Month: July 2014

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Wonderful Malaysia

Berjaya Langkawi Resort

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The Berjaya Langkawi Resort is located along a beautiful bay named Burau bay. The resort has various beautiful wooden villas which are placed along the area. The resort is positioned against the slope of the mountain Mat Cincang, hiding within the jungle while monkeys are walking under the wooden villas on stilts.

The houses have a beautiful interior, with a large balcony and a magnificent view looking over the bay. There is also free Wi-Fi, air-conditioning and a minibar. Apart from the houses located right next to the hill, you also have several chalets and suites standing on stilts at the shallow sea floor. These houses are simple beautiful, but to experience this you will pay a high price per night. The resort also holds the fantastic Taaras Spa, which offers multiple relaxation treatments.

When we stayed here, the food was great, and they have themed dinners on a weekly basis where there will be several Asian cuisines on the menu. You can also order delicious western dishes a la carte, and western lunches are also available. We ordered a meal from our room once (room service), and the employee who brought our food told us that we could leave the tray with plates, cutlery and left-overs in front of our door after we were finished. After we did this, all hell broke loose in front of our house, since the macaques found out we had left some left-overs, and took the entire tray with them. All around our house we had found plates and cutlery. A good lesson to never leave food outside your villa.

The lobby is gorgeous, and build in a traditional style. When you walk out of the lobby, you arrive at a beautiful pool, with a viewing over the bay. It’s only a 3 minute walk from the lobby to the beach, which comes with several wooden beach beds. Next to the lobby you have the Rimba bar, where you can enjoy numerous types of cocktails. At the beach you have the Boat House Bar, which is a nice place to have a drink while enjoying a lovely sunset.

Since the resort is located on a pretty steep slope, a golf cart brings you to and from the villa. All you have to do is call room service, and a bellboy will be in front of your door within a minute.

A few minutes’ walk away you will find the attraction named Oriental Village, which is a remake of a village in authentic style, which is on the same ground as the popular Panorama Lankawi Cable Car. This is a cable way which will bring you all the way to the top of the mountain Cincang. The view is absolutely magnificent from the top, as you can see along the entire island. If you look far enough, you can even see the coastline of Malaysia, and if you look north you can see several island from the neighboring country Thailand. If you take a taxi, it is about a 5 minute ride to Telega Harbour, which is a cozy and touristic harbor. Here you will find a lot of (especially Western) restaurants.

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Tourism Malaysia

Flame’s Kitchen Western Food Restaurant at Bandar Jaya Putra, Johor Bahru

Flame’s Kitchen Restaurant (N1.57412 E103.77755) is located at Bandar Putra Jaya (previously known as JP Perdana) of Johor Bahru. The restaurant is make use of the previous show house from the developer, it was a double storey semi-detach house, and has a wide garden area on the side, the owner of Flame’s Kitchen had renovated and changed it to beautiful and comfort restaurant.

The restaurant has a amber private parking area which situated at the backyard of the restaurant.

The special designed signage is nice and I like the reflection from the water which look like the real burning flame!

It has a cozy environment, comfort, relax and rather unique because of converted from the residential house, and surrounded with a small garden.
There are indoor and outdoor area, if the weather is not too warm, I prefer to dine at the outdoor with the company of nature…

The bar counter is well decorated with all the colourful lightings…



The restaurant also serve alcohol with variety of draught beers…

We visited with a group of 8 adults and 4 children. The dishes we had as below…

Before the main course serve, we had their popular appetizer – Crab meat bruschetta.
Chopped fresh tomatoes with garlic, basil
olive oil mixed with crab meats, accompanied with toasted garlic
breads. This traditional Italian dish served as a great appetizer before our dinner.

As for the children, they had their mushroom soup and garlic bread…

Our main course served on table about 15 minutes, it was pretty fast…

Rich, creamy and served with big prawns and oysters. The rich cheesy taste good, but it might not suitable for those who unlike the creamy setting.

All the main course from Flame’s Kitchen restaurant serve together with the one of the choices of 10 side dish :-
*  Garlic bread
*  Garlic rice
*  Baked bean
*  Egg mayo
*  Macaroni cheese
*  French fries
*  Onion rings
*  Mashed potatoes
*  Grilled Asparagus (1pc)
*  Grilled mushroom
Please select your favorite…

We had 2 Cujun Rub Salmon Fillet with different side dish…





The both fillets were well marinated, fresh and good. The garlic rice can be better if slightly moist.

