Kukup, Malaysia - June 2014

Back during the June school holidays, we went on a 2D1N short vacation to Kukup (Johor Bahru, Malaysia) with our University hall friends whom we have known each other for more than 15 years already. It was a boisterous trip for 8 families of 16 adults and 13 kiddos and we had great fun eating and playing non-stop.

We booked our chalet through this website which offers several choices; we selected the Luxury Suite Resort that has 7 bedrooms, enough to house all of us. For those who have not been to Kukup, it's used to be a fishing village with a dominant chinese community and now sort of a getaway destination popular among locals and Singaporeans. There are bungalows, chalets and dormitories specially built for short-stays and usually packages including transport, lodging, 6 meals and visit to kelong are offered. We opted to drive in and there's a large car park for us to park safely (chargeable).

Inside the chalets, there are usually communal space for chatting, karaoke room, mahjong and game sets. And the highlight for many visitors is setting off your very own fireworks and kong ming lanterns (extra charges applicable). I believe Kukup is the only place in JB that allows fireworks (or rather the authorities chose to close an eye, thank goodness!).

Forgot to take a photo of our resort, this is the upper deck which has 7 bedrooms. Below the deck is where the owner stays, along with the kitchen and more bedrooms. Since our group was big, we had the luxury of owning the entire upper deck.

Seating area for us to hang around.

Area where we had our meals, 5 of the meals were served here and the last meal (lunch) was served at a nearby seafood restaurant.

Open space at the back of our resort. This is where we played with fireworks and set off the kong ming lanterns.

View from our resort.

View from our resort.

The living cum karaoke room. It's been a long time since we sang karaoke and everyone had a hilarious time crooning to the favourite melodies of our time.

7 bedroom of different sizes. Some rooms can sleep 3.

Some can sleep 4.

This is the biggest, which can sleep 7. It became the kids' playroom.

Rooms are furnished simply but very clean.

Toilets/shower rooms are very clean as well.

And so, there's this list that states the additional things that we can order and buy :)

Food is definitely in abundance here, literally non-stop and our tummies were filled to the brim all the time!

Day 1 Lunch - curry chicken and potato.

Day 1 Lunch - fried prawns.

Day 1 Lunch - fried otah spring roll.

Day 1 Lunch - sweet and sour fish.

Day 1 lunch - stir fried la-la (clams).

Day 1 lunch - fried egg with prawns. Not in picture - stir fried kailan.

Day 1 lunch - pineapple.

Our ammunition! Haha.

And barely 2hrs after lunch, we were served our tea-break. Although we were still quite full, totally couldn't resist them!

Day 1 tea-break - deep-fried prawn cake/cracker. I loved this so much! It's crispy and fragrant and tasted so good with the homemade chilli sauce. Really want to try making this at home, but forgot to ask for recipe :(

Day 1 tea-break - deep fried tau kwa.

Day 1 tea-break - green bean soup with sweet potato. Very yummy!

After tea, we headed for a short kelong excursion.

At the kelong. The kelong operators showed us a few species of fish. Nothing much, but at least it's an eye-opener for urban kids.

After that we went back to resort for more karaoke till dinner time. Dinner was BBQ food like fish, chicken wings, satay etc. Didn't take any photos.

After dinner was the highlight of the trip. We set off our ammunition with the help of the resort operators.

I guess this was the closest we could get to experience fireworks right in front of us. A rare experience for the kids as well. In fact, so many people were setting off fireworks that it was non-stop show for 2-3 hours in the night. We also set off kong ming lanterns.

Couldn't remember what was for supper, I think was fried beehoon :p

Day 2 breakfast - curry puff.

 

Day 2 breakfast - nasi lemak with chicken wings.

Day 2 breakfast - banana cake.

Day 2 breakfast - soon kueh.

Day 2 breakfast - fried noodles.

After breakfast, we just chill-out and relaxed till check-out time.

For lunch, we were brought to a seafood restaurant nearby.

Day 2 lunch - stir fried sambal kangkong.

Day 2 lunch - thai-style fried chicken.

Day 2 lunch - deep fried fish.

Day 2 lunch - egg tofu

Day 2 lunch - cereal prawn.

Day 2 lunch - fried butter and cream crab

We ordered an extra dish of deep fried baby squid (extra charge) coz I was craving for it :p

All in all, it was a fun and enjoyable getaway with lots of food and activities; great bonding time for friends and families!