roadtrip
Dropping by Blackwood Coffee & Chocolate
October 31, 2017
Just about 5 years of services, it has lots of franchises in Northern parts of Malaysia - like Kangar, Arau, Alor Setar, Sungai Petani etc. The first thing that came across my mind when my friend told me about this place was Bukit Kayu Hitam. Haha maybe the founder came from this town.
Blackwood = Kayu Hitam? :D
Blackwood: Coffee & Chocolate
Check out the website for more details and prices of menu.
This is not a full review of this cafe, just to share my own experience. I just ordered a drink and a slice of cake, so can't say much about the other menu. But, the interior designs of the cafe are nice, calm and cozy. Plus the service was okay, not that long to wait for our drinks.
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| The menu. |
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| Part of interior design #1. Coca cola - different styles of packaging etc. |
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| Interior design #2 |
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| Interior design #3 |
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| Interior design #4 |
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| Interior design #5 |
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| Oreo pancake? haha totally forgot the name. But, it is quite unique and new for me but not my taste. |
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| I ordered Green Tea Latte (costs RM 15). Yummy. |
Not really a fan of hipster cafes but I am okay if friends invited to hang out in these places (minus if I am on tight budget) :)
Maybe for the reason I can't tolerate coffee much or I am on my weight maintenance, I rarely go to hipster cafes in Malaysia. Plus, my parents are from different generation so these are definitely not their cups of tea, they can't accompany me.
Not to forget, the prices. A cup coffee worth 2 big meals at food court and even 3 at normal warung haha
But, once in a while, maybe why not :)
Okay, dah, ikat perut.
SS, Perak, Malaysia
171030
Gua Kelam, Perlis - Mission Dismissed
October 30, 2017
Right after Padang Besar, we went to Gua Kelam with the aim to walk in the cave. This plan reminded me of my experience with Postojna Cave, Slovenia in which I didn't know before that caves are peaceful places to enjoy.
Gua Kelam, Perlis - located at Taman Negeri Perlis (Perlis State Park), it is about 20 minutes away from Padang Besar.
Once you approached this area, you would be greeted by this big signboard.
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| Welcome to Gua Kelam. |
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| :D :D :D |
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| Syair Gua Kelam. |
I am not that good with poems but I love reading them.
-Syair Gua Kelam-
Di Kaki Bukit tempat letaknya,
26km dari Kangar jaraknya,
Lombong bijih timah zaman dahulunya,
Jadi laluan rakyat melaluinya.
Dikenali sebagai 'Jambatan Gantung',
Asalnya dibina oleh pelombong,
Jambatan kayu sebagai penghubung,
Jasa utama Datuk Loh Ah Tong.
Tahun sembilan belas empat puluh lima,
Kerajaan Negeri membina semula,
Jambatan kayu bertambah sempurna,
Mudahkan pelancong menikmatinya.
Program pembangunan sekitar gua,
Surau, gerai makan dan cenderamata,
Taman Orkid, kolam ikan, Taman Rusa,
Tempat rehat di dalam gua juga selesa.
Tepian mandi sejuk sekali,
Airnya jernih menenangkan hati,
Sesiapa yang datang melawat di sini,
Pasti ingin datang sekali lagi.
Karya: Siti Esah Musa (Harties)
Persatuan Penulis Perlis
From this syair, we can get rough idea about the history of Gua Kelam. :)
For summary, Gua Kelam was originally a tin mine that produced high quality of tin. This area was also used to connect people in Wang Kelian and Kaki Bukit. Here, there was a famous guy named En. Nayan (known as Tauke Nyan) - you can see his name for road as well. He was the pioneer of this mining activity in Gua Kelam before selling this area to Kong Fatt, a Chinese.
The process of mining was done traditionally - through 'mendulang'. And there were some deaths noted there when the workers were unable to save themselves during raining season. Rain will cause the hole used to mine the tin to be flooded.