2 different type of chicken chop below, both served in 300g…
*  Spicy Pastrami Chicken leg chop – paprika marinated 
*  Wal-lic chicken leg chop – roasted walnuts and garlics




The chicken chop was yummy with a slight of spicy taste, it was juicy and the portion (300g) was big enough for a big eater.



As for the above Wal-lic chicken chop, prefer more moist for a better bite (my personal preference), but the children like it very much! Especially the onion rings.

Follow by the Mum marinated pork belly.
The pork belly was fat, oily with the Chinese style marinated (it’s stated on the menu), Oh! I like the oily part very much! Delicious!

Not everyone will like this dish above because of the oily fat from the pork, especially those on diet…but, we all love it just because of the fragrance fat which melted in our mouth!

The last dish was on the Charcoal grill session – Cumin grilled large squid.





This charcoal grilled squid is one of the popular dish from the restaurant. The taste of the charcoal grilled which spread into your mouth while on the first bite of the squid was great! I tried the first piece without the lemon and with the lemon on the following…like both either!
It was a tasty grilled squid we will definitely come back for more!

Each of the main course will served together with a small bowl of fruits salad, I like this concept…where you can enjoy it before and after the meal…

Beside that, I like the crispy type tibits which served with one of the dish. Too bad forgot to ask the name of it…

After we finished our meal, there was a special sauce pasta (pipette rigatura) served on our table, the dish hasn’t listed in the menu yet, presented on the house by the owner of the restaurant. The taste was marvelous!
We also fortunate to had the owner personal collection of the grilled pig skin as a tibits…that was Good!

The price was reasonable with the big portion serving and the environment.

We were satisfied with the fabulous dinner provided by Flame’s Kitchen restaurant, and definitely will be back to try out their other dishes!

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Wonderful Malaysia

Nipah Guesthouse

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Nipah Guesthouse is a popular place to stay at Pangkor Island. The guesthouse is located in the village of Nipah, one of the more popular touristic villages on the island. Nipah Guesthouse started as a pretty basic guesthouse, but it has grown to one of the most popular (and best rated) accommodation on the island. Their latest addition is a nice swimming pool, where you can cool off a bit after a day exploring the island.

The guesthouse exists of two rows of rooms, and a couple of chalets (A-shape). Sometimes you will see Hornbills fly by, which are present in great numbers on the island. The owners Anuar and his wife Alicia turned the guesthouse into a truly beautiful place. The atmosphere is very pleasant and they will do everything to make sure you have a great time during your stay on the island.

The rooms are pretty basic, but will do just fine. All rooms come with air-conditioning. At the entrance you have a covered communal area in the outdoors. Here you can enjoy a pretty basic breakfast in the morning. At Pangkor there are not many places you can go to for a decent breakfast, so the breakfast of the guest house will have to do.

Anuar is able to rent a moped for you, so you can explore the island (remember to always wear a helmet). A little assistant way down the road you have a couple more resorts where you can rent motorbikes. Daily rental prices are RM40. Anuar and Acilia can tell you everything you want to know about the island. If you haven’t read up upon it before you went, they can give you some excellent advise on what to do around the island.

If you are looking for an affordable guesthouse, Nipah Guesthouse is the best place to stay at. If you are airserver looking for something more luxurious, you are better off at the more upscale Pangkor Island Beach Resort. One of the most luxurious resorts of Malaysia is located on a small private island close to Pangkor; the Pangkor Laut Resort is the ultimate resort for honeymooners or travelers who want to spent a couple of days in absolute class.

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Wonderful Malaysia

The Westin Langkawi Resort & Spa

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Langkawi holds multiple very luxurious 5-star resorts which are located throughout the island. Often you will find the resorts in the more remote areas, with a beautiful location and private beach. The Westin one of these luxurious resorts; it is a truly beautiful resort. The resort is close to Kuah, but still located at a remote part of the island.

We stayed at the resort for a couple of days, and were surprised by the amazing atmosphere, and the enormous luxury. The rooms were beautiful, the food was delicious and everything was taken care of in a great manner. Staff was very pleasant and showed high service standards. There is a wonderful spa as well, but you can also undergo multiple watersport activities (like kayaking and sailing) along the private beach.

The rooms had plenty of space and were well furnished. There was a fabulous shower, with a glass window between the bathroom and the bedroom. Luckily, there is a lace curtain, making it useful if you’re with friends, acquaintances or colleagues as well. The rooms come with a minibar, air-conditioning and if you’re close enough to the public areas you can pick up on the free Wi-Fi signal.

