Bukit Merah Laketown Resort

I'm in a holiday mood today so I thought I'd write a post on my family's latest vacation at Bukit Merah Laketown Resort. The vacation took place right after our Hari Raya celebration in Kelantan. We broke our return leg to KL by making a detour to Bukit Merah.

From Kelantan, it took us more or less 3 - 3.5 hours to reach Kuala Kangsar. From Kuala Kangsar, we made a mini detour to Taiping for lunch. It turned out to be a less than fruitful detour. My plan was to try out a famous kuey tiow outlet located in the town of Taiping. Apparently the proprietor was still in a Hari Raya mood, for the outlet was still closed when we reached there, despite a notice hung on the front door stating "Di buka semula pada Hari Raya ke lima". It was already the 5th day of raya, so the proprietor must have made a last minute decision to extend her raya break.

We were famished, so we decided to stop for lunch at the next restaurant that came into our view. I ordered pasembor, DH and the maid nasi goreng, and DD ordered nuggets. I was a tad disappointed with my pasembor because a red sauce which looked (and tasted) like a combo of tomato ketchup and chilli sauce was splashed generously on it. I'm not sure what kind of sauce should be prepared to accompany an authentic pasembor, but I certainly thought that the combo sauce was not good enough.

Anyway, we continued our journey to Bukit Merah Laketown Resort and reached our choice of accommodation, the Suria Serviced Apartment at around 3 pm. This place turned out to be a nice surprise. For RM140++ a night for a 1 bedroom apartment plus daily breakfast for two, it exceeded our expectations. The apartment was spacious, clean, and has aircond and 2 bathrooms. The living room was furnished with a sofa bed (which was conquered by DD and the maid) and a TV. The kitchenette has the usual supply of tea and coffee, and there's a round dining table enough for a family of 5. The room was cleaned every day, and toiletries were stocked up on daily basis.

After a short rest, we made our way to the resort parks. We bought combo tickets for Eco Park, Water Park and Chair Lift. The combo tickets are slighly cheaper than individual tickets and can be used over a 3-day period.

Our first park visit is to the Eco Park. We walked on the wooden platforms into the fringe of the jungle. There was an animal show at around 5 pm, which DD somehow found boring. Overall the Eco Park was good, particularly because there were several animals that I had not seen before in my entire life. There's this one animal which had black fur and looked a bit like a combination of a sun bear (in appearance) and a koala (in manners). It was hanging lazily on the tree branch, just like a koala. Except that it was bigger, with a pot belly to match.

That night we had dinner at the cafe at the Suria Apartment, which was average. Then DD had a go at the Arcade games (spending limit: RM5).

Day Two
DH and I had breakfast at the cafe, making use of the two breakfast vouchers that came with the room. Breakfast comprised of Malay fare, which DH didn't fancy much but I thought it was okay. Then we made our way to the resort parks. DD and the maid had breakfast at the foodcourt located at the parks. I thought the foodcourt was okay. Prices are comparable to foodcourts in KL, and there were enough varieties to choose from.

It started pouring just as DD finished her breakfast. We took shelter indoors and DD had a go at the Arcade games again (limit: RM10). When it stopped raining, we made our way to the Waterpark. Perhaps it was the rain that never completely stopped, because I somehow didn't enjoy the Waterpark very much. And I thought it was overpriced, being the most pricey of all the parks.

Getting wet certainly can make you hungry. We had our lunch at the foodcourt again. And then we made our way to the Sky Cycle. This was a free ride, to replace a ride that was closed in the Waterpark. The track for the Sky Cycle is mounted about 3 storeys high (I'm making a wild guess) and makes its way above the fringe of the lake and a farm. It snakes through tall tropical trees. Each Sky Cycle vehicle can fit 2 persons, sitting facing each other. Between the 2 seats, there are two pedals that you're supposed to cycle using your hands.

I sat with the maid and DH sat with DD in the vehicle behind us. It was kind of scary at first, especially with the maid screaming "eeih, eeiih". I told her not to look down. And then it became tiring, because it was difficult to get it moving. DH and DD were much faster than us, and they kept banging the front of their vehicle against the back of ours.

