the resting station whereby most of the buses will stop for toilet break for the passengers etc. However i think it doesn't help much because the station doesn't have strong air conditioning, and the items were too pricey for tourists. If you travel long enough, you would know not all items is suitable to buy especially at the resting station because the prices could have all been marked up.

As i was consolidating all the photos, and i saw this photo and thought how my cousin kids pretty summarised the feeling when we were at the resting station. Not much caption required. Hahaha

So after that, we went for our lunch, there were 14 of us including the kids that makes up to be 2 tables. For this trip, i feel like i been eating non-stop. hurhur.

After a full lunch, we were on our way to segamat johor area.

It was quite a pretty long ride, halfway i was already dozing off and it started raining heavily. We wanted to go to the hot spring first but it was closed so we ended up checking in to labis sunrise farm.

This will be our accommodation for 1 night.

My aunt coordinate the logistics before the person-in-charge allocated our room and guiding us how to use their room keys.

Their office was at level 2, which is also the same level of my room that Jeremy and I were staying for a night, the rest were either allocated to level 3 or level 1.

This was our room for one night! Haha cute graffiti drawings.

I went to check out my aunt room as they were family of 4, so this was how their room look like, each of them assigned a single bed. I tried to use the panaroma but it's abit distorted because they were in their room while i crashed in to take a photo of it. Haha

Then, i went over to my cousin room, super cute beautiful graffiti. They had a queen size bed and two single bed for their kids.

Then we went to check at my uncle and aunt rooms, their room was located at level 1, it looks the biggest compare to ours, they even have a sofa as the living room area and the room comes with high ceiling! The room is quite spacious too. 

After settling down, it was time for our tea break!

After that, we began to explore around this farm stay.

In this farm stay, they had massage services, karaoke room at the back of the building. We were greeted by this greenery view at the back of the building too. My aunt/uncles went to the KTV room, i only went to check out the room before exploring things to do around this farm. But there is nothing much to do! Hahaha in the end i managed to find some games like mahjong, carrom, some old school games that i used to play. Jeremy and I was playing the carrom before my cousin joined us and Jeremy taught us how to play mahjong. But it's still pretty confusing to me, probably my lack of interest in mahjong that after awhile, we simply went back to our room to rest for dinner. 

Luckily i brought my tablet. Haha

Some of the photos that my aunt took before the sky turns dark. Due to the rain, it was a windy and cold evening. Our dinner was steamboat so it was best to have in this rainy cold weather!

The owner has prepared all the ingredients at the side table as we help ourselves with the ingredient for our steamboat. Best feeling ever to have steamboat on a rainy day! Haha

It was the first time i joined in this gathering organised by my aunt, my parents didn't join because my mum leg was still recovering since her last op so she was not keen to join. For the dinner part, i thought it's pretty heartwarming because it's rare that we gathered outside of CNY period for an outing like this. 

The bonding part was good but i thought there are areas of improvement to be better. If you do not like to explore, like to do nothing whole day but eat and eat. This is definitely a suitable itinerary for you. Haha but sadly, i am not the kind that can stands around doing nothing, i must do something or at least something that i enjoy. 

My feedback to improve the overall stay experience of the farm stay.

If you were to ask me the possible improvements of this farm stay to entice guests to visit back again is to revamp and create a gaming room beside their existing ktv and massage service room.

This gaming room can be converted into something like their karaoke room, just that all sort of board games, pool table, suitable for all ages are consolidated in that room and visitors can have more family bonding time through playing all the different type of board games in the room. More activity to do. Plus point. 

They can conduct some workshops, since their rooms are limited and they would have expect the confirmed number of pax checking in, they can allow their guest to select the kind of workshop that they would like to participate for a small fee for eg : an art workshop for participants that suits for all ages. Just using as an example.

During our stay, we can opt for steamboat or the dancing crab kind of seafood dinner. We choose steamboat because of the weather, but i thought it was a good idea to include DIY BBQ session, perhaps allowing us to bring our own food to have a bbq session sounds a pretty good idea to me since we have a bus to bring us around.

At night after dinner, movie screening can be displayed for their guests because they have a really large functional space. 

Even though we manage to release the mini sky lanterns, but i thought they could put it more effort to make it a nicer version like the ones i release at Taiwan. If you don't check out their store, you probably wouldn't know they can allow you to release the sky lanterns.

As we were not the only guests at the farm, there were another group of ladies and they were making use of the space to do some workout exercise, really dancing and blasting the music so i thought it would probably be a good idea for them to introduce morning workout or workout exercises before dinner for guests who would like to participate. 

