Hello Ipoh, land of great food!

The rest of our stay in Ipoh was filled with spending time with Chim Poh, Chek Kong and Kor Poh (and later Ashley Kor-kor, Uncle Dennis and Smoky who came over on Friday) and eating all the yummy Ipoh food which we had missed for a long time. Our last trip to Ipoh was during Chinese New Year and many shops had already stopped selling even though we arrived 2 days before CNY. 

Here are the food we enjoyed: 

Kai Si Hor Fun

Curry (pig skin) Chee Cheong Fun

Missing are the pictures of the curry mee we had twice and Yong Tau Fu from K-10.

We had an amazing dinner in Tong Hoi on Saturday:

Mei-mei and you had so much rice to go with the amazing fish and prawn (gravy):

We had curry mee on Sunday (and even packed the soup and extra noodles) to bring back to Penang.

Goodbye, Club Med!

We still had time till lunch (in fact a little pass lunchtime as daddy had his massage session) to hang around the club. So we left you in the morning half at the Kid's Club and told them that we'd pick you before the swimming session. After dropping you off, I went back to finish up packing. Ko-ko had gone for another round of tennis. 

Then I headed back to the main building as you were having a parade. Here you are in your purple costume which they had provided to you:

And here you are with your friends in the parade, and in search for Santa:

Santa running away from you:

And you all finally found Santa:

Even managed to spy on Ko-ko having his tennis lesson:

Daddy and I finished up packing and waited and waited for Ko-ko to come back to the room to shower. Daddy then headed to the car as it was time for his appointment. That was when he spotted Ko-ko still playing tennis with the couple who trained together.

Daddy had managed to get a room extension for our room. So Ko-ko rested in the room while I went to pick up Mei-mei and we had another round of archery. Headed back to the room to shower and then went to get ourselves checked out.

We spotted the Kid's Club having lunch and they allowed Mei-mei to join then. So Ko-ko and I ate at the main restaurant and daddy later joined us too.

Keeping this picture of the rooms with seaview

And this picture of the communication we received from the club

By then, our luggage were already at the main building. Daddy went to pick up the car and once our car was loaded, off we headed back to KL. Would you believe it? The moment we left the club, it was raining cats and dogs! We were so lucky. Before we had arrived, it was forecasted to rain everyday, but we were blessed with perfect weather throughout our stay in Cherating. 

We had to make a quick exit to pump petrol before heading to KL, and another stop in Genting for a wee-wee. In KL, we stopped by Kor Poh's house as she had promised to make yam cake for us (specifically Ko-ko). We got to stretch our leg and do a wee before hopping back into the car and driving to Ipoh. 

We arrived in Ipoh a little later since we left at peak hour. Then we headed to Cowan Street for the famous Ngar Choy Kai.

And now the third leg of our holiday begins: IPOH!

Day 3 in Club Med

We began the day early again. Woke up at 7am. Showered and got ready with Mei-mei earlier so that she can "check-in" at the Kids Club at 8.30am. I didn't eat breakfast as I wanted to join the 30 minute yoga session at 8.30am. We were too early at the Kid's Club as they were still sanitizing the area, so we walked around and took photos:

Here is the view I see while doing my yoga.. not that I could enjoy much f the scenery. I was far too busy trying to balance and not fall flat on my face!

After my yoga, I headed back to the room for a quick shower. Again, my timing was good as it was your turn on the trapeze again:

Ko-ko tried to attend the tennis lessons, but he said that there was no one there. So we met at the main area after I had my late breakfast and we all got to have a try at the archery. 

Nothing much to do, so you went for ping pong next:

After that daddy and I had some drink by the beach while you headed back to shower. We then headed to the beach. Daddy relaxed by the zen pool while we tried our luck again with sailing. And luck was with us. We managed to register. While waiting for our turn, we chatted and enjoyed some drinks, even played racquet ball. 

We also met mei-mei on her way back to the kids club after playing on the beach. She also got to go sailing. Didn't get to go on the kayak as they ran out of time

It was finally our turn. Sailing was so much fun. After sailing, we called daddy and quickly met at the train. As we were still a little early, Ko-ko headed to the tennis court to try his luck again, while daddy and I lazed in the pool while waiting for Mei-mei to finish with the club. 

There was games for kids which you also participated and got a band for it. Daddy then headed back to the room to shower while we played in the pool.

All of a sudden the life guard was talking to the guests and they all left. When he walked over to me, he just said "You know what it is, ma'am?" and looked over to the next pool (the pools are actually interconnected). Yikes! There were two pieces of poo.. which had drowned to the bottom of the pool!

