Lexis Hibiscus Port Dickson

We drove up to Lexis Hibiscus Port Dickson in December 2015 to have a short getaway since we didn't go anywhere far that year.

Our drive took us about 3hours - 3.5hours. We used our GPS and also google map to find our way there.

We arrived there at about 3 p.m. Our room was not ready so we went to eat at Roselle first. At 4p.m. , one of the rooms was ready while the other was not. So we all went to the room that was ready and only received the room for the other key at 5.35p.m. On a side note, if you arrive at the hotel before 2p.m. , you can check in if your room is ready.

Although we booked for the premium room, we were given the Panorama Pool Villa (Sea View). I guess it was to make up for our room not being ready. Do take note that not all rooms on this side of the resort is ready. Nonetheless, we were thrilled and the room was beautiful. The view was just majestic.

Each villa comes with a dip pool about 1.2m deep. Ulfa and Nuha had to use floats. We brought along the buoys for them as we had done our research earlier.

Our villa also comes with two king-sized beds and a huge bathroom. We had separate toilet and bath area. Since we were at the Panorama Pool Villa, we also had a huge bathtub with shower!

The kids were excited to plunge into the pool. So we lounged in the pool for a long while. We wanted to have dinner at Roselle but they were serving dinner buffet from 6.30 p.m. till 10.30p.m. Since we did not want to have the buffet dinner, we opted for in-room dining. Food was served to us within 30 minutes.

We enjoyed the night view for a while. The night was beautiful; dark but beautiful.

Next morning, we went for breakfast at around 7.20a.m. We asked the buggy drivers what the peak hours for breakfast was like and they told us between 8a.m. to 9a.m. so we made sure to avoid that time. Breakfast was alright - enough mix of local and western cuisines.

After breakfast, we returned to our rooms to get ready and then we drove up to KL (just because i wanted to do some shopping). We went to Kenanga Wholesale City. Took us about 1h 15min to get there and another 1h 15min to get back to Port Dickson.

We returned to the resort at around 4.30 p.m. Relaxed a bit more then went for our BBQ dinner buffet at 6.30pm. The bbq dinner buffet costs about RM98 for adults and RM49 for kids above 7 years old.

There was quite a selection of bbq dishes. I especially loved the roasted lamb with the acar-like sauce. It was a good mix of seafood and meat dishes. Do make a reservation for the bbq dinner as you might not get a seat during peak periods. Also, do prepare to call for buggy earlier as you might not get a buggy as quickly during peak periods like breakfast, dinner or check-in and check-out time. Our longest wait had to be 20mins while the shortest wait for buggy is about 5mins.

After dinner, there was a tribal dance show in front of Roselle at around 8p.m. Guests were also invited to join.

The next day, we prepared for check out. We had breakfast prior to that. This was where it didnt leave us with a very good impression of Lexis Hibiscus Port Dickson. That day, there happened to be lots of guests at breakfast. I guess they checked in the day before. Since we didnt come by that early, we were told to go to another restaurant serving the same breakfast. However, we were appalled when we were there. Food was already finishing but not topped up. I asked for butter coz there was nothing much to eat so I decided to go with the old bread with butter. They told me butter was in the bowl. It was butter though, but a slab of margarine placed in a bowl. Not even in packets, just a slab.

Well, all in all, would I visit Lexis Hibiscus Port Dickson again? Yes, I would. The buggy drivers are very nice and would answer all your questions with a smile. The indoor pool is a definite plus point. Waking up to the sea is really beautiful. Even my kids enjoy their stay there. I think it is a lovely place. I would just make sure that I come down at around 7 for breakfast. 

Seoul Day 6 - 8

For Day 6, we wanted to let the kids experience snow. Well, the only snow play Auni experienced was when we went to Dubai and she got to play with the artificial snow. At the same time, I really wanted to visit the famous Nami Island made famous by the drama series Winter Sonata (which aired pretty long ago).

So we decided to book with a tour company as we did not really want to travel on our own with 3 kids as the distance is quite far. Plus, we were not really sure of the way. So we called up one of the tour groups (from the brochures we got at the airport) the day before we went. We managed to secure a deal with the tour group for a trip to Nami Island and Gangchon Elysian Ski Resort. Adults had to pay KRW 125000 each while children are charged at KRW 95000 each. Nuha was considered as infant as she was only 2 years old then. As such she gets to enjoy everything for free :)

The van came early the next morning to pick us up from our hotel. They was only one other Singaporean family while the others were mostly young adults travelling with friends or their partners.  We made payment using credit card. They had a wireless credit card machine with them.