I was not doing anything much in the farm, beside using my tablet to watch some shows. The farm stay do not have any wifi so it was a wise decision for us to bought the mobile data, otherwise i think i would really die out of boredom.

The farm do provide supper too. As my cousin was going for her massage so Jeremy and I helped to babysit her kids. I thought it was a good idea they brought the monopoly deal, which got me addicted and i bought one for myself after the trip. Hahaha, Jeremy and I was having fun with the kids when we were playing the monopoly deal. If i, as an adult feels bored at the farm, needless to say, kids would definitely feel the same sentiment, so i guess they were happy too when there are people playing with them some games together. Hahaha, the kids taught me how to play the monopoly deal. That was my first time playing it too. If i had know, i would have brought my rummyka and any other board games over to kill time.

Supper was satay so after my cousin was done with her massage and handing her kids back to her, we went for the satay before heading back to our room to rest. The next morning, i was lazing in the bed but there were knocks at our door to get us go down for breakfast, so i got Jeremy to go down and see what is the breakfast first to see if its worth me getting up for it. Hahahaha. We was not early so the food run out pretty fast but i was ok because we had been eating since the day before.

As there were another group that will be visiting the farm tour first, so we had to wait till 10am before the farm owner bring us inside their farm. Meanwhile, we were hanging around this area which i was suggesting previously can have the movie screening since they already got the large screen at the back.

There were 16 of us as we squeeze in this lorry and experience the bumpy ride inside their farm as the guy in the blue shirt introduce us the type of fruits they grow as the lorry move on

Some introduction of this spiky fruit that i didn't catch its name because i didn't listen. But i do remember it's good for preventive against cancer. Hahaha

Then there were this big plate of rose apple and what the chinese commonly known as the buah long long! One thing that i love during my stay in this farm is they provide us the buah long long juice and it's super good. It was the first time i had it and i like it. Haha

We are allowed to eat as much as we want, alternatively we can also purchase their ready packed rose apple. 

Group photo!

After that, the lorry drive us back to the main lobby and i think the most funny thing that i heard Ken ask his mum was, 'so that's it?' no more fruits liao? 'i thought farm tour can see alot of different kind of fruits. Like that only uh?' Hahaha, i agree with him that it's pretty funny the farm tour only consist of two type of fruits in their farm even though they mentioned they have durians, they have watermelon etc. 

After the tour, fruits has been prepared to serve us, if i had known hor, i think i would prefer to sit down and eat the fruits before getting prepared to check out. Haha i was in my sleeping attire, as i roam out to the farm and to other places.

After that, we went to play at some lake, the water was super cold. 

Hahaha, see that is my attire for roaming outside the farm, to the lake and walking through the forest.

As we was walking back, my slipper was spoiled so the driver drop me to the nearby convenience store to get a new pair of slippers. I thought we were heading back but we were going to the hot spring area that we was supposedly to go the day before.

Initially i thought it was a hot spring so it was quite disappointing when we pay the entrance fee to come in this pool that is filled with hot water instead, they mentioned the water comes from the hot spring and somehow they just transfer it to this pool,well, i was even more shocked when people use it for shower because the water seems to be quite dirty. The water temp was more than 35 degree celsius and took me some time to put my leg inside. But not for long before i came out this pool and wait for them to be done. 

After this, we were heading back to our accommodation, it was already late so my aunt told us to get a quick shower before we had to check out already. So after the check out, we went to this place that sells really good bak kut teh and Jeremy has drop pin this place so next time if we ever come back, we can try again! But this is almost like 2hour drive from the woodlands customs. It will be nearer if we are visiting Malacca next time.

I am not a fan of bak kut teh, so when initially we were being led into this shop, Jeremy first reaction was asking if i want to eat chicken rice, the shop next door because he know that i am not a fan of it and because of me, i don't think he got any chance of eating bak kut teh whenever we visit JB.

But not trying to be spoiled, i told him it's ok, my dislike level is not to the extent that i refused to eat, but more of if there is a choice, i will not choose to eat. I hate those peppery kind of taste so when this was the herbal one that they ordered, i was surprised this taste really good, the richness of the soup. super good!

If i don't remember wrongly, they called this the 花支汤. initially we had the bak kut teh soup first but if u order this and consume it and take the bak kut teh soup, the overall taste might be slightly different.

