Rabu, 13 Agustus 2014

Photo taking point 1 before Selong Belanak beach, Lombok Island

Since the Lombok International Airport is located almost the south of Lombok island, we started our journey to the attractions at the south island before check-in to the resort which is at the north west of the island.

Our first destination was Selong Belanak beach, that will be approximately 22KM travel from the airport. Along the way, with the winding roads, villages, and we passed by this tobacco farm (S8.81711 E116.21746). According to Pak Uji, Lombok island is the biggest tobacco supply to the whole Indonesia market.

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Tobacco farm of Lombok island

Before we reach the beach, suddenly everyone in the car surprised with the stunning view ahead of us! The driver (Pak Zaki) was very kind, and he stopped at one of the photo taking point (S8.85585 E116.17915) (small hill) to let us satisfied with our cameras...

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Everyone out from the vehicle without hesitation! It was a very nice spot where surrounded by the beautiful scenery. The place was close to the beach, which about less than 3km from Selong Belanak beach.

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Selong Belanak from far view

The first scene which attracted me was the 'blue' colour of the sea, accompany with the total blue sky separated by the horizon. The total scenery painted a beautiful picture just in front of us! Amazing!

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The scenery behind us...

Don't miss out the scenery behind the small hill where we stand, by looking at the mountains and blue sky, we felt the dryness of the island. Can you feel it too?

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30 minutes later, everyone satisfied with their photos, our tour continued...
Initially I thought the place was quite deserted until we saw others visitors keep coming in...it should be a hot spot area!

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Another group of visitor riding on the bike to the small hill...

We continued the journey for another 3.2km to the beach....

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Related post for Lombok island trip :-
Airasia media FAM trip to Lombok Island - Indonesia on July 2014

Sabtu, 09 Agustus 2014

Airasia media FAM trip to Lombok Island - Indonesia on July 2014

Lombok island is located at Nusa Tenggara Barat of Indonesia. It is a island with full of nature, unspoiled beach and friendly peoples. The island is different with its neighbor - Bali island, which is less commercial and more original...the island is suitable for nature lover and for those who like relax holiday. The Lombok Tourism is doing their best to attract more visitors to the island, they strongly promote the beautiful nature of the island like Mount Rinjani and the rest...
If you like to know more of Lombok island, please click here.

Weather and climate in Lombok
Lombok is dry and less rain compare with Bali, the dry season run from May through September and the wet season is from October to April. Most of the tourists visit Lombok during the dry season, but the wet season is less humid and the rainfall is not overly high. The average year-round temperatures is 26�C to 29�C. I would prefer the month from August to October, because of the hot, humid, sunny and beautiful weather that perfect for photography.

The Airasia FAM trip to Lombok Island was on July, 2014, this trip was hosted by Airasia and Lombok Tourism Board. I was invited for the 4 days 3 nights trip together with a group of travel bloggers from North Penang, Johor Bahru and Singapore.

It was also the maiden direct flight from Senai to Lombok island, a day to remember 12th July 2014. There are 3 routes a week which is Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Airasia had launched 3 new flights from Senai International Airport to 1) Lombok island, 2) Jogjakarta and 3) Ho Chi Minh City.
'Free' sky shuttle bus provided from Singapore to Senai, it's actually a hassle free traveling to Senai airport for Singapore passengers. The pickup points are : Kranji MRT station / Queen Street bus station / Newton Circus. For more information, please visit the Airasia website here.

There were 12 of us in the group...a lovely couple from Penang, 2 lovely ladies of Airasia from Kuala Lumpur, 4 popular bloggers from Singapore, 1 cute girl represent Airasia from Singapore and 3 bloggers from Johor Bahru included myself. We all met at Senai International Airport around 6.50am, and our journey to Lombok started...

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AK486 from Airasia was ready for Lombok

Our flight was filled with joyfulness! Some of the passengers were excited because they be able a ride on this AK486 direct flight from Senai to Lombok, they were going back home town!

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While waiting for the passengers on board - AK486

I noticed there was a male flight attendant had attracted most of the women on board, his name is Eddy who was the handsome guy on the AK486. :)

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The flight attendant - Mr Eddy

There was an entertainment during the flight to Lombok. Some singing and souvenirs giveaway...everyone was so happy.

