Malaysia: Negeri Sembilan - The Dusun Review

So John's last birthday, err.. i mean in 2013 (yea i know my last post was last year) i planned him a semi-surprise birthday getaway. 

Why semi? Because he figured out a few days before we departed =.=, yet he didn't know where the place is.

Instead of going abroad, i decided to make it a quality weekend retreat getaway (ok because i had limited budget LOL).

Sekeping Serendah in Rawang or Awanmulan in Seremban always pop up first when talk about retreat destination that not far from KL, but i do think both are overprice probably because of both are really well-known.

As a backpacker (ahem, used to. Now more like a flashpacker), i trust my research more than others, and luckily i did so that i found the below retreat that i'm gonna introduce, The Dusun.

The Dusun is located near Seremban, probably 45 minutes away from the KL. Its run by a foreign family who owned / stayed in dusun / orchard on hill.

They built their home and added a few more kampung / village styles houses in the past 10 to 20 years to open from short stay for visitors like us.

And the crucial point to made me booked a house which on the pool side was every houses (just 5 to 6 anyway) attached with a full equipped kitchen with basic seasoning and a BBQ pit for free use.

One of his birthday celebration highlight was self-cooked lunch and dinner, so this is perfect for me.

Well if you wanna know more, please click here for houses and price.

We checked-in to Berembun House (the house with best view) on Sunday and out in Monday, cost me RM400 per night.

And i click in to the website for quick check, well weekday is RM400 and weekend is RM500 now. 

Ok hold your breath and lets scroll down for awesome The Dusun!

 

up hill way

2 entrances to different houses.

first sight of our cute little cottage!

2nd closer look to our place!

this is breath taking!

ahhhh... what a wonderful Sunday!

Before the room, this is the outdoor kitchen!

just everything you need

including seasoning!

Room is clean and cozy! Noted that no air-con because night is chill in the jungle!

The first thing i did after check-in was prepared lunch, while John was jump in to the pool.

We had spaghetti bolognese with fried chicken and fresh fruit soda by the pool side with amazing forest view like below.

this is amazing.

our lunch

Pool is refreshing but a bit cool for me, i afraid not kids friendly.

Dusun has 2 swimming pools, one is right beside Berembun house, and another one near Perling House. Both are open for the guests in Dusun.

John enjoyed very much.

till he cant help to get closer with the view LOL

While i prefer walk around the place and take photo. 

common area where to have breakfast (every stay including yummy local breakfast!)

Berembun house from another point of view. 

There is a BBQ pit in every houses, you can just do it right in front your house so more privacy.

Unlike the other retreat, the use of BBQ pit is free as well as charcoal and set up.

set and ready to burn!!!!!!!!!

food for the night, just 2 of us, a big bowl of fresh garden salad was on the way.

drool. 

and we saw several planes in our dinner time. 

We had a wonderful night in Dusun with great food, beer, a skyful of stars with peaceful and quiet mountain view. 

Worth every penny that i spent. 

Alright next morning, woken by beautiful bird singing and headed for breakfast in common area! 

Oh yea you can let them send your breakfast to your house too!

Nasi lemak! Nasi in another container! 

had our breakfast with the owner's grandson :D

No one know The Dusun in 2013 yet today this little hidden gem has become one of the most popular retreat.

I'm really glad that the owner hold their ground and not expanding the place, guest privacy and peace environment always goes first.

Noted that they have very strict house rule like never accommodate extra people in one house (the max capacity for the biggest house is 5 adult) because comfortable and peace are priority.

The Dusun provides a quality stay so we should do our part that to be a quality guest.

If you have limited budget and time to celebrate some special occasion with special one, this is my all time recommendation favorite 

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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Rach in looking for food mood.

Taiwan: Hualien - What to eat in Hualien?

ok, foods i ate in Hualien. 

For this post, i'll introduce 2 places that i really love. 

First one, the neighborhood food stall in the busy city, introduced by my hostel host, XiaoLuo.

This is also his family usual dinning spot, not exposes to tourist yet.   

