Monday Dreaming: Photo's From Penang

While I sit here dreaming a life even more traveled than the one I have now. One that involves good things and family, and while enjoying the thought of dreams that were started by new friends, I am very grateful to have had 3 days in Penang with my kids and my husband. A bit of time to recharge at the beach, drink a few glasses of wine at a beach hut, get a much needed massage and hang at the pool and slip and slide down some wicked pool slides. While I dig back into work today, and unfortunatly out of my dreams here are some more shots from Penang to keep you all entertained!



The slide at Park Royal Hotel


Kiera's tearing it up!


Splashdown



And my view from the coffee shop



For more Monday Dreams, visit Mother of All Trips Monday's are for Dreaming

Kids in Penang: Kopitiam Lunch

It's Photo Friday over at Delicious Baby, and today's shots are all about Penang Malaysia and eating a simple lunch with the kids. Penang is famous for its food and it is hard to find a more food obsessed group of people in Asia. Sure Singapore has its foodies, Malacca has its niche, Hong Kong citizens love the Dim Sum. But Penang, it is just part of life and each and every street corner has food waiting to be discovered and eaten. No matter what the kids want, if this shop doesn't have it, just cross the street.

Waiting for the food is the hardest part!

Strawberry Juice Blended!

A huge shout out to the amazing photography and mouth watering writing over at Eating Asia that turned me onto the love of Penang Food. Also some props to our new friends at Our Travel Lifestyle for dinner with them and their two fun kids!

Travel Plans: Upcoming Asia Trips with the Kids

The Vagabondmom, and my co-workers, determining our next stop at Expo in Shanghai, 2010















This week I am in Singapore. In fact, I am in Singapore for 10 days, one of the longest stretches at home in about 3 months and the month of October looks like it is going to be a bear and a half for work related travel. This week however, is one for catch up, a bit of home maintenance, some doctors visits and time to dig out the map and start planning our family trips for the next few months.






October offers us a short break for the kids, this 5 day weekend, we plan to leverage on some work I need to do in Penang, so my trip will be planned around the kids holiday. Being on the road without the family stinks, when they can come along it is so much better. While there in Penang we hope to schedule a meet up with @ccburns and his wife Tracy and their super cute kids.







November offers a short weekend, the Deepavali Festival and the kids get one day off from School. I need to be in Kuala Lumpur for a scrapbooking weekend, where I will teach a class for a bunch of super cool scrappers in the Bangsar area, I figure I will bring Hubby and Kids along for the weekend as well!





December is our big trip to Siem Reap. We will be going with friends from our condo here in Singapore and we plan on taking in the Angkor ruins, doing some volunteer work and spending some time hanging out with a great family. Our trip falls over the New Years holiday, so I am sure some party will be attended as well.

I can't wait to get some more posts up here this week, making up for lost time, but I plan on loading some pictures of China, Japan and Malaysia as well as a post on Kuching Malaysia this week!

Eating in Singapore with Kids: Hawker Centres

Asia is an amazing place if you are a foodie. Singapore, in particular, has a great reputation as being a city filled with great local and exotic cuisine. Singapore has a huge food blog scene (Some blogs are great -like one of my favorites I Eat I Shoot I Post while others have recently raised a ruckus for failing to disclose the fact they don’t pay for meals.

Anyway, I was reading today in the Singapore Expat Living magazine (where VagabondDad just had an article published by the way (Skip to page 244 on the flipbook here) and I noticed that in 4 reviews of places to travel, few if any ventured beyond the hotel to eat. What a waste! Why travel to places if you are not going to try to eat local dishes, and no I am not maligning the hotel restaurants, they probably do a mean Laksa, but at three times the cost. BUT, what about the kids? You know those little ones that are traveling along with you. Not an adventurous bunch? Mac and Cheese the extent of the culinary range? Well, fear not, Singapore’s got that covered too - you can hit the Chili’s if you need to, but our first stop is the hawker center for some Local Food. Here are a few favorites dishes that grown ups and kids will enjoy and they won’t break the bank.




Chicken Rice

Seriously, my daughter would eat this dish (and Ramen noodles) for a week straight if I let her. Chicken Rice is a simple meal with either Roasted or Steamed Chicken, a bowl of chicken broth and rice cooked in chicken stock for extra flavor. Served with soy sauce, chopped garlic and chili sauce (for the brave) all on the side.


Source Here

Roti Prata

Grilled flour based “pancakes” served in Indian food stalls. Dipped in curry, if you want, a simple and delicious snack.



