ATV Adventure Park – 25 January 2016

When my friend, Virginie brought up the idea of All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) adventure, straight away I said yes to her. ATV known as a quad, quad bike, three-wheeler, four-wheeler, or quadricycle is defined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as a vehicle that travels on low-pressure tires, with a seat that is straddled by the operator, along with handlebars for steering control. 

I started my journey from home to the ATV Adventure Park at 9.15am. The journey was smooth all the way at the MRR2 until the turn into the Zoo Negara junction.

I followed the GPS and I was going deeper and deeper into Kampung Kemensah, a place that I’ve never explored. When I saw the first signboard for ATV, I thought the GPS was leading me to the wrong place and I decided to turn and drove uphill to a place full of potholes. As I reached the ATV place, there weren’t any humans at all and it seemed I was the only customer. I felt something was not right and decided to park my car for a while and started “whatappings” my friends. Since my friends were also on their way and could not provide me with an answer, I decided to call the person stated on my itinerary. He said I went to the wrong place and I need to drive until the end of the road and will be able to see the yellow sign welcoming me to the ATV Adventure Park.

So, I drove downhill and followed the one way road up the hill. It was a dangerous drive as it was a single lane road with a steep downhill on your left and on certain corners you are unable to see the oncoming cars!!! One mistake and you could plunge into the ravine!!!

As I reached the ATV Adventure Park and met my friends, Anne, Rinnie and Virginie, they told me to park at the side of the uphill road.        

Entrance to the ATV Adventure Park

This is where we parked our cars

We climbed up the stairs to the reception and upon arrival, they checked our names and we were given the liability release forms to sign. 

Reception Area

Counter for registration

Liability Release Form

Graffiti for guests to take pictures

The place where they parked the ATVs

The 4 of us ready to rock and roll

We noticed that there are 3 ATV packages:-

When we booked through Gatvel, we didn’t know there were so many packages. We were only given 1 choice, so we booked it. Thanks to Virginie and her company that gave a voucher of RM150.00 (instead of paying the full price of RM200.00 for 2 people), Anne and me only paid RM25.00 each for this adventure.

We were given briefing as to how to operate the ATV, given a helmet and practiced 4 rounds around the area, under the guides’ supervision. Please take note, no safety belts AT ALL. It was not complicated operating the ATV; i.e. accelerate all the way when you go uphill and release the break gradually when going downhill. Our guide, Kamal said we were ready and off we go exploring the jungle.

When we saw the steep hill, it was pretty scary. We were asked to ride the ATV uphill one by one to avoid any one of us sliding down. The guide went up first and led us up; Virginie, Anne, Rinnie and myself. We managed to do it.

Then, we came to another steep hill. This time, Virginie successfully went uphill, Anne was struggling and slid down to Rinnie and Rinnie could not control the ATV, slid and knocked my ATV. Rinnie and my ATVs got stuck! The guide together with a passerby came and help us. It took them about 15 minutes to remove 2 kissing ATVs and Rinnie’s ATV’s back was broken due to the collision.         

The whole journey was a bumpy ride. Although it was a hot sunny day, the trees and bamboos gave us some shade. There are some people that went in to the jungle hiking and tying the bamboos that obstructed the ATV trails.

As we reached the mini waterfall, we took a short break for water and photo sessions. Our guide was very helpful in taking pictures for us.

After about 30 minutes break, we decided to head back and Anne was unable to start the engine of her ATV so the guide had to fix her ATV. We used a different route to go back and I must say, it was a shorter route compared to when we entered the jungle. We had to go downhill to our starting point of the ATV adventure and that itself was pretty scary and dangerous. 

At the reception area, there are toilets and shower room, a so-called swimming pool (if you dare to go in) and a tree house for guests to relax with nature and the beauty and tranquillity of the jungle.

Clean toilets

The so-called swimming pool

Tree house cum Surau

Shower rooms

Overall, it was a fun, exciting and thrilling adventure that we will definitely return for more. 

