Chalet @ Ranchan Pool

We rented a Semi-D chalet at Ranchan Pool for a day use earlier this week.

Ranchan Recreational Park is about 3km away from Serian town.

We wanted to go somewhere like Sematan or Lundu but all the resorts in that area were fully booked.  Then I thought why not go to Ranchan pool, The weather is just too hot to go to seaside anyway.

We did not want to go overnight coz we knew that there's not much things to do there. So we decided to have BBQ lunch get-together.

The Semi-D chalet cost RM80 regardless for day use or for overnight.  It comes with 2 bedrooms, a bath room and a living room.  This is consider very cheap for its size.

Bare in mind that this resort is NOT senior-citizen-with-walking-difficulty friendly; it is built at the slope of the hill.

One of our biggest disappointment is that when we find out that the river at the waterfall is almost dried out.  It has been dry here for the pass few weeks with very little rain.  The river is literally at stagnant. The kids had a good swim nonetheless.

So next time if you plan to go to Ranchan Pool, make sure to call this number to check if the river is in 'swimming' condition :)
Te: 082-876681
You can also book the Chalets thru the same no.

In my kitchen #20

Midin belacan

Shepherd's Pie

Tempoyak goreng

Crab sticks snack

Kueh Bongkol

Kueh Bongkol is one of my top favourite dessert.

Kueh Bongkol ni ialah kueh traditional masyarakat Melayu Sarawak.

Susah tau nak cari kueh ni kalau hari biasa, bulan puasa ni boleh la makan puas-puas.  Tapi tak banyak yang buat kueh ni dengan cara yang betul, ada yang tepung kurang lembut, gula terlebih/terkurang manis.

Yang ni saya beli dari gerai kueh tak jauh dari office saya, harga 90sen satu. Agak mahal juga, harga biasa dalam 50sen - 70sen satu.

This is how it looks like inside.  Tapi yang ni kurang sikit Gula Apong, kalau lebih lagi sedap.

Kueh ni sesuai di makan masa suam2 panas mahupun yang telah disejukkan dalam peti ais.  Dua-dua pun saya suka.

Saya rasa kueh ini ada persamaan dengan kueh Barongko, kueh traditional orang Bugis dari Sulawesi.  Adakah mereka dari rumpun yang sama?!

Ramadan buffet @ Four Points by Sheraton, Kuching

My dinner last night...

On the big plate: Veggie pizza, pasta, Arab rice with lamb.
On the tiny plates: sour scallop, tasteless prawn, cheese cake and Arabic sweet cake.

Bakso and Bubur pedas

DIY air batu campur.

Those above cost RM88,  pheww luckily I am not the one paying for it!

The last time we had Ramadan buffet here was in 2010, which I paid for.

I remember they used to have more selection of food and the mussels were huge and fresh, so yummy.  And the price were cheaper too...

 Ohh those were the days when food were cheaper and tastier.

In my garden: Pineapple #2

Pineapple #2 is ripe; at week 18.

The size is much smaller than Pineapple #1.

Nevertheless, it taste as sweet as Pineapple #1.

Eugene at 7 years 10 months

He is not the skinny little boy anymore, his cousins used to call him 'cicak kubin' before.  He is not that choosy when it comes to food, he now can enjoy..

• Cangkok manis with egg
• Fried rice
• Kolo mee
• Kuey teow soup/fried
• Chicken rice
• Burger kosong
• Canai

He also talked back at me like a teenagers in the Disney XD drama does..

Occasion 1:
(our daily conversation before end of the day)

Mummy: Have you sort out your books for tomorrow classes?

Eugene: Can I just put all my books in my beg so that I don't have to sort it out everyday?

#%^**+£

Occasion 2:

Mummy: Eugene, you do bla bla bla after this, ok?

Eugene: Fine.

Satang Island, Kpg Salak, Santubong Wetlands

1.30pm - Depart from Telaga Air by boat for Satang Island for side-seeing and snorkeling.  Takes about 30 min boat ride to reach the island.

Our snacks on the boat

Sibu Laut Island

Satang Island

Satang Island

Beware - lots of sand-flies here.

Turtle conservation.
There's about 100 eggs in each of the 'net'.
This 'hole' is where the turtle lays the eggs, this one was about 2 weeks ago.

There are more turtles laying eggs in Talang Island as compared to Satang, Talang is a bit further up from Satang.

The facility in Satang Island is VERY basic, this island is own my Mr. Abu (Private property).  RM120 is charged per person for 2D1N overnight here.  This include the accommodation and also the boat ride.

Kayak and snorkeling gear are available for rental at RM15 each per person.  Can do snorkeling around the area, nothing much to see, no coral reef here but great for swimming coz there's not much wave at that time.

Goodbye Satang

4pm - Arrived at Salak Traditional Fishing Village for coffee break and photo taking.  This is my 2nd time here, this kampung can be a unique experience for the tourist, but there's so much rubbish everywhere, which I find really an eyesore.  They are about 100 families live in this kampung, they have a primary school up the hill.

5.30pm - Witness up-close on wildlife activities such as Proboscis monkey high up in the forest canopy.

 More photos of Proboscis Monkey here.

6.00pm - Visit a charcoal factory nearby.

6.30pm - Catching the beautiful sunset from the boat.

 More photos of the sunset here.

7.30pm - proceed to Santubong wetlands for fireflies and crocodile watching by night.  We were lucky to be able to see the fireflies that night, plus you can rarely see any fireflies during full moon night.  Did not catch any photos, I think it is impossible to take a photos of fireflies in the wild at night, don't you think?

9.00pm - back to Kampung Telaga Air, bath, dinner.

9.30pm - Went to the balai (Community hall) for an evening cultural show by the locals - Bergendang & bertandak.

All in all, we had a great trip..

In my kitchen #19

Mixed veggie

Umai ikan

Dabai

Bubur pulut hitam/purple server with coconut milk

Catching the sunset at Santubong Wetlands

From the Proboscis area, our boat driver put on the full speed for us the catch the sunset.

At Kampung Salak area..

At open sea..

The view is breathtaking!

Proboscis Monkey at Santubong Wetlands

Here I just want to share with you the photos of the proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus) or long-nosed monkey that I captured last month during our trips to Santubong Wetlands.

These photos were taken using my point and shoot Sony camera, nothing fancy, no DSLR, no super zoom and no editing done; just resizing and water-marking only.

Enjoice...

 

  
I will share the itinerary in another post when I have the time to complete it..

*Best time to see this Proboscis monkey is around 5pm, this is the time when they are hungry and get to these trees for the young leaves.

Emmett's handwriting

Picked up Emmett from school yesterday and the teacher told me that she had the following conversation with him.

Teacher: Emmett, why your handwriting is so hard to read?  You want to be a doctor issit?

Emmett: No, I want to be an engineer.

*asyik bertukar jer cita-cita dia nie*

Look at his handwriting..

In my garden: Asparagus

At week 1:

Bought this 'young' Asparagus 2 weeks ago.

Week 2:

Moved it to a bigger recycle pot.

Let see how it grows from here before deciding to move it to a bigger space.

Can Asparagus really grow in our weather? Am I too ambitious?
But my neighbour managed to plant strawberry!
Ok let just see how it turns out ya.