The pool is magnificent, with plenty of lounge beds and chairs. The restaurant on the beach has an extended lunch menu, with several delicious dishes. In the evening hours this is the ideal place for a drink or perhaps a small snack.

Breakfast was one of the largest we have had during our time in Malaysia. Everything was of high quality and freshly prepared each morning. The coffee was very good, something we like to pay attention to, and even the service was top notch. The Westin is quite popular among business people, which results in you having breakfast on your own if you don’t wake up very early. Most of the hotel guests have their breakfast very early, so they can immediately start their busy days.

It’s a 10-15 minute walk towards Jetty Point, Lagenda Park, Eagle Square and the stores at the Langkawi Fair. You can rent a car or moped at Jetty Point, which you can park on the resort’s ground. The Westin itself rents out exclusive cars, like a BMW or Mini Cooper to cruise over the island. Langkawi is best explored with a rental car or moped, and The Westin is a perfect (luxurious) place to stay.

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Wonderful Malaysia

A Weekend with Satusuku Surf

Located in Cherating, an hour’s drive away from the hustle and bustle of Kuala Lumpur, (avid surf fans: do take note!) you can drive up to Cherating in Kuantan, which is a small surf beach. Head on down to Kampung Cherating Lama in Kuantan by bus or car and you can find yourself in the perfect weekend retreat. During non-monsoon season it’s filled with locals and expats and when the waves hits big time, it’s when you’ll see loads of surfers riding the sea like they’re used to, an annual surf competition is held on the beach in Kampung Cherating Lama.

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If you’ve always wanted to learn how to ride a wave, Satusuku Surf is school owned by Tunku Khairil and also a convenient surf store with the most friendly and amazing staff willing to help out your every need. During surf-season, Severin from Switzerland manages Satusuku Surf and being an avid surfer himself and having undeniably a good selection of chill house music (we like to call ‘Sevtech’), is another reason to drop by Satusuku Surf, as it’s such a cool environment to be in.

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Classes are very affordable, accommodation is no problem as you can find rooms as cheap as RM100/night including Wi-Fi, own bathroom and aircon in Desa Rehat, which is a hotel near Satusuku Surf. There are also several other hostels and budget hotels to check out around that area that will accommodate cheap budgets, that little village also has a convenience store that opens till midnight with all the main necessities you’d need.

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The town where Satusuku Surf is located, is also known for its miniscule nightlife scene in a bar called Little Bali where tourists and locals gather round at night to partake in the drinking and karaoke singing and drunk-dancing. Also located in that little village are several restaurants which provide the best local home-cooked foods, including a restaurant and bar named ‘Don’t Tell Mama’ which provide a good selection of western foods too.

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If you have the dire need to stay in a more upper-class vibe, Club Med Hotel is found on the other side of the surf-point break of the beach although I’d rather recommend the area where Satusuku Surf is. Everyone in the village is acquainted with each other so it’s pretty safe and easy to get around with even though the locals cannot master the English language, be assured to know you’re not in any danger.

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Food and beverage is relatively cheap around this area and worth their rate, seafood is fresh and there is a small Chinese restaurant located on the beach in Cherating serving the best flavors of seafood and other local dishes. Be sure to try the crab, prawns, chicken curries and tom yam soups!

During the sunny season, you’ll be able to enjoy the beach, the waves, the friendly vibes and swarm of surfers coming from Indonesia and other areas of South East Asia. If you have a need to check out Pahang city, it’s only a 30-minute drive from Kampung Cherating Lama, there’s a big mall (the only mall) there with a cinema kept quite up-to-date and loads of boutique stores to tickle your fancy.

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There are also other activities to take part in, such as beach volleyball, kayaking where the surfers are, and just enjoying quite a nice beach, it being only an hour’s drive from Kuala Lumpur. You can enjoy Cherating as a family holiday, a friendly group road-trip or even solo, I’d definitely recommend Cherating to visit during a weekend if you want to take a short and cheap retreat from the city life and strife!

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About the author

Amanda Chini was born in Kuala Lumpur, lived in Mexico for 12 years, is culturally diverse and a third-cultured kid who’s been to Greece, Spain, England, Ireland, LA, NY, San Antonio, Colorado, Mexico, Aruba, Tenerife, Singapore and plans to travel to many more! Amanda is fluent in both English and Spanish, and her interests include photography, reading, writing and good food.

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