Hotel Review – Masbro Village Homestay

Masbro Village Homestay

We wanted to take a short trip before the girls go back to the UK.  Malacca seems to be near enough and there were few places that we wanted to visit. We saw this Masbro Village Homestay listed in one of the attractions in Malacca.. so we decided to give it a try even though there were mixed review about this place. Told the kids not to expect much but kids were too excited by just looking at the photo. Nurin’s exact words was ” Picture worthy “. At this point they didn’t care about the negative feedback.. they just wanted to take pictures… so here goes nothing…

Masbro Village Homestay is a unique triangular houses filled with colourful exterior. It has a large outdoor swimming pool for both adults and children. It is a beautiful place, clean unit with comfy beds and basic facilities, warm and friendly staff. Cost for a unit is RM280 per night and one unit could accommodate 6 guests but they accept additional 2 guest at additional cost of rm30 per person. Paying additional RM30 does not get you an extra bed.. just additional towel, pillow and blanket. So, please bring your own comforter people!

The upper level

The unit has 2 levels. On lower level, you will  have a kitchen that is equipped with cooking utensils, a kettle, a microwave and a fridge, a 6-seater dining table, a TV, a sofa bed and a bathroom. On the upper level you will have a 2 double bed and a bathroom. Oh.. the stairs going to upper level is quite steep, so if you have small kids, please pay extra attention to them. We don’t want any mishap right? If you come with a large family members, you can ask for a connecting units. The 2 units will be connected via a door at the side of the unit… convenient.. just like the connecting room at the normal hotel. The unit is fully air-conditioned and the bathroom has a great shower with high water pressure. Sadly.. there is no soap or shampoo in the bathroom however they do have toilet paper.

Masbro Village is still quite new, they are still expanding few more houses. They have ample parking but it is rather  dark at night and the road leading to the parking lot is still under construction, so when it rains it become muddy. The main gate will be closed after 8pm, so you need to unlock & lock the main gate yourself if you need to go out at night. Main gate key is included together with your house key.

All in all, I would say that Masbro Homestay is a great place to chill for family with small kids.  I would definitely recommend this place for family and friends. The price is reasonable and the place is clean and comfortable.

swimming pool

 

Cream Puffs

A profiterole, cream puff or choux à la crème

Assalamualaikum and a very good evening to all. Hope life is treating everyone good.

Oman celebrated its 43rd National day last Monday 18th November but the official holiday for the National day will be on this coming Wednesday 27th and Thursday 28th November. I am looking forward to this long weekend. No concrete plan has been made but insyaallah we will go somewhere. Oman is too beautiful to be left unexplored furthermore we are receiving guest this Wednesday, the more reason to go out in the sun hehehe.

We have been in Muscat since 28th August and we have been to a couple of places that I find it to be breathtaking. Oman has a very unique landscape; rocky mountains, sandy dunes, amazing beaches and not to forget natural wadis…. what is there not to love!

Amazing scenery from Muscat to Bimmah sinkhole

The first trip that we took was to the Bimmah sink hole and Wadi Al Shab during the eid holidays. Shukri and Anis with their 3 girls came over from Kuwait to spend 5 days in Muscat knowing that we just moved in and eid would be lonely without family and close friends. We really appreciate them coming all the way from Kuwait to our humble home just to keep us company. On the second day of eid holiday we went to Bimmah Sinkhole. Bimmah Sinkhole is located in the fenced and toilet-equipped Hawiyat Najm Park. It is approximately 1.5 hrs drive from Muscat.

Bimmah Sinkhole

Bimmah sinkhole occurred naturally due to limestone erosion. This sinkhole is said to be connected to the sea through an underground tunnel which then explain the unique colour of the water. We have no way of confirming this but my girls did taste the water and they said it taste slightly salted. So, maybe it is true that this sinkhole is connected to the sea which is one or two km away. You can actually swim here, so by all means, please bring your swimming costume people!

