You betcha! The proofs? No updates since the last entry on March 24 and some blogging friends are already sending where-are-you messages.. Well, I was away from March 25th to March 27th. They put me and some 20 over people at this place, somewhere in the middle of a forest in Janda Baik, Pahang. The place was called D’Ark Training and Resort.

Firstly, there was no ark there. But, it has the Benus river flowing right beside it.  The nice things were that we had lots of clean air throughout the 3 days 2 nights stay there. And instead of the regular noises made by vehicles, the sound of river water flowing through some little rapids filled the otherwise quiet resort. And at night, we were serenaded by crickets and cicadas..

The not so nice but valuable thing was that we were put through a grueling series of theories and exercises on Value Based Sales by our Albanian instructor.. I am not in Sales and now I can appreciate that doing sales is nothing like a walk in the park..

Anyway, what happened after the 27th? I had to sit for my trial exam on March 28th. What exam? Will talk about that in another post when the time comes. I did pass the trial exam and now I need to beef up on some weak areas for the actual exam on April 7th. Wish me luck! Thanks!

And finally, after clearing up all the accumulating work stuffs and the mental fatigue, I have this teeny weeny little time to dish out this short post and let you know that I am back..

The picture up there is where my room was. It had the kampung design and just like a kampung house, don’t dream of hot shower. The installed hot shower unit was for show only..

The picture on the left is the Sungai Benus. The water was crystal clear and cold. The little rapids were quite strong at certain spots. A bunch of us did go for a cold dip after our class in the evening. Lovely cold dip!

In conclusion, it was a suitable place to conduct a boot camp type of training as the participants would be far away from the hustle and bustle of the city thus giving them the opportunity to clear up their minds and absorb as much knowledge as possible.

Investment already made. It’s ROI time!

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The great thing about going back to Dumai apart from being able to have a family get together and celebrate Pasha’s Granddaddy’s 63^rd birthday, is the food. Previously, I wrote about lontong and now it will be about Bandrek and Sate. These are the food that this entry is all about. That’s why I did not have the  time to look for visitors…

That’s the sate still packed. Notice the marketing effort that the owner has put into his sate. It’s not just some old newspapers or generic, blank wrapping paper. This one came with a logo, name and contact info. Banana leaf was a nice touch as well.

This is Mama Pasha’s favorite sate, the Sate Padang (beef). The yellowish spicy sauce made from a mixture of rice flour, coconut milk, turmeric and few other stuffs is the trademark of Sate Padang. I don’t quite like it as much as Mama Pasha does. I would normally just eat the sate without the sauce.

This is my favorite, the Sate Kambing (lamb). This version came with peanut sauce instead of soya sauce. I had the soya souce (Sate Kambing Bumbu Kecap) version on another night but did not snap the photo as it was too delicious to wait.

Last but not least, Bandrek, a special drink that I could not find anywhere else but Dumai. I could get the instant one from Jakarta but the taste is nowhere near the one made in Dumai. Bandrek is not even known in KL. Brought back some instant Bandrek home but they’re just not that nice…

Bandrek is made from a mixture of cinnamon sticks, star anise, cloves, coriander seeds, cardamom pods, lemongrass, Indonesian palm sugar (gula merah), milk, coconut and optionally, egg. I love mine with egg added. I can’t describe the taste. Only those who have teated Bandrek know what it taste like.

So, if anyone asked me, what’s more worth it than getting as many visitors as I could to this blog when a buffered earning from Nuffnang was on? The answers are all of the above. All Nuffnangers know that when you have a BE, the best thing to do is to get as many visitors to your blog as you can since that is the best way to maximize your BE earning. However, for me, BE came at not quite the right time…

The statistics taken from Nuffnang Analystics clearly showing a huge dip in visitors on the column labeled 01-Jan. That was the time that we were in Dumai, Indonesia. The two high spikes are the results of AFF Suzuki Cup 2010 and AJL25, repectively. Nevertheless, our lost there was our gain with our family in Dumai.

No BE or any number of visitors can beat that…

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A quiet late morning in Jalan Paus, Dumai. A far cry from the hectic Klang Valley back home…

Nothing much to do. Just wait for the next meal… This is what taking a break is all about…

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We are spending the night in Melaka. This is just a transit point for our yearly trip to Dumai, Indonesia. Travelling on a tight budget, M Motel has become our choice again. This is our second time here. This is really a no frill, dirt cheap and yet very clean place to stay in Melaka. It’s location that is in the vicinity of the Melaka jetty, makes it an ideal stopover spot for us.

Tomorrow morning, we will be boarding an Indomal ferry that will take us to Dumai. We will be celebrating Mama Pasha’s dad aka Pasha’s granddad aka Papa Bear’s father in law’s birthday.

Pasha was already very excited earlier this evening. By the time I got home, he was already mentioning something about going to see his grandpa in Dumai. Well, I could only understand the grandpa and Dumai parts…

He knows that there will be a candle blowing session and he knows that he will be entrusted with the most fun task of the event, i.e. to blow the candles… Must be the most exciting job in the world for a 3 year old…

Since internet connection is a luxury in Dumai, we will not be able to actively blog while we are there. So we, especially Papa Bear, will be missing from the blogosphere for a few of days.

See you later folks!

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Japanese Tea House, Japanese Village, Berjaya Hills,
November 14, 2010

Strangely, you would not find any Japanese working or living there. They’re all Chinese…

The Tea House is in the forest and there’s Pasha being dressed up…

Pasha and Mama all dressed up and then Papa joined the both of them… It’s a hot day and we were wearing that costume on top of what we were wearing… Sweating….