Satay

Grilled chicken, beef or lamb (not pork) grilled over a fire on sticks. Who doesn’t like BBQ meat on a stick! Served with cucumber slices and rice formed into cubes. Also, served with a Peanut dipping sauce.




Photo Source

Ice Kacang or Cendol

Basically two versions of the same dish. Cendol is shaved ice with a brown sugar topping and coconut milk and Ice Kacang has additional toppings, a red syrup and can include corn and beans (yes really) and it is delicious. But they are both great for a desert in the warm tropical business!





Cooking up some Satay



Note: I am in the process of reorganizing my pictures so I was able to grab images from Flickr to round out this post. All images that are not my own have been credited.

Malacca Slide Show

Originally Posted November 2008
I have been playing with Picasa 3. And I am newly in love with the movie maker function. What a fun way to sort through 400 pictures, find the best ones and make a short video. I offer now for you the first of what I hope to be many mini-slide shows from the places I travel!


Malacca

Phuket Beaches-

Hong Kong-Star Ferry

Kids in Malaysia: Damai Beach-Kuching

View from the Damai Holiday Inn Hotel

JW Marriott-Phuket Thailand

Hands Down- this is my Favorite Kid Friendly Hotel in Asia (so far!). How can you go wrong with a hotel that caters to family vacations, has a fantastic beach (the water is not always safe for swimming though so please take note and be careful) and has circus training for kids?


The "Blue Pool" next to the "owners" portion of the property, but open to all guests.

Sunset ceremony in the Main Lobby







First, a disclaimer this hotel is part of the Marriott Vacation club. You do not have to be a member to use the hotel, only half of it is earmarked for the Vacation Club, but there are a few hard core travelers that want nothing to do with a 'time share'.


My advice, if you want to attend the look-see and get a discounted room package, it is a great way to get a cheaper room for 90 minutes of your time. If on the other hand, you hate time shares with all of the passion reserved for those most in depth hates of your existence, don't go on the look-see.




Family Pool and Pool side bar/snack bar






The JW Marriott, one of the top end hotels in the Marriott Chain, is at the northern most part of the Phuket Island. The location is great for a private weekend break. The property has four swimming pools, a golf course is being built, a spa, over 10 F&B outlets and lots more. A few of my favorite ammenities is the "Adult" only pool so if you need a break from the kids, I highly recommend sending them and your spouse to the kids pool and you can laze by the sun with a coconut drink in hand at the adult pool!











Reading area used for Kids Beds


Our kids (at the time of writing) are still small and we try to use room size to our advantage, we try not to get roll-aways or extra beds when ever possible. Our kids at 6 and 7 and can still share a bed with each other or one of us if we get two queen size beds or two kings, but most Asian hotels do not offer that option, giving only a single king or twin beds. While the Twin room at the Marriott contains two beds, the beds, slightly larger than US size twin beds, are not really big enough to share, but the rooms are huge and have a really cool "reading" lounge with Thai style floor cushions. The kids love to sleep on this raised platform and call it the sleeping porch! We can get a king bed for ourselves and the kids are able to sleep on the cushions. The rooms also have nice little porches that are great for mom and dad enjoying a glass of wine while the kids run rough-shod in the room!

My Nephew Owen, swinging away at the Circus Class.

The kids club is great with activities for younger and older kids, movies in the afternoon and the circus training taught every day. The hotel is located on a national marine reserve so hotel has a set back from the beach, the maximum height of buildings is 3 stories and the hotel has to teach turtle awareness as part of the right to be at the site. Every year the Leatherback Turtle will nest outside on the beach and I have heard that during nesting season they close the beach unless you are accompanied by a park/hotel guide.





The food is also great, but be aware it is near US pricing for food at the restaurants on the facility and the availability of other food involves a drive off the property.




Rack Rate is US$ 250 per night but off season you can get rooms for as low as US$135.00

Phuket is a short 1.5 hour flight from Singapore and you can get budget airlines for as low as US$100 round trip.


Pros:

1. Clean Excellent rooms
2. Great Kids club and activities
3. Four pools
4. Circus Training
5. Beautiful Beach
6. Off Season Rates (May-August)
7. Close to airport
8. Huge Buffet Breakfast
9. Cafe with snacks, bakery, mini-store and coffee!

Cons:

1. Location is far from the "hot spots" and night life.
2. Food costs are more than other Thai spots