This porky is damm good too! Hahaha

So after a good lunch, we were on our way, passing by yong peng and initially i wanted to go the tidbit store but it was not open after i check their facebook operating hours, so eventually we went to paradigm mall. Surprisingly it was very quiet on a weekend, not sure if its due to the muslim fasting. But i realised after multiple visit, there's nothing much to do at the mall. We were shopping for some stuffs before we went for our dinner - Seafood!

Opposite is Singapore already, this was the second time that i have come here for seafood though its different restaurant, but the food is equally nice and cheap!

A table full of foods, from fish, squids, crabs,chicken, lala, tofu, veggie for 2 tables! I remember its super cheap compared to if you eat in Singapore but can't remember the exact price already. 

Overall, this trip consist of eating all the time.  Food wise, i will rate it 9/10 throughout this whole trip, but when it comes to enjoyment and activity, i will give it a 4/10. 

Till then!

Amari Staycation with KR, Holiday Plaza, KSL mall

Hello readers! So i am here to blog on my recent staycation trip at Amari Hotel again! Haha, ok being regular guest of this hotel, i am very familiar with their facilities etc. It was actually a impromptu decision when i was just chatting with KR and PC for our meeting up session that we suggested for a staycation to JB. Naturally, since they don't visit JB as often as i do, so it was easier for me to suggest the hotel that is more convenient for us because PC end work late so we try to pick a easy for her to reach location as we will be going in JB first after our work.

We was checking in on friday and checking out on sunday. 3d2n. I noticed they had the promotion for late check out so i thought it was a good idea to stay at Amari hotel again. But it was a long story which i will explain later as you read on.

I took some time off as i wanted to check in at the hotel first since both of them will be reaching only around late evening. However there was a heavy downpour the moment i reached home and it didn't stop until like 5plus which was pretty crowded by then. I waited for about 45mins to 1hour just waiting for the bus to get to Malaysia customs. 

After clearing the customs, i walked and check in to Amari hotel since it usually takes less than 5min to get to the hotel from Komtar mall, which is just beside City square. During the check in, i was asking the staff for my late check out on sunday, the staff informed me that they were unable to give me a late check out because of high arrivals on sunday. I thought the promotion was subjected to availability so i didn't clarify further and decided to check in the room first.

When i first open the room door, i was greeted by a foul smell. This smell is mostly found when either the room attendant did not air the room properly when they are cleaning the room because of foods/rubbish that could be kept in the room for too long by the previous guest. I didn't request to change the room as i was not trying to be fussy. 

For this staycation, i book this room, the 'grand deluxe' room type, but i thought their room type category is quite confusing because on the website it stated the room size was 39-44sqm, however when i came the other time, i book under the 'deluxe room' type with Michelle, it was 32-40sqm, however it seems to me that both room has the same size except for the facing as this room that i book, from the window, our room was facing the komtar and the pedestrian crossing, whereas the room that i stayed with Michelle previously, the window was facing the pool and the other side of under development site.

So far the superior type is the smallest room type but it's still quite comfortable for two person. I stayed that room type once too with Jeremy.

Since i was alone, i was taking some selfies while waiting for KR to reach first. Before that i give them some guide on how to getting here, so i text them and giving KR the wifi password so that she can text me when she is in the hotel lobby and i can fetch her to the room since it require keycard access to the lift. 

Since PC will only reach here quite late, so we decided to head off for our dinner, by then it was already close to 9pm. We had dinner at Canton I restaurant in city square mall. 

After our dinner, as most of the shops are closing, except cinema and KTV, we decided to go for the ktv session and we had the ladies rate so we could sing till 4am and 2 drink per pax. Halfway, PC told us she decided to join us tomorrow morning because she ended work late and she feel by the time she come in, will be too late, even though we was telling her it's ok because we are singing KTV and can wait for her if she is coming in.

PC decided to come in the next morning so we sing until close to 2am only. We wanted to sleep after showering, and all tucked in the bed by 3plus in the morning when PC texted us that she is getting up and preparing to wash up and on the way to come in JB and we was huh? Hahaha, it was pretty late  by then and she told us because she feel paiseh that we were waiting for her, and i also realised there will be no bus services to bring her from the sg customs to malaysia customs even if she come in at this timing. So we told her to come in early morning around 6 or 7am while i set my alarm clock snoozing from 6.30am to 7am.

