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Paradise Hotel sea view

You can check out on www.wix.com which is a free website builder with hundreds of templates for mobile friendly smart phones and desktops. There are various prices from the most affordable to the premium ones with e-commerce supported. Note that the prices are in US dollars. So, for anyone staying in Malaysia, that means multiplying by 4.5 into Ringgit. I just came back from a free 1 night stay at Paradise Hotel with stunning view outside the balcony. Using the voucher for pay for 3 adults, free for 2, the 5 of us had a buffet dinner last night at Paradise Hotel where my partner was forced to be a member since he did the tennis court for them.

The buffet dinner was worth the money. It has flower crabs, satay (marinated barbequed chicken on skewers), ‘char koay teow’, salad, soups, drinks, lamb shank, vegetables, noodles, and much more. Should there be any leftover, we will keep them in a plastic bag to bring home for free meals instead of going out to buy.

Paradise hotel hill view

Above is another shot of the hill view while the first photo was sea view. I guess our room was both sea view and hill view facing in Tanjung Bungah. Paradise hotel was formerly owned by Berjaya which was unsuccessful and the elevator took 15 minutes to arrive in the good old days! With the new management, they have upgraded the elevator and it was faster now, even though we had to wait some time due to peak period as many guests were checking out before 1pm. Otherwise it will be chargeable after 1:00pm.

Overall, the stay was worth is since it is located by the beach with splendid views of the hills and seas. It is a getaway for 1 night from all the stress of work and busyness in the daily grind. I was rejuvenated and felt relaxed and it was therapeutic for the soul. Going for holidays now and then such as this is certainly worth the time and effort in driving up the winding roads to Tanjung Tokong in Penang.

I am not saying work is a burden. It is good as I need to put food on the table for my family especially dad with my monthly contribution of RM 1,050 for the household expenses. With this, they are able to eat out every day and mum does not have to cook for a regimen anymore unlike in the past.

Going to KL Tomorrow Morning

I shall be travelling to KL tomorrow morning for business and site visit where my partner does the driving and meeting with clients. Sometimes, I just wait in the car and check emails, Whatsapp, Facebook, etc. He is qualified as a Civil Engineer, so site visit is not so suitable for ladies. The construction work is ongoing and they may be nails, pieces of steel jutting out from the ground, etc. And all the workers are men and it would be very rare to see a lady engineer or supervisor giving instructions to the male workers. By right, men should handle men only and not involve women.

Generally, women earn less than men in most of the countries as they are seen to be the weaker sex. To be honest, I could not earn so much now if I am on my own doing website designing and such. But thank goodness I met my boss from the website and he was the one who propelled the company to greater heights from his past experiences as a director in various sectors. He is very determined, working hard every day, giving instructions to workers, pay them their wages every few days via internet banking, handles logistics and replacement of the materials. He also attends interviews to secure the job at hand. I am a silent partner doing all the computer work which works very well for me since I have a long term sore throat since a few years back. There is very little contact with fellow human beings unlike in the MNCs or factories in Bayan Lepas in Penang – supposedly the Silicon Valley of the East.

By the way, today is International Women’s day and The Star red banner on the papers are coloured purple just for today to celebrate this special day for women. I shall be departing for KL tomorrow around 8:00am and be back before Sunday for my youngest sister’s birthday celebration at Fong Wei Chinese Restaurant in Penang.

Going to KL Tomorrow

I shall be going to KL tomorrow by car early in the morning and then my partner will meet up with his old client. On Wednesday, we will stay at Mandarin Oriental Hotel beside KLCC using our 50% discount voucher which will come up to about RM 640 per night with taxes. My partner wants to meet up with his Belfast University room mate, whose name is Megat. He was trained as a Chartered Accountant together with his wife there. They stay in a bungalow in Tun Dr Ismail enclave; but he will come alone since the wife has Parkinson’s disease a few years back. I will also stay in my room and read a book or two. Let the 2 old buddies enjoy and reminiscence their university days. I should be back on Thursday evening after checking out at noon.

Going to KL on Friday

I shall be flying to KL on Friday, and returning on Sunday evening for business. On Saturday, will stay at Mandarin Oriental Hotel at 50% discount using the Elite voucher which will cost around RM 550 after the discount and factoring in the service charge, 6% GST, etc. The Firefly tickets have been bought online using my credit card to collect points and also add to my Bonuslink points. I am in the process of doing something on the side on top of my full time job at home. It is e-commerce, dropshipping and Shopify. Just hope that I have enough to last me a lifetime in terms of savings to stretch until I am called home.