Only in 1988, this place was rebuilt up as taman rekreasi :)
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| Seems like there is hiking route here. |
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| RM1 for entrance fee (Malaysian adult). |
The funny thing about our experience at Gua Kelam was.... we ran out of cash here! Like, I don't have any money notes left in my wallet. -_-' Simply because I forgot to withdraw money from the ATM and I already used mine to buy souvenirs. I even borrowed some from Puteri hahaha. End up, they had the same situation as well T_T
Korek punya korek beg beg tu, cukup laaa RM 3. Two pieces of RM 1 notes and few coins.
The climax was when we found out later that the cave was closed to public (for now). Hahahaha. Punya lah gigih cari RM 3 sekali tutup.
The cave was closed on that day because the pathway was a bit damaged due to previous flood.
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| Loving this. |
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| Us :D |
Going to repeat Perlis for this place, insyAllah.
SS, Perak, Malaysia
171030
The feeling to be here is quite similar to Rantau Panjang or any other shopping areas in Kelantan. Have been to Bukit Kayu Hitam when I was a child just I have no memories at all about the place, but I think it is similar as well.
We parked the car around the complex, RM3 per entry and then we started window shopping. I did not have any plan to buy anything as seems like I don't need anything new for now, but of course I'll buy something for mak ayah abangngah.
I used to love collecting postcards as I had a wall of memories (including postcards) when I was in Czech. Just, here in Perak I can't stick any random stuffs on the wall - they will damage the wallpaper. :D instead I have nature themed featured wall in my room right now that I feel so happy waking up in the morning to see it. :)
Well, situation changes. So do people.
So, let me show you around the complex :)
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| You can find many stuffs here to buy - either for your own use or as souvenirs. |
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| 3 of these moderate-sized bags for RM10. Or 4 of small-sized ones. |
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| Again, the famous day-trip backpack for short hike. :D Hahaha when I bought mine in Decathlon, Czech it was not yet famous in Malaysia. 99kc last time I bought but here in Padang Besar, around RM10. |
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| Shirts. I would really recommend you to buy T-shirts at the market outside the complex. They are way cheaper! Around Rm15-18 for adult-sized whereby in the complex, a piece costs around RM20+ |
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| FOOOOD. Another area I love although I did not buy lots - not a sour food person. |
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| Another food area :D |
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| The complex from 1st floor. |
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| A shop sells this. It may look fancy to some of us, but I am a person who consider practicality first. It seems so hard to handle this cloth if I need to fulfill my nature calls, in public toilets! Hahaha |
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| Lots of shirts shops! |
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| For lunch, we had some meals just outside the complex. To be honest, the price is not that cheap but still okay I think. RM5 for pulut mangga, somtam each. |
Padang Besar is located at the border of Malaysia-Thailand, about 35km from Kangar. If you are very good with bargaining, you are going to love this place even more haha
Done with Padang Besar!
Our next stop was Gua Kelam, till then :)
SS, Perak, Malaysia
171030
Short, Intense Hike to Bukit Lagi, Perlis
October 26, 2017
I feel blessed that Puteri, Kak Zira and I have the same interest. Hiking.
Even though I am used to hike in Czech, as expected hiking in Malaysia is roughly different. I am totally a newbie here, I don't mind that as at least people don't put high expectation. :)
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| In love with this hiking pose :p |
Early morning of Sunday, we went to Titi Chai to grab breakfast and Puteri recommended us to try Pulut Ayam. I have never heard of this food before, something different that I know is Pulut Mangga nyum nyum nyum :D
Pulut Ayam was for post-hike though hahaha.
It is basically pulut with fried chicken.
We had nasi lemak and few kuih-muih for breakfast. A bit heavy for us but never mindddd, we are Malaysians!
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| Beautiful paddy field :D |
Since I did not drive, I have no idea about the direction. Haha.
But, from Google Maps, in order to get to Bukit Lagi, please don't put 'Bukit Lagi' in the search box. It will lead you to a city area with buildings around.