Group photo with our guide Kamal

Just me and Owen Wilson

Lunar New Year Run 2016 - 17 January 2016

• 17 December 2016
• Taman Botani Shah Alam
• Flagged off at 7.00a.m. for 10 km and 7.15a.m. for 5 km
• My category – 5km
• Price – RM55.00 and handling fee of RM6.00
• Race Pack – Yellow T-Shirt, registration tag
• Goodies – Medal, certificate and Ang Pow packets upon finishing the run 

I left home at 5.30am and arrived at the parking lot of Taman Botani (entrance RM3.00) at 6.00am sharp and managed to find a nice parking spot in front of the entrance to the run.

My friend Fong Lee Wee was already there and we chatted while waiting for Virginie and Yeoh Sun Wei to arrive with my race pack. Both of them arrived at 7.00am by which time the car park  was already full, so they had to park their cars far away at the entrance of Taman Botani. 

We were flagged off at 7.15pm sharp and as always there was a human traffic jam at the beginning of the run. A lot of people decided to walk up the hill, while I decided to overtake them. Everyone got shocked when we came to an extremely steep hill and there was no way you could run up. I was just walking and even that caused pain in my calf muscles. When it came to a downhill, I decided to run again. I recall there was not only 1 steep hill, but in total there were 3 steep hills but the 1^st steep hill was the killer. There was only 1 water station and the organiser served mineral water but there were  no portable toilets. However, there are public toilets at Taman Botani.

While running, there are nice greeneries and a small lake. When we arrived at the finishing point, we were given our medal and certificate. You can help yourself to a bottle of mineral water, banana and watermelon at the finishing tent.     

There were games and a lucky draw but I decided to leave as I need to go back and shower and teach ballet.

It was worth it for the money we paid and the organiser did a good job.  

Check out the pictures below:-

Club Med Cherating

One of my good friends, Lena Lim worked in Club Med office in KL and introduced me to Club Med Cherating and told me it’s a very nice place for families.  I’d always had it in my mind that Club Med was an exclusive club and very expensive so she asked me to visit the website to find out more details on the price of the packages.  I asked my best friend Suet May to take a look too, and we decided to book a holiday for our two families together.

We booked a 4 days 3 nights stay (15-18 March 2015) for 2 adults and a 2 year-old and Suet May's family booked for 2 adults and a 3 year-old. We drove to Club Med Cherating and it took approximately 3 hours to get from Kuala Lumpur to Club Med, and the trip was fairly pleasant. 

On arrival we were greeted by the GOs, who gave us ice tea, a cold towel and ribbons as our identification. The GOs, (short for ‘Gentil Organisateurs’) played a big part in setting our experience at Club Med. It’s their job to make sure that the GMs (short for ‘Gentil Membres’, i.e. guests) are entertained and have a fabulous holiday. You may say that’s the job of all staff who works at holiday resorts, but the GOs really take things to the next level. Suet May and my husband met the Chef De Village, Jean Benoit Nisin aka JB.

After a short briefing, one of the GOs, named Dario from Mauritius escorted us to our room at block H (H stands for Harimau) and gave us an information pamphlet and other relevant information. The room was spacious - a king sized bed and single bed for the kid, with a shower on one side and toilet on the other side. The internet in the room was bad. Below are the details:-

Room: Our Clubroom was on the second floor (the top) with a view of the garden in front and Cherating beach on the left. Once we are out of the room, we had a beautiful view of the sea. The H block is quiet and it was a long walk to the reception and bar. We did not mind the walk as it helped us work off some of the calories. Toiletries like body lotion, shower gel and shampoo and conditioner were supplied. The resort also provided 2 bottles of water every day. One thing we didn’t like was the air-con. It was not cold at all. We did not complaint because we were out the whole day and only went back to the room to sleep. Also, most important, was to ensure that the windows and balcony glass windows are locked at all times and not to hang clothes at the balcony as there are wild monkeys and insects. 

Food & Beverages: There is a wide variety of food comprising Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Western styles. There are also lots of salad and desserts. The food was ok only. Suet May had been to Club Med Cherating before and she said on her previous trips, the food was much better compared to now.  There was also a free flow of drinks, including beer, cocktails and mocktails throughout your stay and a mini counter for kids to order their cartoon speciality drinks.

