Janda Baik Holiday -- Oh What A Night...

My GGG friends have been planning for a holiday together for almost two months. We wanted a place where we could have fun with each other and the family. Many places were thrown on the table but we decided on Janda Baik in the end. Firstly because it is closest, takes us about an hour or less to get there. Secondly, Hazleen has been there and says the place is definitely suitable for us and family. She calls it going back to nature with modern amenities.

We planned it for the first school holiday weekend, Nov 15 and 16. In preparation for the trip we had many discussions on FB and also face to face meetings. The husbands even went to reccee the site! Or was that just an excuse to get out of town ... hmmmm...

Finally the great day came and we were all excited. Bags had been packed, food prepared and the journey began.

This is the drive into Aman Rimba. It belongs to a friend of Hazleen and Nizam (Hazleen's hubby). The drive into Janda Baik is always so cool and the air so crisp.Aman Rimba is nestled on a 3-acre site. Imagine what you can build on 3 acres on land. The owner has his own mansion on the top of the hill. He has built 3 guests chalets, a pond, a swimming pool, a makan house cum clubhouse, an outdoor kitchen meant for catering, and another guest house. Not forgetting the basketball court and landscaping in abundance

This is Bob taking a power nap after lunch in the guest house which is typical kampung style. The men slept in that house that night. It seems it was very very cold....brrrr. Oh Ya! The black and white picture is courtesy of Nizam. He takes very nice black and white shots

Some of the infamous GGG doing what we do best: makan and sembang! We had so much food to eat over the weekend. For an affordable price we had breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner on the first day and the same course the next day minus dinner. On top of that we had packed our own titbits and sandwiches. There was so much food. After all, what is a holiday without food rite

This was our first lunch. Masakan ala kampung. There was ikan keli masak sambal goreng, my favourite, so I was happy. Other dishes were fish curry, sambal belachan and ulam, sayur lemak pucuk, ayam kicap, ikan kering, taugeh goreng. The air bandung was good too, had a bit of soda in it for added punch

It was raining the afternoon we got there but that did not deter the kids at all. Shikin had given the kids raincoats and we mothers who wanted to goss and play "batu" pushed them out in the rain. We told them you will never have this chance to play in the rain again so go out there and make the best of it!

This is Rashid, Shariah's hubby, enjoying a meal. Not sure what he is taking but it looks delicious. There were so many meals we had that I can't remember anymore all the stuff I ate! All food was served in the makan hall which we made our clubhouse. Below are some of the tit bits we brought ... I say some but believe me, we could feed an army. The kids and their parents never went hungry!

Shikin also brought ketupat to eat with daging dinding and ikan bilis to eat with bread. Both very delicious items! Finger licking good .... yummy....

To make sure the kids were entertained, Shikin prepared party packs for them In them were all kinds of stuff to ensure they were occupied. But kids being kids, they found the place exciting too. They cycled, they ran, they swam. The boys had the most fun too, they were at the basketball court most of the time.
Another picture of Bob taking his power nap. I just like the black and white pictures....

This is one of the three chalets, I stayed in Kunyit with Natasha, Suzana and Zurni and some of our kids. Nice rooms with full facilities of a bathroom. Nikki, sorry you were not there. You missed out a lot of the modern amenities lah! :)

This is the inside of one of the chalets, I think this is Halia. Two queen sized beds in each room.

This is the pool which the kids never got enough of. We couldn't swim in the river the day we arrived because of the heavy rain. The water current is way too strong and the water too dirty. So the kid made do with the pool and the bicycles

The owner has monkeys,

talking birds which Ali found very entertaining,

and swans. He has peacocks too but somehow no one took pictures of them!

The makan hall and clubhouse

Ahhhh...Bob and his coffee. He has got everyone hooked on his coffee. We brought a bottle full. It was empty by the end of the night. The next day we had to make do with tea. Bob introduced his favourite serai, halia and honey tea.

Since it rained that afternoon, the men disappeared! Bob took them to TK's house not far from there. That is another nice house in Janda Baik. TK's place is where we usually hang out when we go to Janda Baik

Hazleen organised games for the kids and for us GGG. This is Shariah and me trying our hand at this first game, which we won!!! Put the balloon between you and run as fast as you can to the finishing line. The games were hard to make a success cause the kids were more interested in running around. It took us a good half hour to get order!

Zurni, Hazleen and Suzana celebrated their kids' UPSR results. We had this really great cheesecake. It just melts in your mouth!

After our barbecue dinner that night we had a karoake session. This is Shikin and her hubby Safwi trying hard to make the rain go away. Sadly the machine didn't have any ABBA songs.

Ali trying to make sense of all the noise and singing. He had a good time too exploring the place. Couldn't keep still at all!