The water is so inviting

After spending about 1 hour here, we proceed to our next destination, Wadi Shab. Wadi Shab is approximately 20 km from Bimmah Sinkhole but since our GPS gave a weird location of this wadi, we kind of wonder off road for a while and go up a mountain hehehe. We then called a friend and she told us that this wadi so near to the road and should you already go up the mountain, you are definitely lost. Almost gave up, we decided to just proceed to Sur and then, suddenly the signboard appeared… what a relieve! It is just by the roadside…. well, at least some part of it. We parked our car and took a boat to the other side. The guy on the boat told us that you need to walk about 1 hour to the waterfall. Since we have children and baby with us, we decided to just walk to the first pool so that the kids could have a dip. The other tourist told us that it is just a 10 minutes walk but the the kids, not suitable foot ware and the heat factor, I swear that it took us almost 20 minutes to the pool. Thank God that the kids had fun in the water.

Wadi Shab

Walking to the first pool…tiring

After Wadi Shab, we drove to Sur for a late lunch and then headed home to Muscat. It was a long day but the scenery was to die for. In the next posting I’ll tell you our next adventure after the sinkhole and Wadi Shab, stay tune!

Okay, now we come to the new recipe for today, cream puff. I seriously do not remember where I got the recipe from but I Have been using this recepi since I first moved to Kuwait. Happy baking guys!

Cream puff with vanilla pastry cream

Ingredient:

Choux Pastry:

• 1 cup  all purpose flour
  
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter cut into pieces
• 1 cup water
• 4 large egg, lightly beaten

Pastry Cream:

• 1 1/4 cups whole milk
• 2 large yolks – beaten
• 3/4 cup  granulated sugar (you can reduce this if you do not fancy a sweet pastry cream)
  
• 2 tbsp butter
  
• 1/4 cup corn flour
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt

Method:

Choux Pastry:

1. Preheat oven to 200C. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a bowl sift together flour,sugar and salt.
3. Place the butter and water in a heavy saucepan over medium high heat and bring to a boil. (Make sure that the butter melts before the water boils to reduce the amount of evaporation.)
4.  Remove from heat and with a wooden spoon, add the flour mixture, all at once, and stir until combined.
5. Return saucepan to the heat and stir constantly until the dough comes away from the sides of the pan and forms a thick smooth ball
6. Transfer the dough to your electric mixer and beat on low speed to release the steam from the dough. Once the dough is lukewarm start adding the lightly beaten eggs and continue to mix until you have a smooth thick paste.
7. Spoon or pipe 24 small mounds of dough onto the baking sheet, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart.
8. Bake for 15 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 180 degrees C. Continue to bake for a further 30 to 35 minutes or until the shells are a nice amber color and when split, are almost dry inside. Turn the oven off and with the oven door slightly ajar, let the shells completely cool.
9. When the shells are cool, either split and fill them with the pastry cream, or use a pastry bag to pipe the pastry cream into the shells.

 

Pastry Cream:

1. Place the butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Once melted add sugar, salt and corn flour. Mix well.
2. Add milk and cook until just about to boil.
3. Add the egg slowly, whisking constantly to prevent curdling. Cook for another 2 minutes or until the mixture become thick.
4. Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla.
5. Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate until ready to use.

Can be refrigerated for 2-3 days

Istanbul Trip Part4

Assalamualaikum and Salam Maal Hijrah buat semua. كل عام و انتم بخير

Day 4: Monday, 25th February 2013

Everyone was looking forward to this day… Grand Bazaar time!

On day 4 of the trip, our family decided to make a short trip to Basilica Cistern whereas the other 2 families went straight to Grand Bazaar. Basilica Cistern is located near the Sultan Ahmet Square. It is an ancient cistern that lie beneath city of Istanbul which act as a reservoir for water storage for the Great Palace.

Inside the Basilica Cistern

More columns

There are 336 columns in the cistern and if you walked to the far left-hand corner of the cistern, you will see 2 Medusa heads. Both heads are used as a based column with one positioned upside down and the other tilted to the side. The reason why they are placed in such a way remain mystery to this very day. It is an awesome place to visit and definitely a must visit place in Istanbul.

Medusa Head

Another Medusa head

After Basilica Cistern we proceed to the Grand Bazaar via tram. Grand Bazaar opens daily except on Sunday from 9:00 to 19:00. By the time we reached Grand Bazaar it was almost noon and it was packed with people.

