wanderlust: July 2011

Monday, July 18, 2011

Day 3: Desaru (Malaysia) - Singapore

The breakfast at the hotel is always sumptuous, we don't even need to have lunch afterwards. :D

Our typical breakfast. From left to right: nasi lemak and condiments, stir fried kway teow, rendang chicken, hash brown, baked beans and many more...

Teratai Coffee House where we had our breakfast

Yipee...

After checking out, we drove back to JB and dropped by Tesco for groceries before returning to Singapore.

Since this trip was a success, next time we would try to go somewhere further. ;)

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Day 2: Desaru

Three of us went for a swim in the morning. The mini water park was fun enough for little kids.

The swimming pool

Another swimming pool at the water park

Big coconut splash

Having fun with slides

In the late afternoon, we went for a drive to other beaches nearby. These beaches are mostly frequented by locals.

Tanjong Balau

Batu Layar
This beach has pretty impressive rocks. Nice place for photography.

Baby with grandma

Next, we drove another half an hour to Sungai Rengit. This is where the most famous seafood restaurant located. It is a must try when you come here.

Jade Garden Seafood Restaurant

Lobsters!!

This was what we ordered:

Stir fried ostrich meat with ginger and spring onion

Stir fried kailan

And here comes the highlight of this trip: 1 kg of lobster! It's RM 90/kg. My mom said it was a rare occasion that we could (afford to) order 1 kg of lobster hehehe... quite true :)

Fried lobster with salted egg yolk

1 kg black pepper crab at RM 35/kg.

Everything was pretty good except the crab dish. The crab meat was fine, but the way they cook it wasn't good enough. This dinner cost about RM 180 for 4 persons.

Day 3 >>

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Day 1: Singapore - Desaru (Malaysia)

Finally we went for holiday!! It had been more than a year since the babymoon trip to Bali last year and I had been dreaming about this day to come much too often. :)

Since now there's a baby on board, our holiday destination is much restricted. It can't be too hectic, the destination must not be too far and it must be cheap (because we plan to bring our helper and if unfortunately the holiday is ruined I won't feel heart pain hehe...)

So for baby first trip, the choice fell on Desaru which fulfilled all my criteria. It is an easy drive from Singapore, the road trip is now even shorter with the newly opened Senai - Desaru (E22) highway. We could also bring as much baby stuff as we need and the room rate is cheap! More on that later.

Saturday morning was usually the busiest at the Woodlands Checkpoint. So after consulting the real-time traffic report, we decided to start the journey in the afternoon instead. When we reached the Checkpoint, the traffic jam wasn't that bad after all. It only took us about half an hour to reach the other side. From Johor Bahru, we drove about 15 minutes to E22 highway and it took another 30 minutes to Desaru. Easy breezy...

Senai-Desaru expressway (E22)

1.7 km bridge, just opened in June 2011

Lotus Desaru Resort
Our group had 4 adults and 1 infant (mom came with us), so I booked a two bedroom suite for 2 nights which cost RM 756 (SGD 305). I made a reservation at marimari.com which gave us a non peak rate, this was about RM400 cheaper than the rate provided by the hotel itself. It was a pure luck to find this website hehe..

There are as much as 18 blocks in this resort.

We stayed at block F level 2.

Block F is next to the water park, perfect for family with kids. The next best are blocks that located nearest to the beach.

Dining and living room

Pantry

Master bedroom

Bathroom in master bedroom

Second room

Complimentary baby cot

Another shower room

The beach

After leaving baby with grandma, we walked further along the beach. Love the quietness here.

Dinner was a headache, we drove nearby but couldn't find anything to eat. Only found some shabby places which we dare not to try, so in the end we had our dinner at the hotel.

That's all for Day One.

Day 2 >>