Trove @ Johor Bahru, Suasana Suites Staycation

Hello readers! I am here to update my blog again! The month of April has been a very productive month for me at least! Initially our plan was to take the opportunity during our staycation period from 18 Apr - 21 Apr to check out the lights, furniture, mattress. However we manage to drive in for the past two weekends, to check out the mattress, placing deposit, purchase all the lights that we need, and source for our sofa that by the time we went in for our staycation, we didn't have anything much to do, so it was really taking a break from running errands. (I will do up our renovation process post once i have finished with my renovation!) It's not that tough.

As 19th Apr was a public holiday, good friday my plan was to go in on the 19th but JY warned me that it's going to be massive jam since everyone is going in for the long weekend, i decided to go in a day early on 18th Apr and purchase our train ticket so it was a short 5 min journey in JB! Taking the train is so convenient and i wish they could do it daily instead of time intervals. 

After we arrived in JB, we went to Sushi house since the last time i went city square was during the cny period. Sushi house is opened for business! And their sushi is not bad! 

After our lunch, we went to check in our hotel, this time staying 1 night at Trove as i booked our original stay at Suasana suites from 19-21 Apr! This hotel was recently refurbished and looks pretty new!

We was given the second highest floor!

I was really amazed by the room size cos it's pretty huge. Modern and chic.

After checking out our room, we went to check out their facilities, they have a bar near their swimming pool. It is also the same level they have the restaurant that we will be going the next day for our breakfast.

Since we have so much time, i decided to bring Jeremy to this place that he have not been there. When i post it on my instragram story and everyone was asking me about this place. So you just need to google Yap brothers to locate the store. Basically it's a shop that sell wholesale snacks at cheap price! 

You can take up to 30min - 1 hour to browse through the shop. Take note that it's closed on sundays. We bought this chocolate wafer roll because this is so good! They are selling 1 at RM 4 when Tesco is selling 1 at RM 6.50! 

After that, we went to KSL mall to get our glasses done. Before heading outside KSL mall for frog porridge as our dinner. Since it takes only an hr to collect the specs, so after that we were looking around and i saw this sailormoon in the claw machine and decided to try and catch it.

But i was very surprised because it takes only RM 1 for me to got it on my first try!

It was so cute! Hahaha but after i took it out from the machine that i realise it has a strap behind that kids could carry off as mini backpack. Hahaha

My new manicure!

The next day, we went for our breakfast, i didn't take any photos but the spread was pretty good! They even have prata among their breakfast spread. After having our breakfast, since it was a long weekend and we were not rushing to anywhere so we rest in our room before we checked out at 12pm. On the other side i checked with air bnb side, Suasana suites to see if we can check in early. We went back to Komtar to shop before they told us the unit is ready! This was the second time i book Suasana suites just that it's from different host so the design of the unit is different. Even though both that i stayed are the same size.

This unit decor is nicer than the previous unit that i stayed. But well the rate for each unit is different too. I would suggest book through airbnb cos what you see according to the photos the host post will be exactly the same as i heard from my friends that used to stay in Suasana suites but she was pretty surprise the unit that i stay looks nicer compare to the one she book last time and she seem to book directly from their website or via agoda other booking platform sites so no photos is provided.

Hahaha, in case you guys did noticed, the table full of himalayan sweets is not provided by the host. We was at the pharmacy in Komtar when i saw the himalayan sweets is back in stock. It was the 3rd time in Jb for the month and i finally saw the stock is back. The last two time i been asking around but most of the shop told me it's out of stock. I was helping my friends to purchase hence i bought 8 boxes. It's cheaper in JB compare to SG.

We realise this unit can sleep more than 2, probably 4 pax since they have an additional mattress at the bottom that we can pull out and the sofa seems to be able to convert into a bed too.

It was also a coincidence during my conversation with JY that she is coming in JB with Terence for the long weekend too, just that she is staying a different hotel from us. So we agreed to meet up together in the evening for seafood together after we went to run errands for our stuffs.

We meet at Paradigm mall, shop around before choosing a seafood restaurant. There are many seafood restaurants if you google and we decided to choose the one that is nearest to us, which is the grand bayview seafood restaurant. 