Shops outside Grand Bazaar

Grand Bazaar Istanbul is one of the largest and oldest covered bazaar in the world. The bazaar is truly huge and finding your way out of this bazaar maze is really a challenge especially if you don’t pay attention to where you’re going hehehe . If I’m not mistaken there are 5 major gates to the Grand Bazaar and depending on which gate you take it will bring you to different section of the bazaar. The shops here are more or less are group together into sections, depending on what are they selling, for example leather goods, ceramic and souvenirs, handbags, carpets, antiques, clothes and so on.

Jewellery shops inside the bazaar

Souvenir shops

Ceramic and glass lamp shades

What did we buy there? Hahaha… lots of stuff. As always… we would walk around (look see look see hehehe) and find out what are there to buy and then check out their prices. Once we have establish the baseline then only we start  bargaining for the items. In order to make a good deal you have to be willing to invest your time in finding a shop that willing to accept your offer… which we were not that willing to do so simply because we traveled with 5 kids and they easily get bored and stress. Having said that, we were quite happy with the prices that we got. Okay… things that we bought at the Grand Bazaar were some ceramic plates, fridge magnet, t-shits, clothes and last but not least… leather jackets. Leather jackets here are so cheap and they do offer an alteration service as long as you are willing to wait for half an hour. If you must know…my other half is a leather jacket maniac and he loves the army type of design and guess what… he found that very design there… so apa lagi beli lah hehehe and the fact that the shop owner was able to alter the jacket hand for him, it really made his day. Senyum sampai ke telinga muahahaha.

After all those shopping… we stop at one of the kebab shop and had our late lunch and….. I finally found a kebab that almost resemble the bebek kebab from Sheffield…. at last sampai jugak hajat hehehe. By the time we finished lunch, the kids started to acting up so we decided to send them back to the hotel and then make a quick visit to Hagia Sophia.

Sultanet Ahmet Square

Hagia Sofia from a distance

Hagia Sofia view from Sultanet Ahmad Square

That evening we went to street and revisit the Spice Bazaar.

Street Market

Terduduk keletihan hehehe

The ladies were trying leather gloves in one of the shops near Spice Bazaar

The guys with their brand new leather jackets (from Grand Bazaar) and trying a leather beret.

Istanbul Trip Part3

Day 3: Sunday, 24th Feb 2013

Bosphorus tour…

There are several tour operators that operate short Bosphorus cruises that can take you way up to the Bosphorus and back.  However I would advice you to take a regular Ferry, operates by the government. It is not fancy but it is acceptable and it is cheap. Ticket cost is 25 TL for a return trip. The ferries to the Bosphorus leave from Eminonu.

Bosphorus Walking from tram station to the ferry station

On that particular day, we left the hotel around 09:30 (of course after breakfast!) and we took tram straight to Eminonu station and then we bought the ticket at the ferry terminal. We took the 10:35am departure.

Bosphorus Ferry Pier

All ready to board the ferry

The ferry…

Since we were travelling in a large group, we decided to board the ferry about half hour earlier to ensure that we get a good seat for everybody on the top deck.  It was a sunny day but still freezing and everyone had their gloves on.

Upper deck of the ferry

Scenery from the ferry

Cantik…

The journey from Eminonu to Anadolu Kavağı took about 1 1/2 hours. The scenery was amazing and it remind me of Amsterdam.

Beautiful houses macam kat Amsterdam

And another one….

Half way through the journey we decided to go down to the middle deck as it was too cold for the kids hehehe.

Freezing….

We reached Anadolu Kavağı at about noon  time and we were given 3 hours to roam around and have lunch and by 15:00 the ferry will be back to pick us up. The weather at Anadolu Kavaği was sunny but cold and its terminal was covered with fog…

Anadolu Kavağı is a fishing village and lunch there is all about seafood. We did try a fish sandwich there and it was amazing but it would be better if we had a green chili with us hahaha (melayu.. mana boleh tak pedas).

Shop where we bought fish kebab

Besides the seafood, we also had waffle and ice cream and they were absolutely yummy. If you do not fancy seafood, there is one small shop near the mosque that sells chicken kebab… we did try the kebab too as our kids do not really fancy seafood and it was good.