When i woke up the next morning, and check my texts, i was shocked as i received the text from PC that she couldn't join us anymore as she was being detained in the customs. The reason was because as she was passing through the sg customs, she didn't noticed that she use a passport that she has previously reported lost. She explained to us that it could be her mum found it around her house and put in her room, she didn't check and just take it with her only to realise that she used the wrong one at the customs. So moral of the story is, beside ensuring that you bring your passport with you, ensure that you do not use the wrong passport at the customs is equally important too! Hahaha. She was quite scared when she was being detained, especially when she was on her own. The officer told her that she won't be able to go in JB on that day. Besides that, she will have to go to ICA building and explain herself for using a reported lost passport at the customs.

Luckily, they release her after all the interrogation, so she had no choice but to go back home for the day. But it was quite funny because i had been reminding her to bring passport, but i didn't know that she will use the wrong passport. Hahaha. She was telling us that she had some phobia now of clearing the customs, but we told her, it's ok. We will help her overcome her fears next time when we are going in together again.

So, this staycation was only KR and me instead of 3 of us. Hahaha, KR was also shocked because she was sleeping while i was texting PC throughout in the morning. Since PC is not joining us so we went for our breakfast that i include in our booking. This was the first time i had the breakfast at the Amaya Cafe, previously i had it at their executive lounge. The food is pretty good and sat morning was less crowded compare to sunday morning as the manager had to find us a seat that was outside the restaurant area already.

After our breakfast, KR suggested to go for a swim at the poolside, based on my experiences of several staycation at different hotels in Malaysia, it seems that most of their pools do not have the heating system so i didn't bother to swim anymore at their pool and i was right because when KR went in the pool, she was saying how cold it was and she get up from the pool after 5min. Hahaha. But i guess for kids or anyone that can withstand cold water should have no issue swimming in the pool as we do see several kids playing inside the pool.

We went to Holiday plaza as she wanted to do her hair and i thought i can do my nails too. It was the first time i went to Holiday plaza even though i heard raves about doing your hair and nails is cheap over there because they have too many shops offering the same services that you do not know which one to choose! So there were price competition between all the shops that benefits customers like us because we will check and compare the prices as well. But for me, i only checked with 3 shops for my nails before i decided to choose the 3rd one because it was the cheapest and i was lazy to walk back. Hahaha and i think my time is more valuable compare to that few dollars that i may possibly save but lose my time that i can't get it back if i check with all the shops in the building. 

KR new hairdo! She look more refreshed with this healthy looking hair after a visit to the salon. To me it's never the same having the hairdresser fixing your hair than your DIY, so i will always opt to drop by a salon to get my hair fixed for any special occasion! Haha

My new manicure! Trust me when i was not a fan of doing nails before because i thought it was a hassle to remove it after that as the nail color will run off fast because i am too rough but that was because i didn't know that i can do classic gel that can make the nails color and design last longer until the first time i did for my bridal nails. Ever since then, i don't mind doing nails once awhile.

But i appreciate the efforts the manicurist spend to do this nail design for me, she was so meticulous and even though i was only doing my fingers, it took 1.5hr, i wanted to fall asleep already. This cost only S$45! My friends was asking me the price after i post this photo on my instagram and everyone was saying it's cheap. For this kind of artwork, it might cost more to do in Singapore.

A photo of us after i get the hairdresser to wash my hair and KR new hairdo! We were hungry and it was raining heavily when we was leaving holiday plaza, so we took a cab to KSL for our late lunch! We went to D shanghai for dimsum as colleagues recommend their dim sum is not too bad.

We ordered quite a few items and one of the dish was the fried durian dish as shown below, to me i thought the durian is too artificial and imagine the horror when KR was chewing and then she took out something that look like a rubber band, as the color of the rubber band look the same as this durian dish, i wasn't sure too so we called the staff, only to verify that it's really a rubber band. I only take a bite because it doesn't really taste good and i don't want to waste my calories too. I was quite amazed that KR didn't flare up and still politely tell the person before they offer to change a new one for us, we didn't even ask to waive off the cost for this dish when i think we should hor.

It's only the waiting part for them to change another new set that is frustrating because they take quite awhile. After our lunch, as KR forgot to bring her wallet,so she wanted to return back to the hotel before we were heading to paradigm mall, unfortunately, the rain doesn't really stop, and by the time we cab back to our hotel and decide to grab, the price was marked up. As i had been to paradigm mall a few times and pick up from Amari, usually their rate is standard RM14, but that day, it was around RM34. Which was crazy as they indicate peak hour and huge demand, so i thought we can wait awhile since it's not a must that we need to go to Paradigm mall, initially we wanted to watch avengers at the new cinema because they have the 4D. 