The kids and me getting ready to go for our morning walk. It was so cool in the morning, not humid at all like in KL. Really would not mind having a place there. Feel it would be much healthier for all of us

The morning after the rain cleared so we all braved the cold water and jumped in the river. It is located just infront of Aman Rimba.

This is Shariah and Amir....

Zurni and Zamir....

Natasha and Jami....
Our family....

We all had so much fun that we have decided to make this an annual affair. The couples will be going to Bali next month. Unfortunately I can't go along for that trip but I definitely look forward to our next Family Day gathering.

Thank you so much to our hosts, Hazleen and Nizam. We had a blast ....

More from Jakarta

Guess who was on the same flight as us to Jakarta? Ashraf Sinclair. We took this shot of him when waiting in line to clear immigration checks. He was there for his wedding to Indonesian starlet Bunga Cinta Lestari. Cool name huh! maybe we can name our kids like that without getting raised eyebrows!

We travelled confortably in Elona's black Alphard. People in Jakarta like to buy black cars cause their second hand value is better

This was the first night we arrived. We went to a club near by to listen to some live music. The music and performers were really good. The place was not so happening as it was pick-up joint. Infact some of those mat sallehs were trying to catch the eye of Hazleen, Suzana and Shariah!

See! I actually got on that plane. I left Ali for 4 nights! I still can't believe that...sigh...

We were waiting for the plane at the satellite building. I like going to that building cause I don't go there often. They even have a Thomas Sabo counter there

What is a holiday without food right! My friends brought me to the best restaurants and we were treated to meals by wonderful hostesses who gave us a good spreas. This was at Elona's good friend's house, Neena. She gave us an authentic Indonesian meal. This fish (here it is called Kaloi) is fried really crispy

The rest of the buffet spread at Neena's house. Gado-gado I didn'y eat, only because I was so full already. The tempe she fried was fantastic, forgot to ask for recipe lah

The Sista's taking a lunch break. This is a Chinese restaurant and the food is excellent. The mango juice was the best tasting ever!

The restaurant had this basket which they cover with a cloth for you to put your handbags in instead of putting it all over the chairs minimising space. Good idea ya..

Shariah and me at Senayan City. Very nice mall...this was the night we went to watch the latest Bond flick. Which I must add was really lousy!

Family in Jakarta

I have relatives in Jakarta and I managed to meet up with some of them. My great grandfather had 7 children and 4 of them were in Malaysia and the other 3 settled in Indonesia. According to the family tree I have relatives in Jakarta, Bandung and Acheh.

What makes me sad is that my dad (oh ya, this family I am talking about is from my dad's side) never bothered to bring us together. It is only now that we are coming together but not because of my dad but an uncle who has taken all the trouble and effort to make sure we know who our relatives are.

The gentleman on the left is Pak Saihan. He looks like my dad and late grandfather.

We are organising a family gathering this Hari Raya Haji. Thus is organised but us 8th generation kids. And you know what? The older generation folks are more excited about this. Of course right considering they were unable to bring their kids together or make sure their grandchildren know who each other are. Plans are well on the way for that and the family from Jakarta, Bandung and Acheh are coming. How exciting to meet people from far away.

What worries me about these things is you can walk on by and not know you are actually looking at your cousin or aunty. I have had that happen to me and I hope never again!

Jakarta Nov 2008

I went to Jakarta in 2005 with Bob and a few other friends but during that trip I didn't have much chance to see much of the city except for that street where they sold antique items and a mall that was near the hotel. Reason being, it was a business trip for Bob and since I wanted to tag along, I had to go with the programme lah (which meant a lot of hotel room sightseeing!)

So this time around, my trip to Jakarta with the Sista's was really an eye opener and fun to the max. From the day we landed till the day we departed it was non stop movements for us. There was hardly any free time except the last day where we treated ourselves to a nice massage and lulur session. Ahhh... that was really good. You could actually feel all the tired muscles soften.

But I did miss home very much, infact after the 3rd night (I was there for 4 nights) I was dying to come home already. I missed the kids so much, especially Ali. I have also more or less decided that there will not be a next time so soon and if there is, 4 nights is way too long. Ali has been very clingy since I came home. Expected isn't it!


This is me and my Sista's (from left) me, Suzana, Hazleen and Shariah. This was taken at Pancious where we had our last breakfast. They serve pancakes and waffles which just melts in your mouth

I saw so many parts of Jakarta, from busy to upscale to downtown. It is really a vast city but what I liked best about it, was that it was not humid at all! One night we were out having ice cream at the FX Mall which is a cafe mall. We sat outside and we didn't even sweat at all. If we were here sitting outside like that we would be bathing in sweat already. Even during the day, we were cool as ice!

