The media had reported that there were massive jams in Malaysia checkpoint due to their implementation of their biometric fingerprint system. We were afraid of the jam in Malaysia custom, hence we tried to avoid the crowd by being early. At 7 a.m. we've reached Singapore custom at Tuas checkpoint. Within half an hour, we had cleared both Singapore and Malaysia customs! I thought the report in the media was over-rated probably because several of my friends who went to Malaysia for holiday did not encounter bad jams too.
Since our expectations for AFamosa were lowered, when we reached the condotel, we were not very disappointed by what we saw. We had expected worse - old, dirty, insect-infested and mal-functioned! On the contrary, the AFamosa was rather scenic. The paranomic view was serene and calm. It was indeed a very huge place! However, we personally felt that the place was underdeveloped. They could have used that big piece of land to thoroughly develop it into an attractive, popular tourist / family spot but maybe their funds were low and that was the best that they could do.
The view from the condotel D'Savoy was scenic and serene. The golf course was spacious. I've seen golfers around, swinging their clubs.
The room was like a service apartment. We joined the 2 queen-sized beds. The children had a good time running around the room. It was relatively clean except the niches and corners.
We lazed on the sheet-covered couch (I laid the extra bedsheet on the couch just in case it was dusty) to watch movies such as Avatar, The Incredibles and Titanic. The aircon was superbly cold which I LOVE very much! :)
As the meals were not inclusive, we drove out of AFamosa to look for our first dinner. Before that, we settled our lunch in Malacca City's Jonker Street where we ate the famous chicken rice (balls) and Assam fish. We shopped around Jonker Walk and bought 2 cute fans for Pb and Rb.
Our first dinner was in Tampin, as led by our faithful Garmin GPS. Tampin was a very small town with a few rows of shops. We had KFC for dinner. Delicious and definitely much cheaper than Singapore.
After our KFC dinner, we drove back to AFamosa to visit their night theme park - Cowboy Town. We were greeted with singing and dancing at the entrance of Cowboy Town. Pb tried on the elephant ride. It was 10 RM per person, which I thought was reasonable in price. Papa accompanied her. Reuben was too scare of the elephants. He said the elephants wanted to eat him! Haha :) Cute boy :)
Phoebe also had a go on the miniature horse. Again, it was 10 RM per child. In Singapore, we paid S$10! This was much cheaper! :)
We also took a ride on their "joyful" train, which had badly torn and tattered seats. The joyful train covered one round of the Cowboy Town. Cowboy Town was not very big actually. Other than these rides, there was really nothing much to do.
We walked around, took some pictures. There was a 20-minute 4-D show but we didn't try that because we had to pay for it and we were afraid that the seats in the 4-D theatre would be torn and tattered again (like the joyful train). Phoebe wanted to ride on the miniature horse again and so did our friend's son, Dariusz, so the two of them rode together.
Basically, besides paying for the entrance fee (which we didnt because we had complimentary tickets), we still have to pay for whatever rides we want to take within the Cowboy town. This, I do not like very much! And there isn't much to do there except to walk around the few souvenir shops and take a few pictures. There are restaurants inside the Cowboy Town but it was pretty empty. Seemed like not many people actually patronised the restaurants. This made me doubt the freshness of their ingredients too.
The next day, we went to the Animal Safari World. Phoebe was very brave to allow a colourful Macaw to stand on her shoulder for a shot. I supposed, after watch Rio, her guards were down. We took a tram which travelled around the animal word to have a close look at the free-roaming animals. We enjoyed this ride, which to my surprise, was free! Haha! The ride was bumpy and the diesel fume was really bad. As the 'old bones' of the tram clanked on the dirt road, smoke of dust flew up from the ground. Hence, we made the children wear face mask to minimise the inhalation of dust and fume.
We went to the poultry coop to look at the different species of flightless birds and saw hundreds of yellow fluffy chicks chirping and running around. They were really cute!! :) We bought the bird feed for the children to feed the chicks.
There were several live performances but we only caught one. I thought this live performance looked rather familiar. It resembled what I've seen in Singapore Jurong Bird Park many years back. I wondered who copied who. Nevertheless, the birds performances were great and captivating. The two children were engrossed. We did not stay for long in the Animal Safari World because it was lunch time and the children were hungry, hot and sticky. We drove to Tampin again for a delicious meal of "zhu chao" in an air-conditioned Chinese restaurant which was simple and basic in its outlook, nothing fanciful. The restaurant reminded me of old Singapore in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
After lunch, we drove down to Malacca city again for shopping in the malls - Pataran Pahlawan and Mahkota Parade. We bought a few cute personalised bear magnets, a pair of BATA school shoes for Phoebe at 39 RM, some medicine in the pharmacy and 2 pairs of shorts in FOS etc.
At night, we had Peranakan cuisine at the popular 'Nonya Makko' restaurant which Jessy's family had brought us there the year before. The food was delectable and we always looked forward to eat there whenever we visit Malacca! :)
At about 9 p.m., we took a long 45-minute drive back to AFamosa.
The next day, we checked out at about 9.30 am and drove to Jusco in Bukit Indah JB. We reached Bukit Indah at about 11.30 a.m. Bukit Indah was about 20 minutes away from Tuas Checkpoint. We ate lunch in the mall and shopped around. The children spent about 1.5 hour in the indoor playground - 8 RM per child for unlimited play. CHEAP! We did some grocery shopping in the Jusco Supermarket. Reuben was so exhausted that he fell asleep in the shopping mall's car stroller. We settled our dinner in a cafe and departed for Singapore at about 6.30 p.m.
Again, we expected some jam at the Malaysia custom but traffic was smooth. We cleared custom within ten minutes! And so it was Home Sweet Home. I love my home!! :)
These were the personalised fridge magnets which I bought in Malacca city's Mahkota shopping mall. The two cute handheld fans were bought in Jonker Walk on the first day, for the children to beat the heat! :)