We quickly got out and you were not happy about that. You wanted to go to the next pool, but I had to explain that all the pools were connected. We quickly rinsed ourselves. 

Since we still had time, we headed to the spa to inquire about having a manicure. 

View while having your manicure

Having your manicure done

Purple and pink nails!

We then headed back to shower, while daddy had headed out as he needed to pay for our manicure. Also, he ended up signing himself up for a massage session for the next day! We both had a mad rush to shower and dress up for the garden party. Then the 3 of us (yup, Ko-ko was still in the room) rushed over to the party where daddy had gotten us an amazing table with a view of the beach as well as the performance. 

All White Day

Trapeze performance

As usual there was to be a performance at the auditorium. Daddy didn't want to go and I hadn't finished with dinner. Mei-mei bravely went herself to get seats for the both of us. In the end, Ko-ko joined us and there was one available seat for him too.

Then we all headed back to an already snoring daddy.

Packed Day of Events

We started the day early. Kids Club opens at 8.30am. So we woke up early, had a shower and headed to have breakfast. We finished earlier (Mei-mei was very excited). Ko-ko on the other hand refused to join the Teens Club. After registering Mei-mei with the club, we walked back to the room as we planned to go rock climbing. On the way back, we noticed that the Kids Club were at the flying trapeze and it was soon going to be Mei-mei's turn. So we stopped to have a look and took pictures and videos before heading back to collect our stuff. 

We changed into shoes and headed to where the "train" would bring us to Pantai. Too bad we had missed it. So we walked along a shady path to where we'd guessed was Pantai. And we did make it there. We quickly registered the both of you and Ko-ko got yourself harnessed while daddy went in search of the loo. 

There were another 2 men also waiting to climb. So the 4 of you got your instructions and daddy went first. He reached the top fairly easily. Then it was Ko-ko's turn. You were about to reach the top when you said that you wanted to give up. But we told you that you were nearly there and so you made it all the way up! Cheers to my 2 monkeys!

We headed to the Zen pool to use the loo and get a drink. Unfortunately you were not allowed in. So we got you a cup of water then headed to the beach.

Zen Pool

Sign at the beach

We quickly registered to go kayaking. But there was a queue. Luckily there was a beach bar so we had some drinks while waiting. 

Then you and daddy also had a go with the racquet ball:

Look at the lizard!

Another cute sign where the train stopped.

We headed back to have lunch. After that we stopped by the archery center to see if you could join in the archery. They allowed you  as the Teens Club had only a few children.

Daddy and I hopped onto the train again to relax by the Zen Pool.

Cannot even get a decent photo!

When you were done with the archery, we headed to the beach again. We could not go for sailing as there was not much wind. But we got another chance on the kayak. 

We hopped on the train back to the main building. Spotted Evelyn playing in the bubbles party.

We had to quickly rush back to the room to shower and get ready for our evening itinerary. First stop was the Turtle Release. We had signed up in the morning with the club. They sent the details to daddy and we hopped into his car and drove to Terengganu, the next state for the release.

We had arrived a little too early, so we walked along the beach a little. But daddy wasn't too keen to allow you as he was told there were sandflies at the beach. And their bite.. is owwww...

The beach wasn't as clean as in Cherating

Signboard of the place we went to

There were 2 other families doing the release with us. We had to wait till dusk (when we heard the call for prayers). This was to ensure that the baby turtles were not eaten by predators as they ran into the sea. After a short briefing about the turtles, they brought out the little hatchlings which have not yet touched to ground. This would give them an edge that they would be able to move more quickly towards the sea. 

They were trying to escape from the bucket!

As it got darker, we headed to the sea (the man said 10 meters from the seaside, but I don't think we were that far). We were instructed to release them in groups of at least 2 to ensure their safety. Also we had to wait for one batch to reach before releasing the next. He shone a light so that they would not go the wrong way too.

After the release, we quickly drove back to the club for dinner. We were pleasantly surprised to find there was Beef Wellington served. It was nice. 

Then we hopped back into daddy's car to go for our 9pm fireflies watching. When we arrived at the spot, I realised that there were several missed calls. Turned out that they had thought that we had booked for the 8pm session. So we ended up with a "private tour" for the firefly excursion. Just the 4 of us on the boat.

It was nice and cool. We had drowned ourselves with mosquito repellant, but there were none around that night (can't say that for the turtle release, though..). We spotted the fireflies and the ride on the river was fun. Too bad we could not take good pictures of the fireflies. 

They looked like the lights on a Christmas tree. 

Headed back for a late supper for the 3 of us. Ko-ko was feeling grimy and didn't want to eat. 

And so our day ended with 4 very sleepy Ban's.