3H in Ipoh

It seems like this year, our travel plans are cuti-cuti Malaysia lol, so at the beginning of the school holidays last week, we took a short 2 day trip to Ipoh.

Our first stop was the Perak Cave Temple.

From there, we climbed many many steps to get to the top for the view.

So this was about 3/4 of the way up and apparently a must-take-photo-spot. So we did just that :)

Only Hubby, his friend Tze Ming and our 2 little ones braved their way all to the top.

Achivement unlocked!

The rest of us were contented to rest at the 3/4 way mark haha.

After all that exercise, it was time for some cold dessert. We made our way to Hodi which is famous for their taro ball dessert.

There was also this swing there which is a very Instagrammable spot.

The shop requested out group photo for their photo album, which we willingly obliged :)

After that, we headed to Nam Heong, which is the original Old Town White Coffee. And it didn't disappoint!

The egg tarts were delicious too. 

And the eating continued that night at Tuck Kee Restaurant. There are a few Tuck Kee restaurants in Ipoh, but this one is not to be confused with the one selling noodles. This is one is at Pasir Pinji. 

Here are some of the things we ate:

The next day, we took a walk around the Ipoh Heritage Trail. We didn't really cover the whole thing, but mostly just walked around the more touristy areas.

There were shops selling all sorts of knick-knacks, much to the delight of the kids. We must have bought them an assortment of useless but pretty things that day haha.

There were also things to interest the adults, such as these haha. These sort of things were more to my liking :)

This is another Instagramable spot at Market Street, with all the colourful umbrellas.

And this is the famous Concubine Lane, where the kids got all their cute stuff, and plenty of sweet treats!

Walking around old Ipoh town:

Helene enjoyed a bowl of noodles with Daddy at a local coffee shop:

While Mummy, Hannah and Heidi escaped the heat at a cafe haha. We had some yummy food at Plan B. The tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches was really good.

 '

The girls had the big breakfast:

And we all cooled down with some ice-blended smoothies.

Such a picturesque scene from the outside of the cafe:

Love this one of the 2 BFFs - for 30 years plus!

And these ones of a daddy with his girls:

There's still so much to see, do (and eat!) in Ipoh. We will surely be back :)

Legoland Malaysia Resort

So this was the main purpose of us coming to Johor, to go to Legoland Malaysia! Since it was to be a real treat for the kids, we decided to stay in the theme park itself, in the Legoland Hotel. I asked the girls beforehand which themed room they wanted (there is Kingdom, Pirate, Adventure and Ninjago) and unanimously they chose the Kingdom room. Not surprising since little girls always want to be princesses haha.

We couldn't check in to our rooms yet when we arrived in the morning, but we were given a place to store luggage. This was the entrance and lobby of the hotel. There was Lego and Lego play areas everywhere! No wonder they said that it is a kid's dream hotel!

This was the only photo that we managed to get all 9 kids in the same frame! Not easy trying to make a bunch of excited kids sit still for a photo lol.

After putting our luggage, we headed for the water park. Legoland consists of a water park and also a dry park, but we decided to do the water park on the 1st day and the dry park the next day, for the very simple reason that it would give time for the wet swimsuits and clothes to dry :) Just a tip - get the 2 day combo ticket. This allows flexibility to go in an out of both parks for 2 consecutive days.

We didn't take that many photos at the water park, seeing that we didn't want our phones to get wet. So we put most of them in lockers, which we rented for RM40 for the whole day (for one big locker).

But here are some that we did take:

It really was a whole lot of fun, for the kids and adults alike! Again, there were not that many people, so queues for rides and even food were more than manageable. We only left the park at closing time which was 6 pm, and then it was time for another exciting part - checking out the room!

Ours was a Premium Kingdom themed room and this was what it looked like: there were 2 separate sleeping areas, a king bed for adults and bunk beds for kids. The kids sleeping area had it's own TV too. Each room can fit 5 persons which was just nice for our family. In any case, Helene slept with me on the big bed. There were Lego elements everywhere!

This was a treasure box which the kids needed to unlock by searching for clues in the room, and once opened, they could claim their "prize".

 The room also provided a Lego Duplo set for the kids to play in the room.

Other Lego elements in the room:

And this was the front door:

Our room overlooked the theme park, and we could even see the water park from one corner.

There was also Lego all around the common areas and corridors:

Our room came with breakfast so we headed to the Bricks restaurant the next morning where the breakfast was held. Breakfast was quite a chaotic affair as there were so many people that they had to call our room numbers when your table was ready. Good thing our friend had already "chuped" the table for us, else the queue was so long! There was quite a good spread for breakfast, and again everything was Lego themed, even the salt and pepper holders.

After breakfast, it was time to head to the dry park. It rained for a bit in the morning, so someone wasn't too happy lol. 

Here are some pictures of the dry park and the rides we took. Again, there was hardly anybody around. Not sure where all the people from breakfast went to?!

This was at Miniland where there were Lego miniatures of famous cities and landmarks around the world.

Helene was the only one who managed to go to the Boating School. This was the only ride which had quite a long queue, so the others didn't want to wait for it. We didn't mind waiting because Helene couldn't ride the more exciting rides which her height didn't permit.

This was the Driving School:

I think this was the only family photo which we took - outside the Ninjago ride, which incidentally I went on 3 times with Helene!

And this was the Mummy ride, which I went on 4 times!

Lego Race VR Coaster - Helene didn't qualify for this, but I think the older kids went on it 2 or 3 times.

Helene and I also watched the Ninjago live show, to take a break from the Mummy and Ninjago rides!

Another show which we watched was a 4D show while it was raining in the morning.

This was quite a fast roller coaster which Helene could ride called the Dragon's Apprentice and I felt it was quite scary. It was scary the first time and even scarier the second time! But Helene shrieked in delight. I held on to her because I was scared and also scared that she would fall, but she pushed my hand away and said "Mummy, don't hold me!" Now we know who is the thrill-seeker in our family lol.

There was also this little play area for the younger kids so it was useful when it rained in the morning.

Group photo before exiting the park!

That night, the kids had their own slumber party in one room while the adults had drinks and snacks in another room, as we had 2 rooms just next to each other.

All in all, it was a really fun trip. I think we will come back here, since it's not too long a journey and the kids loved it. Again, try to avoid school holidays and it seems that the fasting month is a good time to avoid crowds and long queues. Here's to our next trip!