When you see the red signboard, means you found the place. By the way, the red signboard isn't the stall name, is a temple name. The stall name is Fu An (福安)

Run by an old couple, mainly serving home-cooked taste. 

one of the signature food, Fried Noodle with Seafoods (炒什锦面)

this is the best dishes of the night, Grill Fish with Pepper Salt (烤虱目鱼)

This is good snack to eat with beer, Fried Shell with Basil （九层塔炒蚬）

This low profile stall turned out to be our favor stall in the 4d3n Hualien trip. 

If you're travelling in a gang, please come to this place and order more foods that Elaine and I didn't have chance to taste it all. If you're food lover like me, you will like this place.

The place isn't easy to find at all, it is located in the outskirt of the busiest streets in Hualien Town, hope the map below can help you to located the place.

red is hostel, green is the food place and blue is the busiest street in HuaLien town.

Fu An 福安面家

219，福建街，花莲市

219, Fujian St, Hualien City

Operating start from 5pm till late night. 

====

Alright the 2nd place is ZhiQiang Night Market (自强夜市), a famous place in Hualien.

If you stay in YouZiJia, just hop on a cab and let the driver bring you the place, its not within walking distance.  

So we went to the place in one raining evening, less crowded so i have slight more photos to show. 

starting from here.

raining so less crowded.

first food we had. The local steak meal, come with free bread, soup and drink. Steak serve in sizzling pan and come with egg and spaghetti. Eat till you drop. 

this is the place, inexpensive at all but its almost restaurant level!

2nd food we had (yes we cant finish our steak but die die want eat others), hand made pizza. 

from dough.... 

to oven....

ta-da! this is sooooooooooooooooo good, almost the best pizza that i ever had!

next, candied sweet potatoes for dessert. 

Nothing impress though. And we can finish so this is one of our supper. Yes, one of our supper.

Fresh fruit juice is the must to try in Taiwan. 

and yea we cant finish so we bring back too...

one of the most famous stall in the night market, BBQ stall.

a lot of choice and always crowded. 

In case you cant read chinese: Even though we're not famous, but we're busy enough, please don't advertise for us. We're preparing your food with best we can, so please be patient. 

And yea we cant' finish, so this is packed and bring back. But honestly, this is nothing impressive. 

Alright next will be taipei, but i have no idea what is the highlight though.

Anyway place stay tuned, will update as soon as i can.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
20141201, 1113am

Rach in goin to assignment mood 

Taiwan: HueLien - HuaLien Sugar Mill + SongShan Annex

Again, Taiwan is famous travel destination, needless to describe more on the attraction and transport (travel within taiwan is very easy and cheap anyway). 

So in this post, i will just post some of my favorite pictures of a two attractions that i've been in Hualien district. 

The first one is Hua Lien Tang Chang aka Hua Lien Sugar Mill （花莲糖厂）

But it doesn't produce sugar anymore, it serves as a tourist destination nowadays. 

The signature pic of the mill

mini rail in the mill.

informative museum (but boring!)

So residential nearby, not sure if someone still living there though. 

Sugar mill of course serve ice-cream! ah bo?

favor of the album, like telling history.  

 =====================

Alright the next is SongShanBieGuan aka Sung Shan Annex, used to be the club for Japanese official during war time, now an art center / coffee place / tourist destination.

Admission was free in 2013 May (yes my blog slack that much), but it wasn't since January 2014, not sure bout the price though.

This is a very relaxing place, it you love old thing like me, you will like it here.

entrance. 

located on the uphill and here is the view. 

well maintain and information board everywhere, but only in Chinese. 

partly reno for disable convenience.

one of the corridor by the green.

mini gallery to display old photos of this annex. 

such as this.

I didn't take much picture because of the raining season (ah la its an excuse because i'm lazy hahahahaha), if you tend to spend more day in Hualien, pick a sunny noon or evening to have coffee here. 

Alright next maybe taipei, or food review in Hualien, hope i can catch some time and update soon. 

bubye!

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

20141121, 0959am

Rach in on night shift mood.