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We had our breakfast on board by this simple 'nasi lemak'. Surprisingly, the sambal was yummy and we all like it. You can enjoy the tasty meals for 20% off by pre-book online (in the official website).

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The nasi lemak on board - Airasia AK486

The flight took 2 hours and 40 minutes. Once we touched down Lombok International Airport, we had a warm welcome from the Lombok Tourism...

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Lombok International Airport

The Lombok International Airport was just started operation on 1st October 2011, the main purpose of the airport is to promote the beautiful island to the World. It located at the south west of Mataram (Capital of Lombok Island), and the airport deploys in 551.8 hectares with cost Rp.945.8 billion. The Lombok International Airport area has the second largest area after Soekarno-Hatta International Airport

The airport clearance was smooth and all of us were greeted by Pak Uji - The Lombok Tourism's Public Relations Director at the airport. He was also our super tour guide for the 4 days 3 nights trip in Lombok island.

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Short briefing from Pak Uji before our trip in Lombok

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Airasia Media FAM Trip 2014 in Lombok Island

Because of the airport location, we were not check into the resort immediately, but to cover the south part of the island before heading to our resort at Senggiri Beach.

Our itinerary in Lombok - 4 days 3 nights :-
Day 1
The first stop before the beach of Selong Belanak for photo taking.
Selong Belanak beach (through Sempiak Villas)
Mawun beach
*  Lunch at Ashtari Restaurant and Lounge
Kuta beach of Lombok
The Sade Village for Sasak villagers - the native of Lombok
*  Dinner at Warong Menega, Senggigi beach
*  Check-in to Kila Senggigi Beach Resort.
*  Free and easy.

Day 2
Grilled fish stall spotted before the Tawun jetty to Gili Nanggu.
Snorkeling and islands hopping - Gili Nanggu.
*  Lunch at Nirvana Beach Restaurant, Gili Sudak (another island next to Gili Nanggu)
Starfish spotted on the return trip from Gili Sudak.
*  Enjoyed Arabian Cuisine for dinner and Al-Hamra Restaurant, Mataram.
*  Enjoy and relax at Happy Cafe, Senggigi beach.

Day 3
*  Visited Pasar Gunungsari (local dry and wet market)
*  Lunch at Senaru Village
*  Sendang Gile Waterfall - Mount Rinjani national park�s best known attraction
*  Tuna sate stall at Tanjung
*  Autore pearl farm
*  Cape Malimbu for sunset photo taking
*  Farewell dinner with Pak Taufan and the Lombok Tourism at Kila Senggigi Resort

Day 4
*  Breakfast at Kila Senggigi Resort
*  Bye-bye to Lombok and depart for Lombok International Airport.

The places that we missed :-
Sukarare village - renowned for its traditional hand weaving of brightly patterned songket, ikat and sarong cloth.
Taman Narmada built in 1727 by King Anak Agung Gede Ngurah Karang Asem as the kingly garden as well as the place to worship. Its spring water is believed to grant the eternal youth for the believers.
Lingsar temple (built in 1714) � famous as the only Hindhu temple in the world, which also happily accept their Moslem brothers to worship together. This temple symbolizes the harmony and unity of both religions.
Banyumulek Village which famous for its pottery
Pusuk Pass
Autore pearl farm

"I was really impressed by this magical island from the unspoiled nature, it won't be bore for me to travel as many times as I can. Because of the places we missed due to limited time on our trip, that will be a good reason for me to go back to Lombok again."
It was a blissful holiday for us!

Beside the island, I would like to say thousand thanks to Pak Uji, who was the perfect host and very knowledgeable during the trip. He can answer all our questions immediately without checking his tourism bible. Pak Uji is a friendly, humble and talented guy. Our trip was well arranged by him and the responsible driver - Pak Zaki (he speak Indonesian and limited English)
This 2 guys made our Pleasant Vacation in Lombok!

Contact information :-
*  Pak Uji
    Cell phone - +62 817-5704-926
    Email - ujigaffar@yahoo.com

*  Pak Zaki
    Cell phone - +62-878-6356-4900

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The handsome Pak Uji - The Lombok Tourism's Public Relations Director cum our tour guide in Lombok

For more information, great deals and travel tips from Airasia, please follow :-
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AirAsia
Twitter - https://twitter.com/AirAsia
Instagram - https://instagram.com/airasia

*  The detail blog post of every places we visited will be coming soon, stay tune!