The van took us to the ferry terminal where we boarded a ferry to Nami Island. It was a very short ferry ride, about 5 - 10 minutes. We noticed that many of the elderly (of different nationalities) were fascinated with my girls. Maybe because they seldom see 3 very young kids travelling in the winter cold.

Nami Island was cold. Colder than Seoul. We had to make several stops at the fire pits to warm ourselves up. The island is beautiful but I was pretty sure it would look even spectacular if it snowed. Sadly we did not experience snow in Nami Island while we were there. We rented the family bicycle so that it would be faster for us to travel around the island with the kids. The island is not huge but we had limited time as we were with a tour group. I would definitely love to visit Nami Island again and enjoy it at my own time.

Thereafter, we took the ferry back to mainland and had Dakgalbi for lunch. The restaurant was very near the ferry terminal. It is a halal restaurant. If you want to know the location of the restaurant and tantalise your tastebuds, you can refer to this website: http://www.havehalalwilltravel.com/blog/top-3-halal-korean-food-in-korea/ .We actually requested for halal meal when we booked with the tour company. Sorry, we did not take any photos here as we were busy eating :) But really, you should try the Dakgalbi, it is amazing!

Thereafter we proceeded to the ski resort. It is not far from Nami Island Ferry Terminal. Maybe about  30 - 40 minutes of travel time. We stopped by the ski shop to rent the ski suit which costs about KRW 15000 per person. Nuha had to pay too as we rented a suit for her. Thankfully they had one that fit her just right and she looked like a cute little teddy bear :) The girls all had waterproof shoes so we did not rent any boots for them. However, hubby and I had to rent heavy ski boots as we had no waterproof boots.

Now, we were travelling with 3 small kids, therefore there was no way we could ski. So we opted for the snow slide. Snow sledge and ski gloves were included in the package so we need not pay extra for those. As we were the only family that wanted to do the snow sliding, they sent us to the slopes first. The ski resort for the snow sliding was not yet opened to public as they had not completed setting the other slope (there were two slopes for snow sliding). So we basically had the area to ourselves! Well except for a few professional skiers who were testing out the slopes.

We went snow sliding, built miniature snowmen, rolled around the snow... The girls (and the parents) had so much fun.

Thereafter we returned to Seoul. We went back to our hotel to rest for a short while then we went down to Myeondong area in search of dinner. We went to Myeongdong Eomoni Jib. It is a seafood restaurant that is recommended by KTO for muslims. It is not halal-certified just that it serves seafood only. It is good to let them know that you cannot take alcohol. It is located in a small alleyway. For its exact location, you can refer to this website: http://www.muslimbackpackerseoul.com/2012/06/myeongdong-eomoni-jib.html .

Thereafter we returned to the hotel.

Day 7 was spent mostly in Myeongdong to finish up our shopping and buy goodies back for home and we took a flight back to Singapore early on Day 8.

Seoul Day 4 and Day 5

On Day 4, we decided to visit the famous Namdaemun Market. Mind you, we were bracing the winter cold with 3 kids and no stroller at all.

Myeongdong is very near Namdaemun. However we did not want to walk so we took the train from Myeongdong to Hoehyon, which is only one stop away.

We went there in the morning so there were plenty of ahjummas doing their morning marketing. At first I was not very impressed as they sold pretty much the usual souvenirs for tourists. So we shopped for souvenirs to bring back for our family and friends.

Then... I saw all the cute kids' stuff - from the boots to the cool skirts! That definitely unleashed the ahjumma in me. We bought cute boots for the kids. They cost about S$18 - S$20. Not extremely cheap but totally worth it for me! They are Made in Korea afterall (as the shopowners would tell you when you quote an extremely obscene price to them).

Where I bought some of the clothes for the kids.

Walking with kids in an open area in the winter cold without stroller is not easy. We had to cross over to the other side to rest at the cafe and have some hot chocolate. Well, partly because my younger 2 kids fell asleep. So hubby had to carry one while I had to hold the other. So we took our time. Had hot chocolate and doughnut. This became our daily snack every single day. (This is something the kids and I miss about Korea - having doughnut and hot chocolate in winter.) We took quite some time at the cafe. After that we continued to shop at Namdaemun.