Here… the prices of the souvenirs are way cheaper than the shops in Istanbul… but the trick is you have to carry them around and into the ferry. I did buy a couple of small souvenirs that were easily being carried by my troop… this is one of the advantage of having 5 kids hehehe.

souvenir shop…

Waffle and ice cream shops

Waffle and ice cream time

There was nothing much to see here unless you willing to climb up the hill to Yoros Castle which we didn’t as we have one pregnant lady in the group (hahaha sebenarnya malas). Yoros Castle sits on a hill surrounded by steep bluffs overlooking the Bosphorous… it would be nice to see the scenery from up there but tak sanggup la nak naik…

So… by 14:45 we were already at the jetty waiting for the ferry and this time we immediately sit in the middle deck and I think everyone doze off immediately after the ferry left the jetty.

The jetty

We reached Eminonu round about 16:30 and we proceed to Taksim Square  and Istiklal Street. The street lays between Taksim Square till the “Tunel” area.

Entrance to the tunnel

The train

Taksim Square

Around Taksim Square

Cut flowers at Taksim Square

The street is pedestranized and only a  historical tram is running from one end to another. You can find hundreds of shops, cafes and restaurants.

Istiklal Street

The Tram

There were more than a dozen doner kebab places for you to choose from and my initial reaction was… ” one of these shops can definately end my search for my perfect doner kebab!”… unfortunately none meet my standard, so the search for Bebek Kebab continues…. We walked from Taksim Square right to the Tunnel Area and there were so many people on the street even though it was late Sunday night. We didn’t buy anything but did stop at one of the restaurant for dinner.

Waiting for dinner…dozing off already hehehe

After dinner we took the one stop train back to Karaköy and from there we walked on the Galata Bridge to Eminonu.

Walking on Galata Bridge. Don’t be fooled by the smile sebenarnya dah nak nangis sebab sakit kaki tu hehehe

From there we took the tram back to the hotel. It was a long day for everyone especially the little ones but it was surely a good day.

Istanbul Trip Part2

Assalamualaikum, how is everyone? Hope that you guys had a good Ramadan and Syawal. As for us the last 3 months were too hectic to describe….why? My other half got a job offer in Muscat,Oman and there were soo much issues that need to be address. Well… I’m currently in the city of Muscat and I’ll promise to write all about our “crazy” move maybe in the next one or two post. Meanwhile please enjoy our 2nd day tour of Istanbul. Catch you guys later.

Day two: Saturday 23 Feb 2013

Breakfast room Faros Hotel Serkici

On day two, everyone was eager to start our tour so by 7:30 everyone was already at the breakfast table. The hotel’s breakfast was available from 7 am to 10:30 am, there were lots of fresh fruits, variety of bread, jams and cheese to choose from. Our kids loved it and it kept us full till late afternoon.

Among other things on breakfast menu

Variety of homemade jams on the table

Cheese anyone?

By the time we left hotel that morning, it was already 9:30, the temperature was still surrounding 11C and rain was forecast for that day. Our first destination was Topkapi Palace which was a walking distance from the hotel. Most people enter the palace through the Imperial Gate which is located behind and to the right of the Hagia Sofia. We however entered from the Archaeological Museum. The opening time for the Topkapı Palace Museum is between 09:00 – 17:00 during winter (1 October- 15 April), and 09:00 – 19:00 during summer time. They are opened everyday except on Tuesdays. The admission ticket was 25TL for  adult and children under 5 is free.

Waiting for everyone to come down…

On the way to Topkapi Palace

Topkapi Palace Museum is divided into few sections, once you passes Imperial gate (Bab-ı-Hümayün), you will find yourself in the First Courtyards of the Palace Complex where they held various ceremonies and processions. This is the only section that is free. Tickets booth to the rest of the courtyard sections is located here, just before you enter the Bab-ı-Selam or the “Gate of Salutations”.

Smile ladies…

First Coutyard

The Gate of Salutations leads the visitors into the palace proper; the gate structure has two grand towers which reminds me of Disneyland gate except with arabic writing that says بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم which means “In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful”. As you enter the Gate of Salutation, you will be subjected to a very tight security check… your bag, jackets and other stuff need to be scanned through the scanning machine just like the one in the airport. Upon passing this gate, you will enter the Second Courtyard. Here you can find exhibit rooms showing items from the Sultan’s treasury as well as imperial clothing and the Sultan’s arms and armor. Kids will find this extremely boring but I guess they just have to “bear with it”…. well.. actually not just kids… me included after a while hehehe. Most of the exhibition rooms do not allowed camera… there was this one guy tried to be smart and took some photos using his phone, out of nowhere came a guard and requested his phone and deleted his photos…. so you can try “curi-curi” ambik gambar but if you are unlucky, the guard will catch you.