Landmarks:
- Taman Awam Bukit Lagi
- Taman Bunga Kertas Tuanku Lailatul Shahreen
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| There are lots of flowers around. I think it will be beautiful to spend time with family here in the evening. Since it is located close to Taman Awam, people can spend the evening with riadah and exercises :) |
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| Greeennnnn. |
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| Not really sure how many entrance to the hiking route. But you can hike and go down with different routes. |
As how I described the title of this post, YESSSS IT IS A SHORT ROUTE BUT INTENSE!
Haha, curam sangat mak ai.
Stamina demanding.
Ya Allah, the stairs are very steep and quite small hahahaha nangis weh kaki.
But, as usual, with a rough journey there will be some rewards at the end. Same like our life in this world, sweet moments with painful challenges but if we really live life accordingly, Allah will reward us with Jannah, right?
Same concept.
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| Hutan belantara. |
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| Calming shade. |
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| Kak Zira and Puteri. They are so fit! |
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| Lovely! |
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| At the peak. |
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| Small, steep stairs. |
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| Sap sap soi for them haha. |
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| Us. |
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| Us at the peak :D |
Yeay! If I am not mistaken, less than one hour needed for the whole hike :D
More details, maybe you can use this LINK as reference. :)
SS, Perak, Malaysia
171026
They Made It To The Top of Pet?ín Hill!
September 16, 2017
Finally :D
During their first trip to Czech in the middle of 2015, we ran out of time to explore Prague itself. Lol. I was so eager last time to take them to different cities in Europe and turned out I forgot to allocate more days to explore Prague itself. -__-'
But, alhamdulillah this time, more places checked!
Pet?ín hill, Czech
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| With Pet?ín Lookout Tower (Pet?ínská rozhledna) |
Finally they managed to get to the top! The queue for the funicular was not that short but I was glad we had few unplanned hours to spend. :)
The day after my graduation day was when our Europe road trip started. We were expected to pick up our pre-booked rental car at about 3pm when unexpectedly it was delayed till 6pm.
Early morning that day, I took a tram from our Airbnb to the city center to get my degree's translation done, together with the other Malaysians. Since the scroll was very big, we need to make a notarized, smaller copy (A4) - and of course it costs money. Then, we left the smaller copy at the translation office.
Guess what, the translator was extremely old and we were told that he is currently the one and only official Latin to English translator in Czech! We kept praying that he will remain healthy as long as he can :)
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| Summer with flowers. <3 |
Done with all procedures, I rushed back to the Airbnb to help with check out. With Uber, we took our luggages straight to car rental office and planned to store our luggage there for few hours while waiting for the car to be ready.
Things happened, plan changed.
So, the car will only be ready around 6pm.
What to do?
Let's explore Prague!
Of course not really by foot but public transportation :D Hehe
PET?íN - SCENIC VIEWPOINT OF PRAGUE, CZECH
click here to read and to enjoy the views from this hill :)
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| Main aci nyorok ;p This was how I enjoyed my parents' old school jokes... ambik je gambar nanti kacau diorang balik :) |
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| Sometimes, I feel like I am just a photographer for their trip. Haha. I wonder how older generation can maintain the sweetness and harmony in their relationship? T__T |
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| The queue for funicular. You can always use the same tickets for tram / metro as long as they are still valid. |
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| View from the funicular. |
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| My mum requested her picture with these roses :D |
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| Homemade lemonade - already missing this T__T |
This lemonade was nicely done and delicious! Always ask about the ingredients if you come to Czech as they sometimes don't consider wine / beer as alcohol (as these are totally normal for them). Don't simply ask about alcohol okay?
Does it have alcohol, beer or wine? Má alkohol, pivo nebo víno?
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| Ginger for ayah, lemon for mak, strawberry for me. |
Around 5pm+, the car rental company texted me that the car was ready for pick up. :)
RUNWELL Rent A CarJust for my future reference, in case I forgot about this.
Or you can try this car rental company as well :) I recommend it!
After checking the car and set the navigation, we finally leave Prague for a transit in Hannover before our next destination, Hamburg, Germany. :)
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| Sunset in Germany. |
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| SubhanAllah, isn't it beautiful? :D |
Till next post, insyAllah :)
SS, Perak, Malaysia
170916
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