Some photos taken in the Tea House… Where’s the tea? Beats me…

Papa and Mama and the whole gang leaving the Japanese Village. It was along walk back to the entrance…

Pasha playing with the fish at the Botanical Garden and Pasha took the shot of the shuttle that took us back to the station…

The End.

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Japanese Village, Berjaya Hills
November 14, 2010

How about a nice forest walk in a hot afternoon? The place was the Japanese Village. It is advisable that you take the shuttle up there. If not, be prepared to climb up the steep walkway to the entrance.

Look at the time! It was almost noon. We had to wait for the shuttle to take us up to the Japanese Village. Pasha and Papa were already exhausted from chasing rabbits…

Mama on the shuttle with Uwan Pasha holding on for dear life… Finally, we got up there safe and sound and were ready for the walk…

The signboard: Welcome to the world’s first Japanese Tea House in the Tropical Forest. One pretty blue flower caught over there.

Pasha starting the climb and the grape-like flower…

Pasha way up there and a bug on a pretty pink flower.

To be continued…

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Rabbit Park, Berjaya Hills
November 14, 2010

One of the best places that we visited at Berjaya Hills was the Rabbit Park. Real life, fluffy rabbits that you can touch, pat, feed and chase around the compound. The only thing that you’re not allowed to do, apart from hurting the rabbits in anyway possible, was to lift the fluffy creatures up. So, hugging them was out of the question unless you want to lie down on the ground in doing so… Some people might be tempted though…

Pasha had a superb time with the tame and friendly rabbits… He loved touching them…

See the rabbit just behind the black rabbit? That rabbit was a “naughty” one. We caught him humping a few rabbits around him… Well, since they could not have any privacy, what do you expect?

Mama Pasha feeding one of the rabbits.

Pasha taking his turn to feed more rabbits…

Papa feeding more rabbits and Uwan trying hard to overcome the ticklish sensation when a rabbit licked the food off her hand.

A shy rabbit running away from the camera and a pinkish white rabbit.

That’s the end of the story on rabbits. When was the last time that you touched a real life rabbit?

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Nora Lodge, November 13 – 14, 2010

It rained heavily that night. No wonder it was hot during the day. It was really cool to spend a night in a chalet where splashes of rain came through the wooden walls from time to time. Something like those misty sprays that some restaurants would run on a hot day…

When morning came, I was reluctant to leave the warm bed. Mama Pasha insisted that I came out and took a look at the fogs. I gave her the camera instead and continued hugging my pillow. At least, I would be able to see the photos later…

Look at the refreshing morning view just outside our chalet. Well, I did get up after being constantly “harassed” by Mama Pasha and I got Pasha to wake up as well…

Look at Pasha’s face. Anyway, he still managed to put up his peace sign despite the “protest”… Then off we went for a cold morning shower. Fortunately, hot water was provided.

Our last photo at the road entrance leading to Nora Lodge with the owner, Puan Nora. Farewell Nora Lodge.

Next: Rabbit hunting. Stay tuned.

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Colmar Tropicale, Bukit Tinggi, Bentong, Pahang
November 13, 2010

This is the continuation to An Evening in Colmar Tropicale. We were told that there was nothing much at the Colmar Tropicale. It was suggested by Puan Nora, the Nora Lodge owner, that we go up there during the evening and stay till nightfall so that we could see the resort during the day and night in one go. Furthermore, after 6:00pm, there will be no entrance fee. If not adults would have to pay RM12 just to enter the resort.

Pasha insisted on trying out the yellow rubber ducky fishing game. He successfully pleaded with his “pretty please” code word for him to do two rounds of rubber ducky fishing.

Pasha fishing for the yellow rubber ducky. Pasha had no problem catching the rubber ducky but to win a prize, was a totally different story… There was a lot of “unfairness” built into that game and all the other same kind of games that you can find at the resort. The odd of winning was way too low making it almost impossible to win at all. So, if you were up there, just stay away from the games so that hopefully, one day, those operators would recalculate the huge profit that they are making and give back a bit more to the players… And the Ultraman with his parents by the fountain….

Alternative to wasting money playing the games for nothing. There was a game arcade there. Fully automated, so no resort employee was there. If you have kids around 3 who insisted on playing the game there, put them at this colorful ball game. There’s no need to pay as an adult can just pick up the balls that the kid threw inside and you can have this fun for hours… The only thing that you will not get for not paying is your score. Kids do not really need scores to have fun, do they?

Colmar Square and the magical fountain at night. Quite a pretty sight…

The knight in not so shiny armor and Pasha and Mama at the clock tower at night.

Next change: The foggy morning.

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November 13, 2010
Colmar Tropicale, Berjaya Hills

Pasha, Uwan, Mama and Papa. Juts got out of the car park from the castle behind us.

Pasha at the sign board and the Main gate to the resort.

The clocks. The first one showing the current time and the second one, on the other side, showing another time. Since I do not read French, I do not know what “Tour De L’ Horloge Clock Tower“. May be it’s about the time for the next tour of the clock tower or something like that…

The horse had run away leaving the shiny red cart behind. The fish pond, which was one of Pasha’s favourite.

The giant white swans were too lazy to move around…

Pasha and Papa and the lovely black swans. Swans or some big black ducks?

Another view of the clock tower and Pasha and Mama entering the Colmar Square.

Pasha wondering off by himself and the caught again to pose for a family shot at the fountain.

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