Pangkor Laut Resort getaway~

Here's an outdated blog of my trip to Pangkor Laut Resort recently.

Adapted from wiki:
Pangkor Laut, a small privately owned island to the southwest of the main island, is the second largest of the nine islands that make up the Pangkor archipelago. Pangkor Laut is known for its white beaches and crystal clear waters. It has three main beaches, namely Emerald Bay which is ideal for swimming and sunbathing; Coral Beach, a heaven for scuba divers in search of colourful corals and underwater marine life and Royal Bay, for those who prefer sailing and windsurfing. An exclusive luxurious resort named after the island stands on the eastern side of the island. Part of the resort is nestled within the lush hillside while part of it extends over the water.

Upon reaching at Lumut, one can already feel the 5 star services of Pangkor Laut Resort. A cold towel and iced drinks are served, definitely suitable to cool down after my 3 hours journey from KL. From there, they'll attend to your luggages and later escort you to the jetty for the boat ride to the island. The boat ride takes about half an hour. The PLR staffs are lined up at the jetty to give us a warm welcome.

I stayed in the garden villa, the room is comfortable and homely. Everything you need is there. And even if it's not, it's just a call away. There is a big bathtub (good for soaking your tiredness away after a whole day of snorkeling, island hopping or kayaking), and they provide natural bath salt as well (increase buoyancy so you feel lighter and floats on water :P).

(photo taken from pangkorlautresort official website as i've missed out the photo of the garden villa i stayed in)

huge bathtub with rainforest as backdrop

bath salt

Emerald Bay is lovely. Truly a hidden gem, the sea is calm and the sand on the beach is soft. There are numerous beach chair under the shady trees.

clear water

once you reach the beach, the PLR staff will help you tidy up the beach chair and offer some bottled water in a cooling bucket.

Can't get enough of the beach, I visited it everyday for my 3 days stay.

sunset at emerald bay

Although the time I went was school holiday and the resort is quite packed, the beach remained uncrowded. There's also shuttle busses around the area, which transports you to and fro the room, hotel lobby, beach or  the spa village.

I took up the Malaysian residents' package which is RM799 per person include jetty transfer, accomodation (garden villa) and food for 3 days 2 nights. If you wish to stay in hill villa or water villa, you can top up. As for the meals (dinner and lunch), you get to choose from the ala carte menu (1 appetizer + 1 main + 1 dessert) and you even get to choose the venue to suit your itinery. (Feast Village, Uncle Lim's, Chapman's Bar and Royal Bay Beach Club). Please be reminded to do reservation for dinner daily by calling the Dining Concierge.

breakfast buffet

1st day dinner

2nd day lunch

2nd day dinner

last day lunch

The spa village is pretty and relaxing. Although I did not try out the spa (hopefully I'll be able to come back and try the spa), here are some photos of the spa village.

The swimming pool in the resort faces the ocean. The staff there are very attentive as well. Once we arrived at the pool, they will bring the towels and cold bottled water to serve us.

The straw bag in the photo is available in each room for guests (to be used within the resort).

Other available facilities/activities: Water sports (kayak, yachting, fishing, snorkeling, island hopping etc), yoga, nature walk (every morning departure from library), tennis courts and many more.

One phrase to describe this trip, just sit back and relax! ♥~

Date visited : March 2011
Services : *****
Food : *****
Value for money : ****
(This is not a sponsored trip, so the review is unbiased)

For reservations/enquiries, contact YTL - travelcentre@ytlhotels.com.my or call +60327831000.

Canelé Pâtisserie, Paragon Orchard Road, Singapore

During the few recent visits to Singapore with my mum, I have tried out various eateries around Singapore, mainly in Orchard since we stayed there.

Canelé Pâtisserie is one of the listed place to have the best dessert in Singapore (if you do a quick google search on best dessert in singapore, canele's will appear :P). I don't deny that. The cakes and macarons are really yummilicous.

Savoury crepe

The classic French style pancake (crepe) served with salad, Paris ham, Emmental cheese, and sunny side up (SGD12.50) is good. I always like the combination of ham, cheese + egg, i find the taste really complimenting each other. With the right amount of salad, this is healthy yet tasty meal :P. Apart from these combination, they do have crepe with different combinations such as salmon, roasted chicken, and sauteed mushrooms.

For desserts, I go for Le Royale (SGD7.00) and a Passion Chocolat macaron (SGD2.30).

Le Royale

macaron

Le Royale is one of their signature cake. With 66% of dark chocolate mousse, layers of hazelnut feullitine and praline, this dessert definitely satisfies my sweet tooth. I love this cake. I always feel my mood elevates to a happier level after I had the right amount of chocolate therapy.

The Passion chocolat macaron on the other hand has the right amount of sweetness for my liking. I always find macarons a tad too sweet for me, but this was jus right. Yum! Nom nom nom.. ah.. blogging about this makes me miss Canele's dessert.

Later (the next day), as I strolled along Orchard, I bumped into another outlet of Canele's, at Shaw Centre. I decided to drop by for more cakes! This time I tried Macha ($7), sorry no photos as I left my camera and I sank my fork in before I was able to take any photos from my phone.

However, let me describe this pretty, light green cake. This dessert consists of green tea mousse, layered with almond crumble and there's chestnut cream in the middle. A delicious combination.

I will definitely try more of Canele's cake in my next visit to Singapore. :) It's a definite must try dessert place in Singapore.

Canelle's do have some souvenir for you to take back for friends and families as they have some pretty-looking cookies, chocolate and meringue packed up conveniently for you.

Canelé Pâtisserie outlets:

Robertson Walk

11 Unity Street, #01-09

#01-01A, Shaw Centre,

Scotts Road. (near Orchard)

(open till late night)

#B1-25 Paragon

Orchard.

