Assalammualaikum!
It's already October 1st! Time rockets, doesn't it?
I didn't write anything in September. Hmmph!
Anyway, let me talk about my latest cuti2 Malaysia.
On Sept 24th, Hui Fong and I went to Kolej Yayasan UEM (KYUEM in short), to give an informal talk to some A-Levels students there.
We were invited by Mr Allan, our Chemistry lecturer in INTEC.
It was actually very easy to get to KYUEM, just go onto PLUS highway, come out of the Lembah Beringin exit and go straight ahead. There will be plenty signposts in that area. The toll fare is RM8 if you come from Jalan Duta.
 |
| The first sight of KYUEM as we drove towards the compound, before entering the guardhouse |
 |
| The main entrance |
Mr Allan invited us for an informal sharing session with his tutorial group.
I think this is something like the mentor mentee concept.
He even gave my car plate number and names to the guard house.
When I got there, the guard showed me a paper with my car registration number and Dr Siti Nur Akmar and Dr Tee Hui Fong written on it.
As usual (sadly), the guards aren't Malaysians hence they could not converse properly in Bahasa. One of them simply showed me the paper and pointed to my name "Ini? Ini?"
The first part of the talk was done in a lecture hall, and we then continued the second part in the chemistry lab because the hall will be used for another function.
Most of the students will be doing Medicine after this hence they had quite a lot of questions about medical school.
I think one of the issues that worry them most is "the life as a medical student". We always read those jokes where they say medical people don't usually have proper lives, because we are just too busy mugging up our books.
Well truthfully, I think those are exaggerations. Any field you decide to study in, will have their own challenges, esp before the exam. I enjoyed my student life very much.
One thing about KYUEM: they are very luxurious!
Hui Fong and I arrived more than an hour earlier than we should. I overestimated the distance (and perhaps my driving speed too), so we had plenty of time to drive around the campus before parking at the surau.
The students hostel are either chalets or apartments.
Mr Allan mentioned that each chalet accommodate 2 students. Wow...
We saw gardeners and cleaners everywhere in the compound hence the surroundings are very clean and well maintained.
There were also a sports complex which apparently houses an Olympic size swimming pool, tennis courts many other sporting facilities.
KYUEM is a perfect place for nerds!
They can focus in their study and do some sports.
But for someone who likes to shop, or perhaps a pure blood city kid, they might go crazy after a while.
KYUEM is so far from any city centre, the nearest town is Tanjung Malim (I've not been to Kerling, which is even nearer but after seeing Tg Malim, I don't think Kerling can offer much).
 |
| Cantik rumah2 dorg kn? |
 |
| These are the boys hostels (or perhaps hotel?!) |
After the talk, Hui Fong and I headed to Tg Malim in search of a hotel.
The night stay was sponsored :D
We went into Tg Malim, but could not find the actual town.
There were no internet coverage hence google maps was useless, I can't locate where I was.
Armoured with half tank of petrol, ability to read the signboards and determination (cewah), we explored Tg Malim (yet still could't find the actual town) and found this hotel; the LP Hotel.
It looked posh in the night, with its lighting and all.
At first we wanted to just survey a few hotels before finally deciding to stay in one, but because this LP Hotel man was very friendly and we were also quite tired and wanted to settle down, we quickly paid RM138 for a room with two single beds.
 |
| Two beds, quite cosy. Enough for the two of us |
 |
| Two doors; the left is the entrance, the right door is the toilet |
Mr Allan mentioned Garden Seafood, and even the friendly receptionist man suggested the restaurant.
It was actually very easy to get to the restaurant from LP Hotel; they were only 1km apart.
The hotel is on the left side of the road while the restaurant is on the right side, we needed to make a U-turn.
I am writing about this because I googled about Tg Malim before my trip there, and found quite a few bloggers writing about their journey here. They were quite helpful since Tg Malim is such a small town, there were not much info on it on the conventional tourism pages.
Garden Seafood is a halal Chinese seafood restaurant, but just like any other seafood restaurant (supposedly), the price is quite erm.....throat-cutting.
I've not actually been to a proper Chinese seafood restaurant in KL hence I could not say whether the price here is cheaper than in KL, but high chance it is.
Nevertheless, Hui Fong and I was quite in a "tourist" mood, we didn't mind spending for good food.
 |
| Without realising it, both of us ordered Mango juice. My God, the juice was so thick, almost like a smoothie. The man behind Hui Fong wasn't Caucasian. He's a Chinese with white hair, speaks English in his own weird accent but very friendly. He kept asking us to come again. I think he makes a good customer service liaison |
 |
| I forgot what was this dish called. Something to do with lobster and cheese. There were no price in the menu, so we asked how much will it cost. The white-haired man said 100g lobster is about RM10. And a usual lobster is 400g and above. Oh well, it seems we will need to depend on him to choose "the appropriate size" lobster for only the two of us. Turns out this lobster cost RM50. The cheese sauce was very nice, and as an avid prawn lover, I did not regret the RM50. Although.....I really hope it can be cheaper! |
 |
| This is asparagus cooked with garlic. Simple and plain looking. The veggie itself is tasty. But I think this veggie is really overpriced. RM10 for that plate! Asparagus cooked with belacan will cost us about RM7 extra if I am not mistaken |
 |
| In the menu book, this was Udang Lipan (what?!) I've not tried this before but Hui Fong said this is quite a famous dish in a chinese seafood restaurant so we gave it a try. The prawns are coated with something, something like battered prawn? |
 |
| And there you go.....RM84.60 *cry cry cry* We need more people in a group if we want to go to this kind of restaurant, so that we can order more dishes but able to share the cost with even more people |
 |
| How the restaurant looked like from outside, at night. Yes, it was raining that night |
Anyway, our night there was very peaceful.