It was pretty crowded and we was brought in their restaurant to dine instead of outdoors.

We ordered prawns, chili crabs, claypot tofu, fried bee hoon and orh nee! It was cheap only about S$90 for 4 pax.

After our dinner, it was still early so we suggest to watch a movie, P storm. The perks of staying near city square is such that we can walk back to our place after the movie! Haha

The next morning, we woke up and decided to try the Guoma buffet restaurant that Jieying was telling me since its RM 46.90 per pax and it's eat all you can, the lu rou fan is the bomb and i would strongly suggest everyone to try if you decide to dine at this place.

Jeremy was saying we are kinda dumb to take all the processed foods instead of their seafoods, well i would only like to take what i would eat. So i don't really care about making my cent worth. Haha

We choose to have guoma steamboat first as i was going to dye my hair and i didn't want the smell to linger on my hair if we were to eat after that. Haha.

Jieying wanted to do hairtreatment and cut, but eventually she decided to dye as well because the promo was RM 158 for dye,treatment and cut. However their treatment is the basic one so i request for mucota treatment which is add on of RM 198, which i am perfectly fine since it's still cheaper than doing in sg. The hairdresser still style for me with some curls while assuring me that it will be gone in a few hours and i was like ok! Haha

New hairdo! I wanted a darker color tone but when they handed me the book, i opt for the bright colors again. Haha maybe next time! 

Lm also came in JB with her bf and that got me an idea to ask her to pick up the stuffs that i bought out when she go back since she is not staying over so we don't have to carry so much heavy stuffs when we go out on sunday.

Our last night meal with JY and Terence after doing our hairs, this time round we choose to go back the restaurant that i went with my auntie the other time and Jeremy drop pin it so we were able to locate back the place. 

Restoran Tepi Pantai Seafood

Malaysia, 81750, Johor, Malaysia

+60 7-388 2070

The grab driver that picked us was finding it strange when he tot many singaporeans will choose to go Todak seafood restaurant since it's a no 1 rated seafood restaurant in JB, and was asking us if this is good cos it was empty when we went there, i tried it once so i know it was pretty good and the price is reasonable too. Plus when there is too many singaporeans visiting the restaurant, i doubt the price doesn't change since i read reviews some mentioned it's pretty overrated.

Though they are located nearby and opposite is just sembawang and we can receive singapore networks. Haha this time round we ordered more and it was only $96 for 4 pax!

There is fish, crabs,prawns, fish maw, vegetable and drinks and i would love to go back and bring my other friends here next time!

The next day we checked out and came out of JB in the morning, traffic was so smooth and we took only about 19min to clear both customs. Fastest record when we go in by foot. Haha.

The following weekend, we realise we need to go back to pay the remaining deposit for our furniture as we only place $1000 ringgit during our staycation as we didn't bring enough, to purchase extra downlights for our new house too.

This time round, Jeremy decided to rent a car from socar.my. It's a new platform that allows you to rent car hourly as low as RM 7 per hr! Renting a car is cheaper compare to taking grab as long as the places you are planning to go exceed 3 places. 

Came to sushi house for sushi before picking up the car! They have many collections points and we choose the one nearest for us which is at Komtar JBCC since we need to return the car back at original place.

Tada! Came to collect our car!

It was really convenient for us and the car interior is all brand new. However i think it would be suitable to rent only if the driver is familiar with the road in JB. Otherwise grab is still a good option to getting around. 

Shall end this post for now.

Till then!

Collection of our keys @ Northwave !

Hello readers! This will be a memorable post as today's date is the day we collected our house keys!

Finally, after years of waiting. We are getting our keys for our first home! Actually this project has TOP on 11 Feb 19, and none of us know about it until 2 days later, 13 Feb 19 since everybody was still on festive mood celebrating chinese new year. As we have a neighbour group chat, someone in the chat started to feed us with the info so everyone was so happy especially the ones that need to move in asap as they either just completed their HDB completion or renting elsewhere so need to move in soon.

For us, we contact our law firm immediately to confirm that the project has TOP, so we can pass the cheque for the 6month maintenance fee to the law firm to the developer. 