After the tiring ride, we took the Sky Chair. This is a bit like the chair used at the skiing resorts. Each Sky Chair can sit 2 persons, sitting next to each other. I sat with DH and behind us on another Chair, DD sat with the maid. The Sky Chair moves slowly between 2 stations, never stopping at all. Getting on is easy, because you just need to stand at a marked place, and wait for the chair to come from behind you and you just sit on it. But getting off is a different story. You have to get off while the Chair continues to move (I jumped hehe), and quickly move sideway so that the chair won't scoop you up again or worse, bang into your head.

The ride itself? I was scared. We moved high above the Water Parks and coconut trees. I held on tight to the bar, barely noticing that peeled paint got stuck on my sweaty palm. When I looked back, I saw DD and the maid laughing merrily, not caring at all that the Chair was swinging sideways gently while making its way forward.

Later on we had tea at the foodcourt, and then made our way back to the apartment at around 3.30 pm. We went out again after maghrib. This time, our destination was Taiping Night Safari. But we made a pit stop first at a Tomyam restaurant, just before entering Taiping town. We ordered a tomyam set dinner for 3 persons, which saved us the hassle of thinking what to eat. The food was good and reasonably priced.

Then we were off to the Taiping Night Safari. We began our tour on a tram that went around the zoo, with the driver as our guide telling us to look out for the animals.
Later on we took a walk around the zoo. The weather was cool, making it a perfect night for a stroll. And walking beneath the canopy of huge trees, with the animals nearby, somehow heightened my senses. The otters looked so cute, frolicking on small tree branches above the pond. They dived into the water and made a quick swim across.

Certain animals were downright scary, especially the sun bears, which looked ready to pounce on us anytime. One bear walked back and forth on a tree branch located close to the fence, while eyeing us ferociously. The fence was not that high. We walked one, two, three steps, and then made a quick dash (buka langkah seribu).

A few times, I scolded DD and the maid for being loud. I didn't want them to agitate the animals.

We left the zoo at around 11 pm and went back to our apartment.

Day 3
Today is the last day of our holiday. DH and I had breakfast at the cafe again. DD and the maid had theirs at the food court at the resort parks. We bought tickets for a visit to the Orang Utan island.

We boarded a boat to the island. It was a short journey, perhaps taking 5 - 10 minutes to reach the island. We were given a guided tour of the island. It was interesting to watch the orang utan in their natural habitat, roaming freely in the jungle. Some of the orang utans were really huge. The leader of the pack was the heaviest. If I'm not mistaken, its weight was around 500 kg. When it walked around and met another orang utans in its path, the other orang utans would give way to it. It has 4 wives! Life must be good for him, eh.

One orang utan was quite a model. She loved attention and willingly posed for photos. She was manja-manja (pampered) by the staff there.

To cap our tour of the island, we were brought to the nursery and the school. There were 2 baby orang utans in the nursery. Each of them has a cot bed, and they were clothed in diapers. These babies were removed from their mothers who were unable to care for them. There were sighs all around as we and the other visitors looked at the babies, whose innocent eyes were wide open, staring intently at us on the other side of the glass wall.

The orang utan school looked like a fun one. Here, they have to go through several stages, from basic right to advanced ones, before they were released to the jungle. They learned to swing on ropes, search for food, and practically survive in the jungle.

To me, the visit to the island was the main highlight of the whole trip.

Later on back at the apartment, we asked DD whether she wanted to swim. The apartment has a huge pool, and they don't enforce a strict dress code rule. DD didn't want to swim so we made an early check out.

But we were not ready to head back to KL. So we decided to go to Kuala Sepetang to try out its famous mee udang. Just before we reached Kuala Sepetang, DD announced that she had to do the big one, urgently! Lucky for us, we came across Museum Long Jaafar in the middle of nowhere, and decided to let DD do her business there. The caretaker was helpful and friendly. In fact, he looked happy to see us. Perhaps we were his first visitors for the day. He was doing gardening when we arrived. Later on when we decided to tour the museum, he doubled up as the receptionist and a guide.

After that quick detour, we finally arrived at the famous Mee Udang stall. The weather was hot and we were sweating, but we were willing to sacrifice comfort for the sake of mee udang. I wouldn't say the mee was excellent, but it was good. The highlight was the huge prawns which were as fresh as you can get.

Having satiated our hunger, we made our journey back to reality in KL.

Overall, it was a good holiday. I didn't have high expectations because of the many negative reviews on the internet. But Bukit Merah turned out to be a nice surprise which the whole family enjoyed.