Saturday, November 1, 2008

Back To My Beautiful Hometown, Kuching - A trip to Serikin-Wind Cave-Palm Beach Resort, Sematan-Retreat, Lundu (25-26Nov 08)

Dear dear and I took a flight back to Kuching on 24/10/08 and we reached around 1230am. Very tired but excited thinking about our vacation tomorrow.

The next day, after breakfast (french toast and milo, prepared by dearest mommy), we were ready to take off at around 10am. My parents, fiona (sis), me & dear dear in 1 car, while Chris (bro) and Phooi Leng (sis in law) in another.


Our first stop was Serikin, a small town at the boundary between Sarawak & Kalimantan. We wanted to visit the market which is only open on Saturdays & Sundays. Since none of us except dad had been to this place, we decided to drop by to have a look. Furthermore our check-in time to the resort was at 2pm, so we had plenty of time. The journey took us about 1hr+..
On the way to the market, we saw a few stalls here, selling vege and fruits.


Surprisingly, we were caught in a jam while on our way to the market. Saw alot of tourist buses too. Maybe coz it was a public holiday in Sarawak that day, therefore alot of people came here to shop. After about half an hour, we found a spot to park, which was nearby a house and we walked in.

We walked for about an hour. There were alot of stalls selling handbags, sunglasses, rattan furnitures, malay costumes and mats. We only bought a pair of sunglasses for fiona. Since the day was hot and it was already 1pm, we decided to walk back to our car. All of us were already hungry.

Fiona took a picture with her new sunnies.
My parents brought some food in the car, so in the end we decided to stop at Wind Cave to have our lunch. A real picnic haha..........

When we reached Wind Cave, all the shelters were occupied. Therefore, we decided to just have our lunch in my dad's multi-purpose Matrix haha.......After a fulfilling lunch, it was already 2pm. Alright, we must make a move to the resort!

After about 1 hour, we finally reached our destination, PALM BEACH RESORT, SEMATAN. Yahoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Waiting to check in to our family terrace. After putting our things, we were ready to explore the beach yay!!!
The cafeteria
The resort lobby and a place for shower
The sea was quite calm. The weather was cloudy.

Mommy so happy sitting under the umbrella haha..Suddenly, Chris asked me to look behind me.............he said he saw someone familiar??!??!?!
EEEEE???? what a surprise! Saw my friend since primary school. She's already a mother with 2 kids and still maintaining her figure! Notice that her daughter was sulking because she could not wait to play the sand with her mommy.
Dear, you still look sleepy. Come let us take a picture, open your eyes!Yay, fiona, let's go to the beach! Woooo dad brought a beach ball hehe
Dear, pass the ball! (Beach volleyball style)
Chris: I can kick, beware! (Beach soccer style)
Chris: Heading with my iron head haha.
Dad: Is that all u can show me?? Watch me!


Daddy: Son, learn from me!
Haha, daddy thought he's still in his younger days. Anyway, I know daddy's philosophy is if you think young, you will stay young. Bravo!
I was enjoying the sea breeze. Beaches/islands are always my favourite getaway from the hectic city lifestyle.
Phooi Leng, 8months pregnant with my mommy.
Fiona enjoyed the warmth of the sea water.
Chris carrying fiona in the background.
Mommy screamed: Oooiiiiiiiiii, be careful, don't carry my Ah Yian (fiona) to the deep sea, very dangerous! Come back to the beach, quick!!!
Daddy, you are all wet haha..........He was enjoying every minute of it too..

Around 530pm we were exhausted and headed back to our family terrace for shower and rest.

Our terrace, F-4
Snapped a photo of our family terrace. 2 bedrooms, a small living room, toilet and bathroom.
And we were ready to go to the cafeteria. The room is inclusive of dinner and breakfast for 6pax.
This is the cafeteria. Buffet style dinner. They serve rice with ginger soya sauce chicken, mixed vege, curry beef, spaghetti, iced-kacang, salad & fruits.
Dear dear made this iced-kacang for us.