Once they have received the cheque and processed, we will be able to login the app using our unit number and pw given to book appointment to collect our keys.

We give the cheque on 15 Feb, and they take around one week to process, so we try to login everyday to see if it works. Especially when we saw neighbours that can login and make the first appt to collect their keys!

This is our new house location! Currently i like that it's super exclusive when you drive in or walk in because there is only one way. Unblocked view for now, so it's pretty windy.

I like this project because unlike many other condos, they are not designed such as blocks that are built side by side, they are designed as resort style living as the units are pretty spaced up. It is not overcrowded as there is only 358 units in this project. 

There is only 4 units per floor with some floor having just 3 units per floor. 

One of its unique point would be, it has an indoor badminton court which many other ECs or condo doesn't have.

There is a bus stop right outside, so we can take it to nearest MRT which is the admiralty mrt station. Last time 858 bus route will pass by this 3M building just opposite my new house, so if they didn't change route, from my mum house it will take only 5 stop for me to my new house. But the bus route was changed to go towards sembawang, so i have to alight one stop early and walk over.

This is what i mean when cars are driving in is definitely visiting the Northwaves or they are the owners since it's the only route in. Very exclusive for now. Haha

We were checking out the place during the weekend before the following days that it has TOP! We wanted to collect our keys first on 5th Mar, and choose another auspicious date to open the door but we heard from the neighbors that when they hand us the keys, they will bring you to the unit and teach you how to operate the lock etc, so we decided to collect the keys on one of the auspicious date but Jeremy's master was away so we had to wait for him to return to advise. That delay our collection of keys by one week when we noticed many of our neighbours started to collect their keys.

Eventually we select the date to be on 11 Mar 2019, to collect our keys at 11am. Jeremy was held up at work so i went down with my parents to open the door to do the praying session.

I was being served by the developer appointed person that verify my document details and inform us details that we ought to know before handing me the bag of keys! As all units has been installed with the digital door lock, so it was very convenient as i don't have to bring keys with me whenever i go back. All i need to ensure is to bring my access card to gain entry to the condo.

It was love at first sight when i entered my new house. I like the unit so much! It's so much better than what we saw the mockup at the showflat before we decide to purchase. Currently i am not posting up the photos as i want it to be exclusive for my family and close friends to see my house first, only close friends of mine get to see the whole tour of my raw bare unit that i filmed. I will post probably after i have renovated my house and do my housewarming. Hahaha.

I know there are many traditions and different way of preparing the offerings during the door opening ceremony, so i follow what my mum told me to prepare.

This is subjective, and since our flooring is completed, so we do the minimum. 

I prepare x1 pineapple, x10 oranges, x1 bunch of bananas.

The container for you to put the joss sticks, 1 pair of candles, huat kway, and 5 red buns, with tea leave and biscuits.

Initially, we thought of engaging contractor instead of the interior designer. So if we engage a contractor, they don't come with free defect inspection like what ID renovation package comes with and i didn't want to check the defect myself because i know it's going to be so tiring. So after doing my research, i decided to engage the defect check company. Absolute inspection. 

There has been increasing trends of owner hiring defect check services because there are defects we are unable to spot, and they check everything in the unit. Absolute inspection is just one of the defect company available. There are many others too, but there was a group buy and i understand that they are very experienced hence i decided to engage them.

On the same day, i apply for our SP utility account to turn on electricity and water, which is usually required before they come over to do the check.

As my unit has no balcony, and due to space constraint, i wanted to install the steigen laundry system, so i arranged for them to come and do a site measurement.

So proud of myself to coordinate everything on the same day so i don't have to run multiple trips.

Anyway the defect check will consist of 3 rounds.

1st round, defect check and submitting the defect check report to the developer.

2nd round, joint inspection with the developer side to check on the defects required to rectify.

3rd round, final inspection to ensure all defects has been rectified.

Eventually after we engage already, and since this is our first house and i am afraid the contractor might do it very ugly, we decided to engage ID, to be safe. Haha

Will update soon again on the progress of our house renovation etc.

Shall end this post for now.

Till then!