Langkawi Short Vacation: Day 2

Dah namanya short vacation kan,

apa-apa serba short dan lazy.

After we rent motorbike, check-out from Cactus Inn.

Kita orang pindah tempat ke Sunset Beach Resort

Naik scooter angkat suitcase... hahaha... (Kelakar jugak la......)

Check-In doesn't take so much time,

since the hotel owner knew us very much. We are repeat customer.

And mostly they remember the repeat customer.

What we like, what room we wants... etc etc.

We heard from the rumor, that half of Sunset Beach Resort + Oasis Restaurant being sold to 

Berjaya Group .

WHAT...?!?!?!?!

Berjaya you also want to have hotel in Cenang ah..??

We were worried that the room might be noisy due to construction etc.

But the owner convinced us, everything still fine and quiet.

They are right,

Sunset Beach Resort still cute.

Still nice, clean, tidy and friendly.

They set up plenty photo booth for guess.

Which are very cute and creative

Checking the beach,

Still nice and enjoyable

Stunning beach to lazy around all day around

Still pretty and enjoyable until the construction start

We had lazy afternoon and a bit wefie

kalau macam ni tak nampak lengan aheheh...

Lunch was at Yellow Beach Cafe, Pantai Cenang

Nice Cheese sandwich and crispy popiah.

This restaurant is not cheap (according to me), I am a low budget people ye... heheh

No regret, 

the food came in a nice quality meal.

Foot Massage at local parlor. 

Not so relaxing...

I want more powerful massage, but I guess the massage girl were too tired and exhausted

after whole day working

We continue to have dinner at local restaurant (again)

Yes, we are in the Island.

I guess we should eat seafood.

The best telur dadar dan sayur campur I've ever ate.

Tak tahu jampi apa H. Ramli bubuh dalam bumbu tu.

Memang pamper my tummy...

The grilled fish itself cost us RM 45

The rest was RM 10 each

Lepas makan, macam biasa....

Bego dan tak larat jalan..

We still need to walk to Debbie's Place to watch MU

Langkawi Short Trip: Day 1

We reach KLIA 2 at 12pm and had some lunch.

Selalu sibuk nak makan di KL Sentral, because LCCT tak cukup tempat makan.

But now we don't mind to eat in the airport. KLIA 2 has plenty (more than enough) eateries for all visitor.

Terlampau banyak tempat makan, lagi pening nak makan apa..

(Sebenarnya pening nak makan apa adalah perkara biasa.... 

Bukan time travelling je, kat rumah hari-hari at least 2 jam conversation  

forum diskusi "Bu....malam ini nak makan apa....???  Pelik tak?? heheheh)

Nanyang Chicken Rice (betul ke nama restaurant tu.... hehe)

Kali ini, sesuai janji

The trip should be free and easy.

Not much plan, not much go-here-and-there

because Mama-San is in the boiling point

(Mama-san memang selalu nak marah je pun... stress je pun... nak pitam je..)

Papa-San layan je sambil makan kacang menglembu

Flight landed exactly after 45 min

Taxi from Langkawi Airport to Pantai Tengah is MYR 22 

(we give him RM 27 just because his car was Avanza)

It took us about 15-20 min to Pantai Tengah area, and we ceck-in to Cactus Inn

Cactus Restaurant is very famous among local and Westerner who wants nice Western Breakfast but not as expensive as Red-Tomato in Pantai Cenang.

We just came to know that the restaurant has some nice room behind.

It wasn't a crowded-high density room.

I guess only 8 rooms, and the rest was open area.

For the price we pay (RM 180.00) the room was quite big, new, clean and surprisingly good.

New mini fridge and nice hot-cold shower too.

Langkawi = Beach = Panas = Iced Drink

Yes... was a very hot afternoon.

Once we check-in, we stop at WOOD KITCHEN BAR PANTAI TENGAH

I guess the place is quite new, or we didn't really notice

It just a simple square non-permanent-wooden-shed,

but surprisingly plenty people come and love the place

Its quite relaxing to enjoy afternoon drink, play pool or dart.

Or simply chit-chat with people around.

We really want to eat grilled fish and some seafood treat while we were in the island.

Dinner was at Maya Kitchen, Pantai Tengah.

We arrived a bit early (LUCKY...!!)

otherwise we have to queue

Deep fried squid was nice

Pad Thai Mee was nice

Sweet and sour fish was so so.. It was fine, but we didn't get the "kick" from the fish

dah sayang, dah bayar, dah order...

telan je la sampai habis

we walked around with almost exploded tummy before back to hotel

The next day before check out from Cactus, we had breakfast there.

I guess the most reasonable restaurant which have proper western breakfast after Red Tomato.

Red Tomato MAHAL....

Mine was omelette, baked potato with buttermilk sauce. Papa-san breakfast was Farmer Breakfast (basically stir fried minced meat with potato, eggs, tomato dan segala mak nenek-nya)

Very satisfying and calm my tummy.. :)

After gulp my coffee, we walk to Pantai Cenang to look for Scooter Rental..

Langkawi Short Trip : Summary

Short, Simple and Cheap Vacation to Langkawi

What is the meaning of life without a trip...

No meaning... alelelele.... poyo tak?

hahah

when you loose the meaning of life, its the time for you to have some trip.

maknanya... kena buka website Air Asia dan booking segala mak neneknya...

After 45 minutes of godek-godek, selongkang website

terjadilah last minute trip yang sangat menggembirakan.

Day 1.

- Lunch in KLIA 2

- Fly to Langkawi

- Taxi LKIA to Pantai Tengah (RM 27)

- Check in Cactus Inn

- Dinner at Maya Restaurant Pantai Tengah

Day 2.