Our room was in the second floor, with a window, a flat screen TV (quite small but it doesn't matter. We didn't even use it), but only two wall sockets! Fortunately we didn't use the TV, or we will have only one socket. They should provide extensions!
There were water heater in the toilet for shower, but no electric kettle facilities.
I brought some breads so we had that for breakfast the next morning.
In desperate need of a hot drink, we went down as there were some cafes in the same row.
To our disappointment, the cafe were still closed. It was about 9am.
The hotel can only provide us hot water, not hot drinks.
We switched our "UK mode" on, and walked towards the nearest petrol station; the BHP. There was a KFC there. We wanted to buy a cup of hot coffee there but one small cup of coffee cost RM3.30 even before all the stupid taxes!
Thankfully the BHP convenience store sold SUPER instant coffee. You know, the maggi cup look-alike? Well, that cost us only RM2.50 Hmmph!
 |
| The view from my room |
 |
| The view of the hotel from outside during the day. Well, it doesn't look AS IMPRESSIVE as it did last night. At night, the LP Hotel wordings were lit up so nicely |
The hotel sent us a hot water flask up to our room and we get to enjoy the coffee comfortably in our room.
Before checking out, I managed to take some pictures of the interior of the hotel. I think the hotel is very well decorated! The "antique" feeling is definitely there!
 |
| The first floor |
 |
| The first floor |
 |
| The first floor |
 |
| I like this notice. There was one at the reception and another one in the "living room" upstair |
 |
| To the second floor |
 |
| Near the reception |
 |
| After checking out. Well, Hui Fong said she looked ugly in this picture |
 |
| The exterior |
 |
| The exterior |
Well now, comes the most exciting part: the hot springs!!
Yes, alang alang we already in Tg Malim, let's go to a hot springs!
I googled and found out that Hot Springs Sg Klah was one of the hottest attraction near Tg Malim.
It took us about an hour to reach there using the old road i.e non-toll road.
When I googled, the place was called Hot Springs Sg Klah.
As I drive there, two kinds of signboards appeared; Hot Springs Sg Klah and Felda Residences Hot Springs Sg Klah.
I did not know that they were the same place!
We drove very far into the villages, to the point that I was very glad that there were hot springs advertisement banners every 100m, reassuring me that I was driving to the right place.
And little did I know too, I have actually been to this place with my family 2 years back.
2 years back, I slept during the journey hence didn't notice the road. I only know that it was in Sungkai.
I didn't even pay attention to the name of the place =.="
Since I've stayed in the hotel there (2 yrs back), let me talk a little bit about it.
The hotel comes in either chalet or a double bed room.
The double bed room has two doors, one to the entrance and the other one as a connection to the adjacent room. That means if you have a bigger family, you can book two double bed rooms adjacent to each other and keep the connecting door ajar. So you will get a "bigger house" with two rooms. Get what I mean?
The room was nice.
With each room, you get two free tickets into the hot springs, which will have cost RM12 for adults and RM10 for children.
There was also complimentary breakfast; I do not know how much does that cost but the food was quite nice and there were lots of variety too. From Msian breakfast eg nasi lemak, roti canai, beehoon goreng to western breakfast eg cereals and toast.
The hot springs itself is also open to public with some entrance fee.
Once we paid, a little tram will drive us to the centre. The place is sign-posted very well, with maps.
 |
| The first picture upon arrival |
 |
| The little tram which drove us to the centre |
We have our bathing attire on from hotel hence we do not need to change when we arrive.
All we needed to do was to find a locker to put our things.
The locker cost RM3 everytime we open it! Haih.. So we need to put everything into the locker and will not be able to take anything out again unless we want to pay the second RM3.
So things to make sure u have with you:
Money:: I had RM20 with me to buy eggs to boil! :D I spent only RM5 though
Slippers:: It was verryy hot to walk barefooted in the compound. And you will destroy your nice shoes if you wear it with wet feet
And that's all.
That means, I had to keep my camera and handphone in the locker. Hence I could not take pictures of the pools, the egg boiling activity we did. *sayang betul*
We cannot bring eggs from outside (the lifeguard said sometimes the guard at the entrance inspect our bags. But our bags weren't checked on that day. But because there were only 2 of us at the egg boiling area, the person will definitely know we didn't buy eggs from them if we were to bring our own eggs).
Anyway, we get 6 eggs + a packet of soy sauce + a packet of white pepper + a bowl + a plastic spoon for RM5.
We even get another bowl and plastic spoon for free.
I really enjoyed the egg boiling. For some reason the eggs were a lot tastier haha.
There were one main hot springs pool, one big "cool" pool and a few small "jacuzzi style" pool.
There were also a private jacuzzi area, which cost RM75 per hour.
Since there were no one in there, we asked to go in and see.
I think it is a very nice area, and perhaps even worth it if we have many people that we can share the cost with.
5 will be enough though, or the area will be a little bit too crowded.
There were toilet, shower, a small shed with benches and a mirror in each private area. You get to be in there for an hour, which I think will be enough, considering we should not be in the jacuzzi for long.
 |
| One of the public jacuzzi style pool. 40-45°C! I can't even stand putting one foot in. I am not sure how people can put half their body in |
 |
| And there we are. With our wrist bracelets |
Now, it's time to drive home back to KL and traffic jam! :D
-Because life is a test-
 |
| This is how the private jacuzzi looks like. Nice kan? Cepat pergi honeymoon situ! Photo Credit |
-AkMaR-
http://nur-akmar.blogspot.com