#B1-46/47 Raffles City Shopping Centre

Syn comes to KL - LeVain Boulangerie Pattiserie

A friend of mine who's currently working in Singapore came to KL for a short weekend trip. Decided to give Levain Boulangerie a try. So here we are..  for our brunch and long chats. Levain Boulangerie is housed in a posh bungalow with classy interiors. We went there on a Saturday and it was quite packed. We chose the upstairs seat, as the ground floor was fully occupied.

real stone oven bakery

the selection of breads

LeVain has a diverse selection of pastries, breads and sandwiches. I couldn't help but to load my tray with almost everything :P (we actually shared all these)

piggying out : mash potato bun with ham bits, curry donut, cheese tart, pizza etc.

sausagey bread, turkey ham & eggs, egg sandwhich, cute squid bread

 bolognaise spaghettini

syn killing the "squid"

It's self-service in LeVain, however you can request the staff at the payment counter to cut the breads/pastries into desired number of pieces.

After trying out, I highly recommend the Turkey Ham & Egg, Curry Donut and Mashed Potato with ham bits. (I have yet to try many other pastries, but I'll be back for more. Stay tune for revisits)

We sit and chatted for few hours, while we wait for more friends to join us.

Apart from pastries and bread, they do have macaroons, cookies and cakes. I tried the noisette cake and it was fantabulous :P This lovely cake consists of a layer of hazelnut dacquoise, dark chocolate mouse and flourless, crumbly cake at the bottom. Even a friend of mine, PH who doesnt like cakes compliments the texture of this noisette cake. :) yay!

noisette cake

More photos:

me, syn

ph, jy

UPDATED : REVISIT, May 2011

Had my lunch in Levain with my mum when she came over to KL. I tried the macarons.

triple chocolate and orange macarons

I find the macarons here abit too sweet, unlike the one at Canele's which are really good, not too sweet. The triple chocolate macaron however is quite chocolatey. Good if u feel like getting a chocolate therapy to make you happy ;)

Address:

LeVain Boulangerie Pattiserie

No. 7, Jalan Delima (off Jalan Imbi),
55100 Kuala Lumpur.
http://www.levain.com.my/
Opening time : Monday to Sunday, 7.30am -9pm


Pre Christmas 2010 - Hong Kong trip - Disneyland

This is part of my Hong Kong trip post, starting with Disneyland!! Hong Kong Disneyland is my 2nd trip to disneylands after Japan's back in 2004.

It is much smaller compare to the Japan one (Disneyland + Disney sea), nevertheless it is still a whimsical and lovely park. I always ♥ disneylands, fairy tales, cutsie stuffs and pure fun, at least for a day~

Sunny Bay station (even the station before Disneyland sounds happy)

MTR to HK Disneyland Resort

Everything Mickey~

Mickey's fountain - Almost there..

Welcome~

We reached there early to catch the buffet breakfast at Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel's Enchanted Garden. HK Disneyland Hotel has Victorian style deco, the buffet breakfast (HKD230++ per pax) allows you to meet and greet with several characters including Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Daisy. The characters come up to your table to greet you and you can snap, snap away!~

The buffet breakfast has a wide selection of western breakfast, which include waffle, pancake, muesli, cornflakes, pastries etc. They do have chinese dimsum and asian style noodles.



Enchanted door :)

Mickey shaped waffle and pancake

enchanted maze, outside the restaurant

victorian-christmas deco

Goofy

Mickey~

Outside the restaurant there is a garden, very pretty with a lot of flowers, and since christmas is around the corner, red poinsettias are everywhere. You can even have a good view of the sea from here. Nice place to have a stroll before the park opens.

We then took the hotel shuttle bus to the the park's entrance. If you manage to reach early, disneylands always have a small ceremony for their opening, usually a guest family is invited to join in this special ribbon cutting ceremony. (One-day ticket HKD350)

entrance

Main Street U.S.A

Duffy bear's house!~  Duffy is Minnie's gift to Mickey

From here onwards, I shall let the photos do the talking. But don't forget to snap your Disney's FastPass for these three attractions :

• Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
• Space Mountain
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

example of a FastPass

These FastPass does reduce your waiting time significantly, especially during peak time. Check here for more information on FastPass terms & conditions.

City Hall - place to get all info needed

Main street antique cars

TomorrowLand

Astro Blasters - laser game

Space mountain - thrilling indoor roller coaster

FantasyLand

It's a small world -christmas edition

I reach USA already~

The Disney It's A Small World:

The Golden Mickey show -Fabulous! Must-see show~

Mickey Philharmagic

3D Mickey philharmagic show

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Wanders into the Winnie the Pooh story book in the Pooh's hunny-pot

i luv Tigger!~

Flights of Fantasy Parade

These are the few very fascinating 'cars'. The Disney parade in HK Disneyland is superb~

The majestic castle

Adventureland

Tarzan's Treehouse

Christmas 2010 candy-licious decorations

Mickey & Minnie Christmas 2010

Meet the characters at Fantasy Garden

 ♥ Duffy~

There goes the bits and pieces of the memories I collected from HK Disneyland. Whimsical isn't it?

Everything here is happily ever after...~ so, wish u all readers out there happiness always~

Note : Remember to check out the Star Guest Program which runs occasionally. You can get lots of extra goodies~

Website : http://park.hongkongdisneyland.com/hkdl/en_US/home/home?name=HomePage

Tickets can be purchased from MTR stations or shops along Avenue of Stars (may have additional gifts, I got shirt pins :P) and at the park entrance.

Update: HK Disneyland is celebrating their 5th anniversary this year. !!~ Hot air baloon magical airship for the fantasy parade.