The thing about Namdaemun is that when the sun sets, the area is converted into mini eateries. You see tables and stools being set as the people get ready to enjoy their night snack and soju. So we headed back to Myeongdong, bought some snacks and went back to the hotel.

Pretty uneventful day, but well, we did love Namdaemun.

So for the next day, we decided to return to Namdaemun again to finish our shopping. We bought plenty of kids clothes. They really have beautiful clothes for kids. Sadly, as it is winter, most are winter wear and  not appropriate for Singapore's weather. Nonetheless, we still managed to get what we need and plenty of nice shoes for the kids.

Thereafter we proceeded to Itaewon for our dinner. This time round we went to Kervan, a Turkish Restaurant. Expensive but worth it.

Day 5 Hong Kong

We started our day by taking the MTR from Tsim Sha Tsui to Causeway Bay. We had to switch to the Island Line at Admiralty in order to get to Causeway Bay. 

Our aim was to go to Times Square first so we should have chosen Exit A and exit from there before we tapped the Octopus card at the automated turnstile. However, we made a mistake by exiting from the automated turnstile first then tried looking for Exit A. Sadly, that was a mistake and we could only exit via Exits D, E or F. So we took exit F1. We went to Sogo. Along the way, we saw the baricaded area for the HK protest group. No one was in sight but we did see some tents and policemen.

Got myself a Marc Jacobs bracelet for HKD 437 at Sogo. Saw a pretty wallet from Samatha Thavasa in Tiffany Blue retailing for HKD 1200. Contemplated on buying but did not buy it in the end (regretting it now :/ ). It is a Japanese brand and has stores in US too.

We met a nice and friendly Malaysian diplomat and chatted for a while.

We then made our way to Times Square. Along the way, hubby entered a three-storey Nike store. We did not get anything from there nor at Times Square.

Christmas decorations outside Times Square

It was already 3 p.m. and our stomachs have started to rumble. However, a look at our Samsung Handy showed that some of the halal restaurants were quite a walking distance away. Since we wanted to go to Ladies Market, we decided to have our meal there instead. So we took the MTR. There is a link to the MTR from Times Square itself. 

We took the MTR from Causeway Bay, switched to the Tsuen Wan Line (red) heading towards Central and stopped at Mongkok. Made our way to Argyle Street, better known as Ladies Market. We bought a small bag for Ulfa and a leather bag for hubby. We did not get anything much. The things sold were not that cheap. Do bargain a lot if you want to buy an item. I normally quote half the price of what the stallholder offers. From there we decide on the appropriate price.

We then had our meal at Ottoman Mediterranean Cuisine at Ladies Market itself. This is a halal-certified restaurant by the Incorporated Trustees of the Islamic Community Fund of Hong Kong. The owner is a very nice Turkish man named Jameel. The restaurant has free Wi-fi (thumbs up for that!) and the owner gave us the password. We ordered Lamb and Cheese Pide, Chicken Doner Roll, Beef Kebab with Rice, Marinated Chicken Wings, Baklava and Potato Wedges. Hubby also ordered the Turkish Mint Tea (green in colour) which was pretty nice and refreshing. The beef for the Beef Kebab was very soft and goes very well with the rice. The Lamb and Cheese Pide was delicious! The bread was soft and the cheese goes very well with the sweet and juicy lamb.

View from inside the restaurant

I love that yellow HOT chili sauce. Really HOT!

The best pide I ever had. The kids agreed.

After the meal, the sun had started to set. So we headed back to our hotel, The Mira, at Tsim Sha Tsui using the MTR. It was very crowded. At Tsim Sha Tsui station, we returned the Octopus Card at the counter and was refunded the unused amount together with the deposit, minus the admin fee of HKD9. We got back to our hotel, informed the hotel to book for us a taxi to the airport the next morning and started packing for Korea. 

Hong Kong has very nice shopping areas but the prices are not extremely cheap either. Some brands are cheaper though because there is no tax on the goods. Overall, halal food is on the pricey side in Hong Kong seeing that it is not as readily available as it is in Singapore.

Do wait for my next blog post on our trip to Seoul, South Korea.

Day 4 Hong Kong

We decided to return to Harbour City as we did not explore much of it previously. So we walked from The Mira Hotel to Harbour City.

There are lots of high-end boutiques at Harbour City. These are all the authentic boutiques of course. We walked around and shopped. We stopped by a cafe for coffee. The cafe was overlooking the harbour and we saw Superstar Virgo docking. It was a beautiful sight. 