The main bar

The mini bar for the kids

Beach: The sea was warm and fairly calm. Nana and Salaree enjoyed themselves playing with the sand and making sand castles.

Cherating Beach 

Cherating Beach 

Pantai Chenang

Pool: The adult pool was big and there are kids and baby pool. We did not go to the Zen pool as we had our little girl with us all the time.

Activities: We had so much fun. We just wanted to stay there as long as we could and did not want to go home. Below are the types of activities offered in Club Med Cherating:-

(a) Trapeze:

Lena recommended to me trapeze and she said I will definitely enjoy it. She was absolutely right about that. The circus team ‘GO’s, consisting of Cruz, Nikki, Frank and ……… taught me the knee hang catch and back somersault. The teaching of the tricks starts at 4pm everyday and after practice, if you are ready, the GO will allow you to do the catch with them. After I successfully did the knee hang catch, I was given a certificate for it.

The circus team - Frank, Yohan, me, Cruz and Nikki

Cruz and me

(b) Yoga, aqua yoga:

Step aerobics: I decided to join the sunrise yoga in the middle of the garden facing the sea at 8a.m. and non-stop pumping step aerobics with GO Sylvie from Mauritius. It was a great workout.

Sylvie and me

(c) Rock-climbing: 

The rock-climbing is far away from the resort and is situated at another beach. You can either take a 15-20 minute walk through the quiet mini forest or take a ride on the Club Med train (which was not punctual and we had to wait for a long time). A week before my trip to Club Med Phuket, I did a full day rock-climbing at Railay beach, Krabi. The rock-climbing at Cherating was a pretty easy climb for me. The most difficult climb at the rock was also quite easy for me. In my view, the rock-climbing in Cherating is more for kids and beginners.

Mini train 

The swamp

Dario and me

Family picture after the climb

(d) Archery & Sailing: 

We did not have the time to sign up for it. Sailing is also on the other side of the beach.

(e) Family Sports Day: 

The GOs were busy going around the resort, dressed in some funny character outfits, trying to persuade families to participate in their fun family sports day. There were four teams of blue, red, white and yellow team. We participated in the white team with our team leader GO Sylvie from Mauritius and we were asked to put white colour paint on our face and body. We did many interesting challenges like go around the stick, passing ball, tug of war, etc. We were given with certificates for our participants.

In the white team. Need to paint my face

(f) Souvenir shop:

This shop sells T-shirts, dresses, toys and small souvenirs like handicraft from Malaysia. The prices here are not cheap. You can get things cheaper outside of Club Med. Even though, there was a sale on most days on their T-shirts, it was still not cheap. Suet May bought 2 water guns and it was doubled the price. Furthermore, one of it wasn’t working and needed to be exchanged for a new one.

(g) Party after 9pm: 

The night is always young at Club Med. There will be party, music and dancing to entertain the guests and the guests can join in the dancing session with the GOs. Party can last until very late.

Performances:

I always look forward to show time by the circus team from 9-10pm. almost every night as they will put up amazing and spectacular aerial shows with their hoop and silk. On our last night of our stay in Club Med, we were pretty disappointed as it was the kids show by the Petite and Mini Club. Our kids did not participate in the performances but Club Med could have put the show at an earlier time and to entertain the guests with other performances. You could just imagine that couples travelling to Club Med may have been bored with the kids show.

We were also entertained by GOs dressed up in celebrity and superstar costumes, imitating celebrities like Madonna, Boyzone, Abba, Whitney Houston, Spice Girls, etc.

Petite and Mini Club: 

We were at the Club to have a look at the place and there was a mini water playground for the children and sand section for the children.

What’s not included in your booking fee?

Almost everything is included in your booking fee, apart from the Baby Club and Petite Club, excursions outside the resort, premium alcohol and spa treatments.

Verdict

We had a great time at Club Med Cherating and will definitely be returning to Club Med Cherating again, after we have experienced the rest of the Club Meds in South East Asia.