Jonker walk, Malacca

On Sunday afternoon at 2.00pm having a trip with family from Johor Bahru to Malacca through PLUS highway. First destination was Muar. It took about an hour, stopped and rest there and having lunch.

We continued our drive to Malacca. By only more than an hour we had reached Malacca. Malacca road was congested with too many cars, that was during school holiday break. There will be always not many car parks during the school holiday.



There was a hawker stall that selling famous popiah, a fresh spring rolls. We stopped there, and bought some. It was hot and delicious, it cost about RM3.00 per roll.

We did some shopping around the shops. The shops were decorated with Christmas trees and and I could see there were sellers sellling various Chinese New Year decoration items too. My mum had bought some of the decorations for Chinese New Year 2012.

After about an hour of walking, it was near to 6pm. We had decided to do our ride to Jonker walk. Many area of the roads were also congested, so it may required some patience to reach there. The day was near to dark too. There were actually many changes and developments at Malacca. There was a tower built called Menara Taming Sari, with a height of about 100 metres, which offers people to have a sight of historical Malacca city.  

 
Soon we reached to Jonker walk. Jonker walk area was surrounded with historical heritage building shops. It is available on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 6.00pm till midnight. I could see many people were taking photos too. Some of the antique shop owners doesn't allowed people to take photos inside. It was quite a long night markets.

A few walks there was a cafe where people can rest and take foods and drinks inside. The atmosphere here was very crowded and happening.

We felt thirsty and we bought some drinks from a drinks stall. After a while, unfortunately, the rain was starting to fall. All the stalls owners were busy keeping their stuffs away from the rain with umbrellas while other people were searching for a place for shades. It took around 30 minutes for the rain to stop. After the rain had stopped, the people continued their walks and shopping. We decided to take dinner from a hawker stalls that selling asam laksa and cendols. 

One Day Trip to Desaru, Johor.

Desaru trip started at 2.30pm on 6th November 2011 by car.

We went there through Senai-Desaru PLUS highway, which approximately took 45 minutes to reach there. 

We had made a wrong way to Desaru, so it took another more than half an hour to reach there.

Finally we reached Desaru beach. We were not alone there, as there were many people came here for visiting and picnic. Since it was not safe to swim there, we did not bring any swimming trunks. But I could still see many people swimming in the sea. The purpose of this trip we came here for was relaxing and chatting. We didn't stay longer there as the sky was getting darker. There would be no lampposts on the road heading back home, so it was safer to ride home in the evening.

Hmm..I guess my next visit for Desaru is stay one night at the hotel as I could see few established hotels. The chalets are also available for visitors to stay. The scenery here was good and perfect place for camping, barbecue, picnic etc. Definitely will visit again next time.

One Day Trip to Kukup

Went to Kukup, Pontian district, Johor, Malaysia on 31st August 2011 (Our National day holiday) for one day trip with my family (Only 4 of us). We decided to go there as it has been a very long time about 13-14 years ever since last time we visited there.

It was 10.30am when I woke up in the morning and had some breakfast, at the same time fed my fish aquarium. Kukup fishing village was not far away from my home, Johor Bahru, which took us more than 50km away. We started the trip at 1.00pm by car. It was not much jam at Toll expressway Taman Perling (the way can reach to Nusajaya) at that time (I thought all people have already 'balik kampung' during the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration, so there would be not much vehicles on the highway). We just followed the signboards of Pontian and Kukup on the road.

After the drove of 1 hour, we finally reached Kukup fishing village around 2.20pm. I felt very happy and fascinating to see there were some changes of the sceneries since our last time visit.

   

The first thing to do when we reached there was to find a parking area. There were not much parking area for the cars. Luckily, we saw a car had just moving away from the parking space and we took the place. You will see there was a chinese school, S.J.K (c) Ken Boon nearby too. There were many visitors' vehicles from Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Malacca and Perak.

I also saw there were many holiday tour buses out there too..some people were busy taking out their packs from the buses. Some groups of visitors were delighted to stay for few nights here.

It was a sunny day. May need umbreallas if you don't like to expose to heat of sunlight...After a few walks, we felt hungry and we were looking for seafood restaurants. There were few old famous established seafood restaurants out there..We were having lunch at the seafood restaurant (though I couldn't remember the restaurant's name).  When we entered the restaurant, there were too many people inside at that moment, which only left one table for us to occupy the seats. We checked for other seats in an air-con room, inside all unoccupied tables were left with uncollected dishes (there were no enough of workers to collect the dishes away at that moment). So we went back to the table we had just seen (hot area). We ordered the foods and waited for about 25-30 minutes. Later, foods were served...it was tasted really nice~ seafoods here were fresh and tasty and 'I think' you may find the prices here less expensive if compare to urban restaurants. 

Above is a picture I took from the view of seafood restaurant. It was quite relaxing and enjoyable for sight-seeing. The business hours: 11.00am - 9.00pm. We enjoyed ourselves by sitting down and chit-chatting..The lunch cost us about RM115..we ordered 1 kg of crabs, big prawns, vegetables, and so on...

After the lunch, we took a few walks and did some shopping at the shops..The shops sell varieties of foods and drinks, snacks, noodles, toys, souvenirs, etc. My brother and I bought some nice souvenirs..I could still remember from the past 14 years, when I was only kid, my parents had bought us Boy London wrist watch here for about RM16 each. Fruits and drinks were bought, and my mum bought clothes, shoes, and slippers  :D. 

                                                                                                              

The time allowed us to shot several unique pictures. Above pictures are beautiful and relaxing sceneries of Kukup fishing village. In other word, the local people usually called it kelong, which is an offshore platform built in wood. It would be great for the eco-tourists and natural lovers to enjoy a sight-seeing here. The photos were taken at 5.00pm.

    

 

This location also allowed people to ride a boat from jetty around the kelong. We didn't ride a boat, so I don't know the price of the ride..but I had heard some people said that you can ride a boat to the Johor National Park to visit.  We also did some brief walking around the living areas of the village. Soon after several shots of pictures, the day was quite near to dark..It was 7.15pm! We actually didn't fully explored the village and residential houses..I hope my next trip of Kukup will be come along with at least 10 people together by bus (relatives or friends) and stay for one night there to truly enjoy the whole trip. Though it was only one day trip, I still found it quite enjoyable day for me ;D. 

Below is my personal rating of my one day trip to Kukup:

Food: 3.5/5

Parking: 2/5

Sightseeing:  4/5

Shopping:  3/5

Cleanliness: 2.5/5

People: 3.5/5

Things to bring if I have an opportunity to come again and stay for 2 days and one night (my own suggestions):

- Fishing rods (if possible)

- Own favourite dvds for karaoke

- Playing cards

- Barbecue kits

- Fire crackers (if available)

- Laptops 

- Torch lights

- Magazines/newspaper

Soon it was a time to go back home..

 

On the way home, we took a short rest in the car and above was a giant pineapple photo took at Pontian district, Johor. I think Tanjung Piai is good place to hang out with and good pictures to shot and quite not far away from where the picture was taken here, but we didn't manage to get there..we think maybe next time..

We reached home at 8.30pm.