After dinner, we took a stroll along the chalets and saw some shelters. But I did not take any of the photos. We stopped and rested at one of the shelter which is very huge with a big table and long bench surrounding it. The beach was too dark so we decided to walk back to our terrace.
Too bad there weren't any night activities so we just laid on our beds and played card games and chatted and chatted till we zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.................


The next day....................

Woke up and ready for breakfast. Our living room was such a mess. All the titbits that we ate the night before hehe...............Can you see daddy in the background trying to deflat his bed? Dad brought a portable bed as the beds are actually meant for 6 persons.
This bright pink window is nice ya! This is the window of the smaller bedroom which was occupied by Chris and wife.
Fiona: I'm so hungry, wana have breakfast yay!!!
Chris: But im still sleepy zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Breakfast buffet. The fried noodles is tasty. There were also nasi lemak, bread, boiled eggs & cornflakes with milk.
And also baked beans and french toast.

After breakfast, dad suggested that we explored the Sematan town. When we reached lobby, we saw a bicycle for two. Dad offered to take fiona on the bicycle. Hmmmm Fiona looked scared haha coz daddy like lost control of the bike..
She seemed more confident in Chris. haha...
Ok let's go to the town!

When we reached the town, alot of shops were closed. Most of the shops close on Sundays.
Welcome to Sematan! Sematan is a small fishing village.
Oooooo, my teddy bear... :D
My smaller bear hehe...We are at the jetty. The sampans carry people & goods. Heard that the seafood were also transported to this town through the sampans.

Saw some people fishing here. Look, Fiona, got fish!
After that, we returned to the beach. Falling coconuts?? I should have worn my safety helmet instead of the cap.
The guys back in action haha...Daddy wanna score a goal! Catch the ball if you can, Chris!
Chris: I got it!! Yahahahhah!!
Daddy, pls don't bully me!
Fiona in action. Kick it!

My model of the day! She really has the potential hehe
It's the sister's turn to practise catwalk haha




I-MISS-U piece of art. Who did u miss, fiona?



Doing my morning exercise yeahooooo!!!!!

Enjoying the wind blowing on my face....


Sisters in action

Beautiful mom-to-be strolling the beach
Mom & phooi leng waiting for us at the shelter with the body guard in the background keke
And then it was time we headed back to pack our things, check out and fill our tummies.
We took some pictures before leaving the resort.
Superstar wannabe - Fiona
Superstar wannabe in action!
The guard took this family photo for us. :)
On our way out, we stopped and fiona snapped the picture of this piece of rock. Chris held on tightly to the rock cos he did not want to leave the place...quick quick drive your car, we are all hungry!
Since the trip back to Kuching will take 2 hours, we decided to have our lunch in Sematan town.We ordered kolo mee & wantan, and the food is surprisingly delicious! Dad enquired about her business there. The tawkey-nio said they close shop abt 3-4pm. At dinner time, the seafood restaurant will operate.
Then , back on the road again!
On the way back, mom suggested that we stopped by at Retreat, Lundu. Another popular resort here. This was an unusual request from mommy, because she normally just couldn't wait to go back.. haha......so dad agreed.....
Here we are.......hmmmmmmmm........the access road leading to this resort was so unpleasant (crusher run only) and furthermore, single lane only...but the swimming pool and lobby area is nice.

But we noticed that construction was on-going......oooooooo upgrading works! Hopefully they will turn this place into a paradise! Palm Beach has got nicer & longer beach but they do not have a swimming pool.
Look at the beach......they will extend the beach as part of the upgrading works. If it turns out nice, we will consider this as our next vacation spot!
Notice that the construction was on-going on the left side...The building is the existing hotel rooms.
After upgrading works
The weather was hot, so we bought ice creams and coconut :) After resting for a while, we were ready to head back home...............hmmmmmmmmmm exhausted but that was a great family vacation..............