Jumat, 01 Agustus 2014

Gartien ???? Pineapple Cakes from Gartien ???? Penang Island.

The Gartien ???? (N5.41634 E100.32944) had moved from Macalister street to Penang road this year, and they just celebrated their grand opening ceremony on 20th July 2014. Gartien � a confectionery company set up by a Penang boy, using Penang�s own natural resources to make Penang�s own pride product to promote to the rest of the world � Gartien Pineapples Cake.

 Gartien ???? pineapple cakes

What makes the Gartien pineapples cake so popular?
Firstly, each piece of the pineapples cake is make by quality homegrown pineapples without preservative. Secondly, the chef took certain time in research and development that ensure the perfect taste of every cube with an equal filled of the pineapples cake. That will result the Gartien pineapples cake nicely present in a buttery and aromatic unique cube size which available in the above mentioned package.

This year (2014), the pineapples cake package had a new design which is similar with the colour and photo around the 70s. 

The new box design of the Gartien pineapple cakes

The freshly made and real pineapples texture is nice especially on the first bite and goes well with the buttery, soft and aromatic outer skin. This pineapples cake are suitable for any occasion around the year, wheter you buy it for yourself or even a gift to friends and relatives.

Gartien is having the Mid-Autumn promotion now!
BY 4 AUGUST 2014:
In order to get your FREE BOX of Gartien ???? Pineapples Cake with EVERY 5 BOXES purchased, please submit your pre-order form by 4 August 2014 at http://gartien.com/shop/

5 AUGUST 2014 onwards:
In order to get your FREE BOX of Gartien ???? Pineapples Cake with EVERY 10 BOXES purchased, please submit your pre-order form at http://gartien.com/shop/

Note: Each box is fixed price throughout the year. The selling price per box with 10 pieces of pineapple cakes is RM45 (self collect only). A fix courier charge of RM10 & RM40 will be applicable to all deliveries within Peninsular Malaysia & East Malaysia respectively.


The new location of Gartien is next to the popular kopitiam named Kek Seng ???? along Penang road. It's a double storey shop lot and easy to find.


You may having a parking problem along the Penang road, but you can park your vehicles at the parking area of Hotel Central via Lorong Beratm, and let Gartien stamp your ticket for free parking

Have you try the Gartien pineapple cake before? Do the purchase now! Even you are not at Penang, you can get them to deliver to your doorstep at the reasonable charges. Grab the special promotion before it's gone!


GARTIEN @ ????
380, Jalan Penang, 10000 Penang, Malaysia.
Contact: 604-229 0068
www.gartien.com
Email: info@gartien.com
FaceBook: www.fb.gartien.com/
Business Hours: 9.00am-6.00pm
GPS coordiantes : N5.41634 E100.32944

Location map of Gartien along Penang road, Penang Island

 

Minggu, 06 Juli 2014

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.


Flame's Kitchen Restaurant

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

Parking area of Flame's Kitchen restaurant

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

The burning flame underneath the water...

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 indoor air-conditioning dining area

The outdoor dining area, with the touch of nature

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

The bar counter of Flame's Kitchen restaurant


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.

Crab meat bruschetta

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

Mushroom soup and garlic bread

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

Seafood Marinara Futtuccini

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...

Cajun Rub Salmon Fillet with mashed potatoes


Cajun Rub Salmon Fillet with garlic rice


Garlic rice (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


Spicy Pastrami Chicken leg chop served with the side dish - mashed potatoes


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.

Wal-lic chicken leg chop


Onion rings (side dish)

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!

Mum marinated pork belly served with onion rings - side dish

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.

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...

The fruit salad which serve with every main course

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

The crispy tibits which shaped like strings

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 special sauce pasta (pipette rigatura)

The grilled pig skin

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!

The Flame

Flame's Kitchen restaurant
1A,2A Jalan Persiaran Jaya Putra 1, Bandar Jaya Putra, 
Johor Bahru.
Tel : 012-757 5292
Business hour : Mon - Fri: 5:00 pm - 12:00 am, 
Sat - Sun: 12:00 pm - 12:00 am

Location map of Flame's Kitchen restaurant at Bandar Jaya Putra, Johor Bahru.