Flew Back to Penang

I flew to KL yesterday by Firefly from Penang Airport early in the morning, departing at 9:00am and booked Hertz car rental for 2 days and promptly returned this evening also by Firefly from Subang Airport. Attended an interview and site visit 2 places this afternoon before returning the car and had dinner at Secret Recipe without any promotion at the airport. But in Taman Connaught, if you purchase ala carte meals above $50, you will get a free cake and a cuppa of coffee for UOB credit cards and above $45 for Maybank credit cards. I had spinach lasagne while my business partner had pan-fried dory fish with lobster sauce.

Going to KL in a while’s time

Today is Thursday and it is morning at 9:25am. I will be going to KL with my colleague and return on Sunday, also to hear free public talk on Investment at Mid Valley CityMall Halls 2 and 3. There are several speakers talking for 40 minutes each for each day and divided into several sessions per day. There is a goodie bag, free ice-cream and other freebies dished out for the participants. There is also a talk by Bank Negara, PRS, EPF, etc. I hope to have a good time there and learn something to grow my savings. Wish me luck!

Why You Must Visit Legoland, Johor

Legoland Hotel

Above is the entrance to Legoland Hotel, located in Gelang Patah in Johor Bahru. The building is painted in blocks of various colours depicting the ubiquitous small toy blocks that you construct and build into a structure. The hotel is beautiful, well furnished and maintained for repeat customers.

lift

This decoration is inside the lift or elevator which was about to open. You will notice Lego characters fill up the entire doors and there is also a ‘disco’ light ball at the top of the elevator rotating while reflecting pieces of blue light surrounding the insides. You will have a feeling of entering into a discoteche with moving lights jiving to the music.

paintings

After parking your car, and exiting from the car park inside the hotel, you will see this colourful collage of paintings that are hand drawn in a multitude of vibrant colours that stretches for a long distance as you walk toward the entrance to Legoland Park. There are various packages for families or tourists with different prices and for a senior citizen above 60, you get to pay only RM 122 or so while for the disabled, it is only RM 90.

tourists

These are blocks of Legoland chips built into characters of a short stomach-bulging tourist carrying luggage bags and a little girl showing her creations. To make it more real, fake cameras are hung around his neck for eye candy. They are certainly pleasing to the eyes. In Legoland Park, you will see many of such characters placed at strategic places as attractions.

malay-mother

There are restaurants inside as well and the tickets come with free RM 10 meal voucher for you to rest and relax while having a cuppa or cake inside. Near the entrance, there is also a souvenir shop with a wide repertoire of selections to buy like colourful themed towels, t-shirts for posterity, toys for children and the like. This picture of a Malay mother with ‘tudung’ or head scarf and a child reflects the culture and people of Malaysia.

roller-coaster

This is project X where there is a thrill-seeking roller coaster for the free rides. You can go for as many rounds as you like since there were hardly any queue during the off peak season. At the end of the ride and as you exit, you can see and buy your photos taken during the scariest park of the ride with your mouths go gaga. The photos cost RM 60 for 2 and they promote it as buy 1, get free 1 of the same photos with covers.

Albert-Einstein

This is a big floor to ceiling 1-storey height of Albert Einstein, the famous inventor and late scientist whose famous name has been inked in history and for future generations to learn from. The artist who built Mr Einstein must have painstakingly connected the Lego small blocks into a huge structure resembling the well-known scientist.

pot-of-flowers

Inside Legoland Hotel is a nice pot of flowers constructed from Lego blocks resembling the real thing.

Inside-hotel

This is inside the Legoland hotel where you can see a mini castle of sorts in the lobby and surrounded by children with seats for adults to view and watch their kids playing.

legoblocks

There are thousands of mini blocks for toddlers and kids to play with and exercise their hand-eye coordination for dexterity as they construct the mini blocks into something bigger. This wraps up our visit to Legoland in Johor and we will surely come back to stay in the hotel when time permits, even for 2 adults who are young at heart.

Flying to KL tomorrow

Early tomorrow morning, I shall depart Penang at 6:50am via Firefly to Subang and then rent a car to drive down to Kuantan using the Karak Highway. After meeting up with potential client, we shall head to Genting First World Hotel to stay for 1 night at $529 with WiFi and TV Channels before checking out at around noon and head to our apartment to rest for the flight back to Penang with boarding time at 10:00pm. The return Firefly flight was RM886 for 2 from Penang to Subang Airport. It is going to be a packed schedule tomorrow, having to wake up at around 4:30am and leave by 5:00pm to reach the airport in time and not to miss any flights.