Monday, October 27, 2008
Went to A Formosa resort in malacca wif Joan & Family + Karen ...
Day 1:
Initial intention is to get my cam battery from post office. However, batt was not at post office and is wif speedpost instead. Paid extra $9 for nothing ...
Mit up wif Joan and we set off from jurong east. Got stuck at causeway for 1hr+ btw it's d first time we r driving into malaysia. After a 4hr+ journey without seeing a single sight of formosa and the sun scotching my legs, we stopped over for lunch at one of the many stopovers along malaysia highway. It was extremely crowded considering its remote location. Had A&W (which is already extinct in singapore) but unfortunately they've run out of stock of waffles and d chicken did not taste better den KFC.
A moments' drive and we found we were extremely close to d resort lol. The rooms are huge and clean to the contrary of the reviews i read online. Very much wanted to refund one of the rooms as there are 2 doubles bed in each room but in vain. Exhausted, we rested till 8pm+ b4 setting off to cowboy town, one of the attractions in the resort.
cowboy town is juz like a made-believe town similar to disneyland. A few nice old western style buildings. As it was rather late, we immediately went for the animal carnival. Suddenly joan found that she had lost her passport and immediately we run looking for it. luckily she found it on the floor at one of the shops we had passed earlier.
The animal carnival was an interesting carnival of sorts ... there were firebreathers, chickens (yes chickens also walked the carnival), bulls, elephants etc and ended with fireworks.
Initially we thought that the aerobics show would be at the same location hence we stayed on. But left immediately upon realising that it is a repeat of the animal carnival. I really wonder how many times do they hold the carnival a day...
The aerobics show was held in a remote part of the 'town' ... so remote that the floor was sand and the stage looked like it was about to fall off. The performers were a group of chinese acrobats. So much for their effort but the entire show was a letdown with numerous mistakes and lousy sound system and they even skipped and looked for tracks in the midst of performance.
By the time the show finished, it was already 10+pm and there were no restaurants opened. hence we headed back to the stopover for some local food. we were exhausted by the time we returned to hotel by 1+am ... to find tat we can't open our door lol. luckily the service ppl quickly opened and replaced our key.
Day 2:
Went for the complimentary breakfast at huangdi rest which is in the cowboy town. free things are seldom good and this is esp true bcos they tried to set the rest buffet style but each person can only get 1 set of food.
The food are tasteless .. even d syrup is dilute. the queue for the western food is even worse as there is only 1 cook and lots of ppl cutting queues.
after breakfast we went to water world. this is very much like our wild wild wet. I must say it is a good attraction aside from the fact that the water is filthy for the lazy river. We can see leaves and sand in the water. what amazes me is the filter which is actually a net which occupies half of the lane in the pool picking up leaves. But most of the filth manages to get thru. The wave is much more fun as the waves are larger and the family float, the ooh la la, is fun as we are almost falling off the edge. very unlike wild wild wet which is a rather smooth ride. it was so exciting that my contact lens fell ....
single eyed, we left water world and went for animal safari which is typically the zoo in the resort. all the animals that appeared yesterday in the carnival are here ... lol d animal's day job is the zoo and night job is the carnival ... wat a torture ... joan's in-law came looking for us (to look at their grandson). hence we left without finishing the safari and went back to wash up at the hotel.
we den went to malacca (melaka) town for dinner at the popular formosa chicken rice balls. this name appears everywhere juz like our kallang laksa. but the food is really good. the rice are shaped like fishballs and taste akin to mashed chicken rice. later on we went to the pasar malam juz outside which is crowded bcos it is deepavali the next day. and i got tis cute shinning devil ears which i bought a lot to distribute.
went back hotel was exhausted and sleeping soon though i had an uneasy feeling in the room.
Day 3:
Checked out early morning. Decided to eat the cup noodles we bought earlier instead of the tasteless complimentary breakfast. We den went to the recreation area and took the go-kart. the track was the dry sand tracks which left me sandy by the time i finished the race (which did not allow me space to overtake). After tat we played archery and i got a big patch of blue-black when the string swept past my arm. Den we watched joan play paintball shooting before we set off to melaka town for lunch. lunch is steamboat den we set off back to sg.
joan's husband was exhausted with the driving for the past few days. hence he gave the wheel to me and i drove part of the journey home. driving in malaysia is not difficult as the road is big and straight. however the normal speed is 110km/hr. and the cars there do not give way. they can even drive on road shoulders to overtake. by the time we reached sg is already 10+pm. i lost my sunglass at the causeway and forgot take home a large bag of chestnuts ... and i'm lock out of hm. luckily they came back fast else i'll be sleeping at the corridoor...
overall not bad. i also saw huge villas for rent as resorts which are 3 storeys high. It feels weird sleeping alone in the same room with a complete stranger though (joan's ex-colleague) ...
--lamb--
5:15 PM
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