Beautiful view

Then we shopped some more. We returned to our area along Nathan Road and explored the shopping centres around there. Thereafter we returned to our hotel.

We really wanted to try halal Hong Kong food. Afterall, if you are in a country, you have to try their food. We saw that Ma's Restaurant was located between Prince Edward Station and Sham Shui Po Station. To go there, we need to take the MTR and it is about 3 stations away. But after searching some more, we discovered that there is a 2nd Ma's Restaurant branch in Tsim Sha Tsui itself! And this was just a short walking distance. It is at H8 Building, on the 8th Floor. The address is: H8, 8F, Hau Fook Street, Tsim Sha Tsui. We called to confirm that it was opened and indeed it was. Ma's Restaurant is a halal-certified restaurant.

We had a delicious and satisfying meal. We were so glad to have found this gem!

How to get to Ma's Restaurant at Tsim Sha Tsui:
From Nathan Road, enter Granville Road. As you walk down, you will pass by Carnarvon Road (do not enter this road). Walk a little bit down. You will then spot Cotton On on your right. Walk into the alley next to Cotton On.

Walk down the alley and you will come to this:

H8 building is just behind me as I took this picture. In other words, I am standing in front of H8 Building where Ma's Restaurant is.

Go to H8 Building and take the lift to the 8th floor. There is a security guard at the lobby. The minute he saw us, he told us : "8th floor". Haha, I guess that must be the only halal restaurant in that building.

So go up to the 8th floor. The door will open up to this:

And you are at Ma's Restaurant! They have all the halal certificates and newspaper articles displayed. The waitresses and the chef are very nice people indeed.

The restaurant layout

Our orders:

We really enjoyed eating at Ma's Restaurant. In fact, Auni and hubby requested to return to this restaurant again.
p/s: They have baby seats too ;)

Trip to Hong Kong & Seoul

I had originally booked a trip to Hong Kong for the family (Hubby, me and the 3 girls) for the year-end school holidays. I was not really interested in going to Hong Kong but I thought that it would be nice to let the kids experience Hong Kong Disneyland since it is the nearest Disneyland to Singapore. 

So the flight was with Scoot since we got the flight at a good deal (or so I thought) during one of the promos. The hotel we booked for our stay there was The Mira as it was situated in Tsim Sha Tsui, along Nathan Road, one of the shopping districts. Our stay in Hong Kong was to be for 6 days.

Thereafter, I started to get the itch to go to South Korea (must be due to all the Korean drama series). I managed to convince Mr Hubby to continue our holiday to South Korea after Hong Kong ( the kids helped with the convincing too). Furthermore, Hong Kong and South Korea are not that far apart. Our flight to Seoul was with Hong Kong Express and our flight will be from Hong Kong Airport. Our stay in Seoul will be with Pacific Hotel as it is located in Myeongdong, one of the shopping areas in Seoul. 

Singapore to Hong Kong via Scoot Airlines. Stay in The Mira hotel in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong to Seoul via Hong Kong Express. Stay in Pacific Hotel in Seoul.

Seoul to Singapore via AirAsia. Transit in KL for 1h 40 min

I normally choose the hotels that have rooms big enough to accommodate the family. I will also tend to select hotels that are in the shopping districts. Travelling with 3 young children with no other helpers can be quite challenging (as most parents would know). Therefore, when the location of the hotel is within the shopping area, we can always go back to the hotel to leave our purchases and continue with the shopping again later on. My girls are now 2, 4 and 7 years old. Nuha and Ulfa are still very young and would definitely not be able to take long hours of shopping (but shopping must still be done... Hehe). Hubby and I agreed that this holiday trip will be a relaxing one and we will not rush. As such we had our itinerary carefully planned out. 

In the next few blog posts, I will share on our trip to Hong Kong and South Korea. Watch out for them! In the meantime, check out below for some tips on getting a cheaper airline fare.

Tips On Getting a Cheaper Fare

When booking for flights, I noticed that there were times when taking a return flight with the same airline can actually cost much more. 

1) I would normally use websites such as Skyscanner and Kayak to compare prices. 

2) I would also sometimes type in one-way to my destination and one-way back as it can be cheaper that way. 

3) Get alerts from the different airlines for promos.

4) Book your flight way in advance as it is cheaper than most last minute bookings.