We went to city square as i was craving for the chocolate crepe! Hahaha, this became our dinner because we was not hungry after this.

Eventually, we decide to watch Avengers movie at City square mall instead and before the movie starts, we went to the inner city as there are claw machines and we were pretty good, ok KR was quite good as she catch 4 and i catch 1 toy from the machine. Both of us only like the thrill of catching the toys but not keeping it, so we decide to mail to PC since she can't join us.

Before that, as we were hoping that the grab fare will decrease after the peak hours so we went back our room to rest first and that's when i called the front desk reception and clarify again for my late check out tomorrow at 4pm. The initial reason they gave me was, they are unable to provide me a late checkout due to high arrivals on sunday, i thought the promotion that i saw was subjected to availability, so i went to visit their website again as shown below, it indicate a free late checkout until 4pm when we book directly from their website. The condition was stated the offer is applicable for checkout on sunday until thursday.

So, i feel the need to seek further clarification and i call the front desk staff and explained that i make a booking from their website, and it shows that i am able to get my late checkout on sunday, so the staff explained to me that  in order for me to get the late checkout, i need to book in advance, the promotion stated stay period was 1 apr to 30 Jun, i make the reservation on 2 apr. Isn't that not advanced enough? That was what i told her before she say she will go check and i was put on hold.

After she clarified with her manager, she told me i had to book their special offer packages to get the late checkout. (screenshot below) and that will comes with additional charges.

I explained to her again the package that she refering is late check out till 5pm, and it include the massage and round trip transfer to premium outlet, this promotion is not the same promotion that i was refering to! To add on, i told them, their promotion indicate as long as i check in on friday and check on sunday i will be entitled to the late checkout. So the staff went to check with her manager and despite my explanation there is this web exclusive promotion stated in their website, she asked me to provide her the screenshot and email her. 

This got me infuriated and i told her i will go down to their front desk to show her. I mean, isn't it ridiculous that their staff are not aware of their current promotion? Email somemore when i am currently already staying in the hotel? So i went down and show her again this screenshot.

 

With this screenshot, she still insist on her stand that i should book under the special package, that's when i demand to see her manager, she went in and took very long to come out with the duty manager. I was quite mad by then and by the time she came out with the duty manager, she told me that their reservation department colleague has end work and they can only check with them tomorrow and asked me to find her after my breakfast again. 

 Actually, it's not really that i am so desperate to get a late checkout, but i simply abhor this kind of attitude that the staff is so quick to push away enquiries from a guest without finding and checking properly their information. Even if they are facing high arrivals, i remember past occasion when i would try to ask, even if they cannot give a late checkout, they would still apologise and at least extend me one hour. If they bother to give some good customer service, i really wouldn't insist to trace to the bottom of this incident and just take the 1 hour extension or anything. Their services is not consistent and to me, it's deproving from the first time i stay until now which is already my 4th stay with them this time.

The next day, after my breakfast, i went to the front desk again, this time round the reservation staff was together with them, and again they show me my reservation didn't indicate the late check out request and still trying to explain to me i need to book their special packages and proceed to show me how to select and add the cost to overall reservation. So i allow them to explain first, before i ask them, 'so do you mean i have to pay additional charges if i want to have the late checkout or unless i book the special packages that allow late check out till 5pm right?' The manager say yes. So i get them to turn to their website page that shows the web exclusive. And i point the vocabulary word, enjoy 'complimentary' and get them to explain to me the meaning of this term.

You guys should have seen, finally! My message bring across to them, they was stunned and didn't know how to react, when the manager realised, the first thing was not to apologise to me for all the inconvenience caused because i am wasting my time to explain for so many time! But to get her reservation staff to remove this promotion from their website while giving me a unpleasant expression and informing me to pass my keycard so they can extend my late checkout. So after my return back to Singapore, i didn't give a good rating for this feedback for this stay.

After i submit the feedback, their guest relations manager did write to me apologising and mention about the several feedback that i had highlighted. But i am still considering if i will be staying back at the hotel again.

So since we got our late check out, KR managed to sleep in for awhile while i was doing my own stuff before we showered and went out for city square for lunch before returning back to the hotel to check out.

 The malaysia version of matcha ice-cream, still not the authentic one that i had back in Kyoto.

KR wanted to try this yam ice-cream and shocked me when she told me she love whipped cream and requested for more. Shall end this post for now.

Till then.