9th May 2018

My voting centre is Raub.

Malaysians came out to vote midweek on the 9th of May 2018. And as you know, we have a new government and the spirit of optimism has spread far and wide. Its a good feeling. And we pray for many more good things for our country. 

Church of the Annunciation, Raub.

Candles

 I celebrated Easter Vigil in Raub. 1.5 hours away from busy KL. It was nice to drive out of the city into the countryside. Haven't been back since early February. Minimal traffic because I drove back early Friday morning in time for Good Friday service. I drove into the mist and greenery and hilly road. Had a toilet break in Bentong, which is about 20 minutes away from Raub.

Lighting the candles from one single candle

It rained on Good Friday but stayed dry on Saturday which was brilliant. Easter Vigil starts outside church with a big fire and the initial part of mass said outside in darkness save the fire before the candle is lit and once inside church, we have a crowd of candles as everyone else's candles are lit by one passing on the flame from the single big candle.

Laman Pesona

The pool, originally uploaded by andreaban2009.

Imagine driving pass some small shop houses and making a turn to the right to find a lovely "resort" ...something amazingly posh by Raub standards. It's 16 KM from town. The resort consists of a buggy ride ( the niece enjoyed it and we returned 3 times in a space of 2 weeks for dinner here) a tomyam barbecue place at the bottom of the hill, a jogging trek and barbecue spots to the left and facing you as you walk thru the entrance you see little chalets built on a hillside and a bigger building to the left with quite a bit of glass which houses the main chinese restaurant. The pool ( pictures above) is secluded, smallish but nice. ( 4 foot indeed..hehe spot the grammar booboo)

The food we were told was mediocre. And this was wrong. I enjoyed all the three meals we had. Consistently good. Service was good too. ( The last wedding dinner my parents attended here ....was slow so I'm guessing they've picked up their pace a whole lot since) The place was packed on a weekday. And I met my old chemistry teacher and his wife there.

You may click here for the link to their website

Laman Pesona Resort & Spa
Lot 3 & 4, Seksyen 4,
Kampung Baru Cheroh,
27620 Raub, 
Pahang Darul Makmur
Email: admin@lamanpesona.com.my 

Back to work

Back to work, originally uploaded by andreaban2009.

Hello and a belated Merry Christmas. Am back to work (yesterday). It was lovely to do nothing for 2 weeks. We had a lovely time at home. Despite the continuous rain in KL and the reported ( scary) flooding in Kuantan, we had a dry Christmas break. It only started to rain the last 2 days. AS a result, we enjoyed the garden and managed to squeeze in the obligatory badminton sessions, walk in town, drive to Lata Jarum ( it was closed AGAIN this year) and we found this new "resort" in Cheroh called Laman Persona.( separate post for it)

Here are my bags travelling back to KL with me. I was more disciplined this time around ...and practiced my scales and chromatics and pieces almost every day. And you can just about make out the 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle we completed in less than 24 hours at the bottom left of this picture. Next scheduled break: Chinese New Year at the end of January 2014.