My brother and his family were in town last week, so we decided to take a mini family get away to Johor. There were 7 of us so we need to rent an MPV. Yours truly was in charge of booking a suitable MPV. It was my first time trying to rent an MPV and I was overwhelmed with the choices online. I used mudah.com.my website to find a suitable rental firm. I decided on Exora as it can fit all of us comfortably plus luggage. I booked the car quite early, almost a week early. The rental rate is pretty reasonable of RM180/day for 2 days and their pick up point/office is quite near to my house which is a plus point. So I happily thought everything was settled but the night before the trip, I received a call saying that my car was not available due to engine failure. They offered a replacement car, Alza, which is a class lower than Exora and the rate remained the same. I was desperate so I had to agree. But in my heart I know that I've been duped. I guess it's a tactic they used on unsuspecting and desperate customers like me. I tried to be positive and believe that the original car was really not available. But I don't want the car drama to ruin our getaway so I put it behind me and tried to enjoy the rest of the trip. Apparently, the car was not that bad but poor hubby had to squished at the back with the luggage, sorry honey!
The day was nice, not too hot nor raining, so it was perfect for a road trip. We took our own sweet time, stopped at two rest areas along the way. We arrived in Johor Bharu at 4pm and headed straight to Plaza Angsana as my mom really wanted to eat the famous Mee Rebus at one its food court stall.
We had bowls of mee rebus, yong tau foo and rojak singapore and the prices were reasonable. But I don't get the hype for its mee rebus, though. I had better mee rebus here in KL and my mom's of course.
Then, we headed to our uncle's house who was paralysed from a stroke he suffered months ago. Looking at him lying there helpless made me sad as he was a bubbly person. At that moment, I was thankful to Allah that I still got to enjoy my mom's non-stop lectures and my dad moving purposely around the house, Alhamdullilah. You have to be thankful for those little moments as you'd never know when it will be taken away from you.
We stayed at Hotel Seri Malaysia Johor Bharu for a night. We checked-in into the hotel quite late, around 8pm. But the reception just fell short of my expectation. I know it was late and maybe the receptionist just had a long day but I was quite put-off with it. But I had a long day and the only thing I wanted was a hot shower and a bed. The room was clean and a reasonable size but there were water leaking from the room above in the shower room. I hope the water was clean and I don't want to imagine where it comes from.
Started the next day with a hearty breakfast at the hotel. The breakfast buffet spread was good with variety of options of food such as nasi lemak, fried noodle, curry noodle, noodle soup, porridge, & toast. Yes, there were a lot of food and they did re-filling it non-stop during the serving period which is from 7am to 10am.
We checked out from the hotel and the process was quite fast and fuss free. So, no complaint there. We planned to visit Legoland, Hello Kitty Town and Johor Premium Outlet, so off we go.
It was a 25 minutes ride from JB, perhaps it should be shorter but we did got lost a bit trying to find our way out of the city. The parking lot was a long walk from the entrance. Luckily, there was a covered walkway otherwise all of us would have fainted from the heat. It was so hot that I feel like my face was melting (my makeup did come off a little bit, time to buy new makeup I guess). We didn't go into the theme park as we have not time. But the entry price was quite steep, RM170 for both theme and water park for adult. By looking from outside the entrance door, there were not many attractions/games that would interest me as I don't have any kids yet. Perhaps its target market is more of family with kids. But the pricing is too steep for a normal Malaysian family. It was quite empty even though it was a weekend. Maybe it was an off-peak season :-)
Next, we went to Puteri Harbour where the Hello Kitty Town was. It was just a 10 minute drive from Legoland. Again, we did not enter the attraction as I guess it was for kids and the entrance price is RM80/adult. My nephew is too small to appreciate such thing so we ended up taking pictures and off we go.
We were supposed to stop at Johor Premium Outlet (JPO) next, but missed the turn and too late to turn back. So we head straight to Melaka to have an early dinner there. When we say Melaka for dinner, of course it must be Ikan Bakar! Our favourite ikan bakar place is at Alai, Melaka. The price was reasonable and only cost us less than RM200 for 7 people. My favourite dish are mussels cooked with chilies and grilled stingray. After all that delicious seafood, it's time to head home. I slept like a baby in the car and woken up when we reached home. Wow, what a day! But favourite part of the trip is the food we ate along the way. Oh oh, time to hit the gym!
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