Morning

- Breakfast at Cactus 

- Walk to Pantai Cenang, Rent Motorbike

- Check out from Cactus

- Check in at Sunset Beach Resort, Pantai Cenang

- Lunch at Yellow Beach Cafe, Pantai Cenang

Night

- Massage at Ratu Maya, Pantai Cenang

- Dinner at Haji Ramli Ikan Bakar

- Bloated

- Walk to Debbie's place, watch MU - LIVERPOOL

Day 3.

Morning

- Breakfast at Cactus (again) yes...!!!

- Biking to The Datai Resort

- Bike to Pantai Tengkorak

- Lunch at Scarborough, Tanjung Rhu

- Hiking in Seven Whell

Night

- Dinner at Red Tomato

- Early night, due to sun burn

random picture here and there

Day 4.

Morning

- Brunch at Little Mexico

- Lazy by the beach

Afternoon

- Check Out

- Wait for our taxi

- Balik

Exhausted but happy

Chicken Parmigiana

It seems become a habit when we saw nice ripen tomatoes on sale.

Yes...

Tomato on sales

(Most women most be craze when they saw shoes or clothes on sales, but I am more excited to see yummy delicious fresh red tomato)

We make simple tomato sauce (find the proper recipe in Internet) or follow our super simple ingredients.

Use some of them to make a nice bolognese, arabiatta, chili, bean soup, pizza sauce, parmigiana, or just freeze them for weekdays lazy dinner

Tomato sauces:

Bunch of ripen tomato, soak in boiling water, peel.

Remove the seeds, chop nicely.

Fresh thyme, oregano, and Rosemary. Chopped.

Teaspoon of sugar.

2 big onion, 5 cloves garlic. Minced all.

Heat up pan, add 2 tbs olive oil. Sauté garlic and onion till soft. Add in fresh herbs, tomato, salt, bit sugar.

Cook till all tender.

====>>>>>>> Chicken Parmigiana 

Boil 3 liter water + 1 tsp salt

After boiling, add in 1/4 pack pasta of your Favourite.

Cook follow the direction. Drain, and mix with couple ladle of sauce.

I used store bought breaded chicken breast. Pan fried in butter+olive oil.

Top the chicken breast with cheese, and cover with one ladle of tomato sauce.

Put in the oven to continue cooking.

Top with basil leaves,

And bake again for 5 min to wilted the leaves.

Served hot

Yummy dinner for two

Note: 

Please find the proper recipe in Internet, mine was a bit out of order.

Heheh

Sorry :)

How We Survive In One Income as Family

==> this conversation only applicable for medium to low income ye...
korang yang kaya-kaya, millionaire, mandi duit... minum air kosong tak lalu, harus minum air setarbak...
tak yah la nak ikut kecoh... (garang kan heheh....)



Whether lay off, family commitment,  or just by choice we always think if we could just survive living by one income when we used to have two. DIFFICULT....!!!

But possible :-)

I never been a jobless in my life ever, I always scared of being not able withdraw my own money and looking at my bank account decrease each month.
I don't like ration myself, and I addicted to travelling (blame Air Asia, Malindo, and Firefly cheap ticket...!)


Anyhow, recently I just decide to quit and I feel so sure that us the whole family could survive like normal, with no or minor change.


1. Teach your family to start using single income

Year before we talked about stop working, we've been using one income for living. We life only from Mr' . The rest.... (which is mine) completely goes to our saving, untouched. By then, we slowly change our lifestyle, our eating and travel habit into more"reasonable"  expenses.

Here is the tip: Before you really quit your job, start using only one of your salary and force the whole family live in one income one year earlier (at least 6 month). 
It will easier to adjust when the due date come.
And leave you spare money in your account.


2. ONE credit card for the whole family

Ibarat kalau Ayah sudah banyak hutang, ibu jangan menggatal untuk buat hutang. Biar lah, kawan nak cakap tak stylo ke apa... better purchase cash, in the way we can afford.

=> bukan diorang yang bayar hutang kita pun... ye ke tidak?

(When your man  already has debt, as a woman please don't get too itchy and create another debt) It's not cool for your financial condition.

When both of you already have two credit card, stop using one of them and pay it off before you really quit a job.


3. Cook your own food

Once I picked conversation from my ex-colleague. Some of them are never touch kitchen.

How to cook magi goreng? => oh why you bother to dirt your hand and home, you can get in mamak stall for RM 3.00 include crispy papadum. 
You might spend more for egg, vegetable, cleaning products and time to tidy up your kitchen

alright, what she said make sense..

How about stir a good fried vegetable? There must be some value of saving when we cook, rather than bought from restaurant.

My best friend on my beginning of cooking journey

potong mushroom pun tak reti ka...?

4. Learn to preserved
or at least dried your leftover herbs

Rosemary, Oregano, Thyme, and all western herbs is expensive.

Let said RM 6 / packet in Cold Storage, yet we never use them all. Couple pieces... and left the rest wilted.

And the next time we want to make pasta or roast chicken, we bought another one.

What a waste.. huhu :'(

5. Part Time Cleaner Instead of Full Time Maid

Having full time bibik at home seems one-solution-of all,
for me.. having bibik fulltime at home s head ache

1. Hassle of their working permit
2. We don't really fan of her food....  We still rather cook our own, bibik dunno how to make a nice Chicken Parmigiana
3. Maid never concern of being economical. She will use cleaner product as much as she wish, her goal is to make the house shiny... not to save your money.

Not like bibik is a bad person, but just two people like us.
We don't need much help.

I still can vacuum and mop the house myself, or throw the dirty clothes to washing machine.

Just occasionally we need someone to do deep cleaning in our house.




Its only small part of my daily live-saving-activities..
please share yours...

What is your smart trick to press your expenses down to keep your income draining :)