From the Second Courtyard you can enter the Third Courtyard through Gate of Felicity (Bab-üs Saadet). Third Courtyard is the heart of the palace. Here there are few exhibition hall and you can see a vast collection of works of art, jewelry, heirlooms of sentimental value and money belonging to the Ottoman dynasty.

Tak pernah jumpa, so apa lagi… snap snap la

All in all, the best part of the visit to Topkapi palace was to be able to see Prophet’s beards, his sword and also the sahabahs’ (the companions of the prophet) sword.  Something that you can’t see event if you visit Mecca and Madinah. Definitely worth going and walking through the whole complex.

By the time we came out from Topkapi Place it was pass lunch time, so we took a quick break and sat down at the Sultan Ahmet Square.  The weather was freezing, so we sat down for a hot cup of coffee and a sandwich. From there we then walked to the Blue Mosque for Dhuhr and Asr prayers.

Blue Mosque

The ladies…

Inside the Blue Mosque

After the Asr prayers, the kids started to act up… well, who won’t… especially when the tummy is growling! So we went into the first kebab house we found hehehe. The food was good but it was nothing like the doner kebab that I was used to when I was studying in Sheffiled. Back then (in 1991 hehehe) there was this one doner kebab shop (Bebek Kebab) in High Street that we always visit after getting our monthly allowance from the JPA… The kebab was juicy and tasty.. mmmm so delicious! We did try to find it when we were in Sheffield in 2010 but it was no longer there. So, when we decided to visit Istanbul, the first thing that came to my mind was “Bebek kebab”… well, tak de rezeki lagi lah kata my other half.

Waiting for food…

Nana and Chacha enjoying their spaghetti

Originally, we planned to proceed to Grand Bazaar after that early dinner but looking at the time, we know that by the time we reached there it will be almost to the closing time, so we decided to just “lepak” and take some photos of the Blue Mosque at night.

Blue Mosque at night

Oh.. did I tell you that the best way to travel in Istanbul is via a tram? Okay, what you need to do is just buy an Istanbul card and you dont have to worry about moving from one place to another. It’s just like London tube… just on smaller scale. One card can be used by multiple people, just swipe it over and over again and once the credit finish, just top it up. Super duper easy and the other thing I like about the tram was if you missed one, the next one is just two minutes away.

Istanbul Trip Part1

At the Istanbul Ataturk Airport

3 days before our flight, Haqeem had a fever and his temperature hit 39.9. To make it worst our normal Pediatrician was visiting his sick son in London, so we visited another Ped recommended by a friend. The doctor told us that Haqeem had a throat infection and some phlegm in his chest and  upon knowing that we have an insurance, he wanted to do chest x-ray and blood test. At first we said okay but after hearing other children screaming while taking blood we decided to just take the medicine and antibiotics. That night none of us have any sleep as Haqeem’s fever didn’t even go down even after we gave him the suppository. After 2 hours and temp still in 39 range, I decided to bathe him and he being a very good boy, didn’t even cry when I gave him a quick shower even though he was shivering at that time. The temperature went down slightly but maintain on the higher 38. Not knowing what else to do besides sponge bath him non stop, I decided to gave my brother who is a Ped in Malaysia a call. He  told us what to do and alhamdulillah, we managed to bring his temperature down. My brother told us that Haqeem will continue to have fever for one or two day but based on his experience, he said insyaallah Haqeem’s fever should be OK by the time we fly to Istanbul. True enough, during the whole journey as well as when we were in Istanbul, he was fever free, alhamdulillah.

Okay… due to that whole “commotion”, we only managed to do the packing on Thursday night itself and since we planned to leave home about 3:30 in the morning, both me and my other half didn’t even get any sleep that night. We left a bit early (our flight was at 7 am) just to have an extra time to come back to the apartment and leave the car should the long term parking is full but Alhamdulillah, there were still a couple of parking left in the long term parking. Our flight to Istanbul (Kuwait-Bahrain-Istanbul) was good and 90% of the time, we slept hehehe. Super duper tired!