Hazleen had this dish called Nasi Gurema at the Tanah Abang food court. The food court was really great because they served all these traditional authentic dishes. We were wary to order some of them because we had no idea what they are. The good thing about eating in Jakarta is that all places are halal except for a small selection of shops. Even the Chinese restaurants which is very different from Malaysia

Hawker style vendors selling all kinds of yummy looking stuff. This was in addition to the food stalls at the food court. This dish being sold is called kerak telur and is cooked over charcoal

We stayed with our Sista, Elona, who has lived in Jakarta for 10 years now. They have their own little Malaysian community and we met some of them. When you live so far from home it is important to have close friends who you can turn to easily. They are your family. Thank you for welcoming us

We like taking pictures and this one we took ourselves. Can't remember where it was but you can tell from our faces that we were having a good time!


I didn't bring a camera cause each Sista brought one and these pictures are theirs. I know there are many more pictures to come which I will "borrow" from them later for this blog.

I Am Really Going

I am doing the unthinkable today. I am going to Jakarta with my girlfriends. For four nights. And five days. Without the kids. Without Ali. I have left the two girls before and besides they are older now. But to leave Ali is the hardest for me. I have never been without him yet.

The worrying part for me is at night because he sleeps with me. Even if we were to go out for dinner he won't really fall fast asleep until I come home. Of late he has taking to lying on me at nights. Sigh.

My girlfriends keep saying it is part of letting go and there is nothing wrong or bad as it is just four nights. Four nights. Short and yet long. I am sure I will enjoy myself but I know I will miss my little Ali. I have left a blouse for him to "smell" and remind him of me. This is an old petua lah which I have used before and it seems to work.

A trip away is supposed to make people around this house appreciate me better when I return. I wonder. My eldest has also been rather stressed about this trip. She threw three tantrums already since yesterda and I know she is worried that I am going away. Nadiah even asked me why my friends can't go by themselves. And yet they are excited cause I won't be around for me to bug them to go to sleep.

I am sure all will be okay lah at home. Let's just go and have fun right!

See you next week!!

The Biggest Do Ever

Our Raya open house was a great success, thank god. The weather was good to us, the food was excellent and the crowd was great. We have never had one before so we were both pretty anxious and nervous. Bob kept going over his guest list and worrying we didn't have enough food. We really did not know what to expect.

Bob was saying this was not only an open house event for us, but might as well be our house warming, our baby showers and arrivals and all the birthdays put together.

We had a good spread of food .. too much choices I think but everyone was happy, I hope. For those who missed it, well...too bad!!! (just joking lah....)

We had nasi with lauk kampung such as daging curry kawah, curry ikan kering, ikan bakar, sambal belachan and ulam, acar, pulut and ikan kering, bubur kacang, mee rebus, mee goreng, kuey teow, chicken chop and the ABC (all the way from Penang).

Of course the usual kuih raya, the best tasting ones of course, and a spread of cakes, local and western.

We had four lambs...which finished very fast. We had to let them go slowly so it would last till 4pm or so....
This is one of them beeing cooked ....yummy! soft and juicy and so succulent...

We started preparing for the big do a day before. This involved cleaning and sprucing up the house. Here you see the gate being oiled...wood needs this regular TLC to ensure it keeps looking good while some workers put up the tents and fans outside

My good friends from school never fail to "memeriahkan" a party! Here is Nik Sheireen, Aida, Shikin and Jami. Thanks to most of my good friends who turned up. I don't have many friends so my list was pretty short. I did miss my BFF's though...Fara and Nazlin .. you were thought of!

This is me and Ali and my sis-in-law, Ayu and her daughter Arina

Bob invited some orphans and about 30 of them came. They enjoyed the spread and the treats!

More GGG at the GGG table, Adeen, Natasha, Fatin and Nikki, enjoying the food. How many rounds of lamb huh?

The kids entertained themselves with our cat, Komek, while their parents chatted and ate

Bob and me and our little Ali, at least we took a break to take a picture. This was way before Bob changed uniform into his comfy jeans and t-shirt

Chicken chop and kuey teow, fried when ordered. A hit with the kids these dishes. Oh ya! we had spaghetti too

Ahhhhh...this is the ABC that came all the way from Penang. It was delicious!!! Creamy and not too sweet. The vanilla ice cream adds a nice touch

Bob taking a quick bite while entertaining his guests playing the perfect host. Either that or he was worried the lamb would finish fast

The tents set up outside the house. We had to call for one more at the last minute for the mee goreng and kuey teow caterers

Bob teaching Ali how to be a good host

I finally got to serve some VIP guests my best Noritake dishes and Dansk silverware. It has been in the cupboard since we got married!

Me and my sis in law, Ayu, striking a pose before we went back to mingling. Bob invited quite a few of his business associates too

My best friends and cousins found a cool place of the house to hang out and enjoy the sights and sounds. Thank you so much for coming, your presence liven things a lot! I don't have pictures of some of my other guests who I really wanted there though...oh well, you know who you are. Here is (from left) Shuk, Shu, Hizreen, Ebi and Fairul