Group photo before making our way to the hotel.

We arrived in Istanbul at about 2 pm local time and the temperature was 11 C and it was windy. Istanbul airport is modern and it reminds me of Heathrow airport.  We had arranged for the hotel to pick us up from the airport and the journey took about 45 mins to 1 hour.

Faros Hotel Sirkeci

We stayed at Faros Hotel Sirkeci and I can tell you it was a good decision to join the other families hehehe (earlier we plan to stay in a self catering apartment). The hotel room was not that big but it was good enough for us as we do not planned to stay in the room all day, our target was to leave hotel after breakfast and come back after dinner, and true enough… that’s what we did the whole 5 days we were there. The hotel has an excellent location in the center of the old part of Istanbul, just around the corner from the main square and steps away from the tram(Gulhane station). Souvenir shops are close by and they sell at very reasonable prices. The hotel’s breakfast was great and the hotel has a nice outdoor patio where we hang out at night hehehe… and I love their seafood spaghetti! Ate the spaghetti 3 nights straight! (Ni berjangkit dengan Zura la nih). We did the hotel booking via booking.com and then contact the hotel manager for more detail arrangement.

By the time we’ve settled down in our room, it was almost 5 pm. All of us agreed to meet again at the lobby 15 minutes later and take a walk to a recommended Doner kebab place near the Galata bridge. From the hotel it took us about 15 minutes to get to the Doner kebab place (Hamdi Restaurant) near the Galata bridge and the Spice Bazaar. By the time we found out that they only serve doner kebab during the weekend, it was too late to leave as we were already seated comfortably at the table, so… we just order something simple to “alas perut” . The food was good but a little bit pricey.

After dinner, we took a walk in the spice bazaar. Among other things that you can find here are of course spices, all sorts of dried fruits, nuts, seeds, all sorts of tea and the most important item is Turkish Delight. There are a variety of Turkish Delight you can find here and my favourite is Pomegranate Turkish Delights with Honey and Pistachio nuts. Turkish delights with honey is slightly more expensive than the one made from sugar. We managed to get Turkish Delight with honey at TL60 per kg and if I’m not mistaken the one made from sugar is about TL30-TL35 per kg. When you buy this Turkish delight, they will place them in a box and then vacuum seal them to maintain their freshness. The shop owner told me that it can maintain fresh for the next 5 to 8 months and you should NEVER EVER place them in a fridge. Turkish delights can be found everywhere in Istanbul but from my experience, the one at the spice bazaar are fresher and more moist than the one that you find in the shops along their streets… I might be wrong but I did buy the same type of Turkish delight from a shop near the hotel and the taste is simply not the same.

A box of 1/2 kg of Turkish Delights

From the top: Pomegranate with honey and pistachio wrapped in marshmallow, wrapped with crushed pistachio and wrapped with saffron

Tasting Spree… Turkish delights and apple tea

Saffron

Turkish oil

Dried flowers for tea

Spices, spices and more spices

Dried fruits and nuts

Okay, other things that you can find in the Spice bazaar are all sorts of  souvenirs such as ceramic handcrafted plate/bowl, the Blue Eye  (the evil eye) souvenirs that come as an ornament or as an accessory illustrated as bracelets, earrings and even pendants of necklaces, all sorts of key-chain and also fridge magnet (will upload my new FM collection soon hehehe).

My one and only ceramic plate.

Hand painted ceramic spoon-Blue Mosque

Ceramic hand painted spoon- Hagia Sophia

Pening pening pening

The spice bazaar closes about 19:30 on normal days and 18:30 on weekends. We left for hotel just before the shop closes. All in all, it was a good day for us even though we were freezing hehehe. So my advice to you is, if visiting Istanbul during winter, be sure to wear boots and have one thick jacket. You might wonder why I said one thick jacket… well, because in Istanbul you can get all sorts of jacket  with almost half the prices in Kuwait. So, you just need one jacket to survive before you find a nicer and prettier Istanbul jacket hehehe. Oh.. leather jacket is also cheap!

The men with their new Barrett… 🙂