Savings for You!

sponsor thank you!

Ive been telling you a lot about Homefries U. You know that weekend where Tracy and I went nutso making cookies, pizzas, and friendship bracelets in Palm Springs? All of that nuttiness wouldnt have been nearly as awesome without some really lovely sponsors.

That is really lovely sponsors who have really lovely things that they still want to do for YOU!

sponsor thank you!

Creminelli Salami provided meat for our little gift bags aaaaannndd for the wine tasting. Yea. There was a wine tasting.

18 Rabbits provided the best granola bars ever. I cant tell you how many I ate. Confidential.

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sponsor thank you!

You remember Blue Print Cleanse. I did their juice cleanse a few months back and totally loved it! BPC provided ! their bo ok for all of the retreat attendees. And listen up! Heres where it gets good!

Blue Print Cleanse would like to offer YOU 20% off your juice cleanse purchase. Just like that! Dollars saved! Theres one catch:

The 20% discount is good for today, Wednesday October 5, 2011 until midnight EST.

If youre thinking of juicing, get on it!

Use code:HomefriesU20 to discount your order.

Also Blue Print Cleanse juice opened facilities here in Los Angeles. Theyre local, people! That means no crazy shipping fees go pick up your own juice! Im so all over this.

sponsor thank you!

Juice Beauty provided my favorite new face wash for the retreat gift bags. Its creamy, milky. I love it.

Juice Beauty would also like to offer YOU a free, full size concealer with any $30 purchase.

Use code: JOYIVORY or JOYSAND to recieve this discount from not until November 1st, 2011.

sponsor thank you!

And!!

Vacation Palm Springs gave us the most beautiful house for the retreat. Amazing kitchen. Giant pool. Outdoor living room! Just amazing. Vacation Palm Springs has tons of really lovely Palm Springs vacation homes. I could seriously go from house to house for months and be totally happy.

!

Vacat ion Palm Springs has a deal for YOU. Reserve two nights and get the third night free! Plus a massage certificate. Stay before December and this excludes holidays.

Contact: tim (at) vacationpalmsprings (dot) com for details!

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mmmm hm.

Thank you ladies. Thank you sponsors. Thank you mucho!


Hotel Review: Paradise, Part 2: Pangkor Laut Resort, Malaysia

Whenever a friend asks for a holiday resort / hotel recommendation in Malaysia, I would always recommend Pangkor Laut Resort (PLR). It is our favorite beach holiday resort. This June, we visited PLR for the third time, this time with Baby C in tow. Suffice to say, we had one of the best family holidays and Baby C had a great time.

Pangkor Laut Resort is a privately owned island (by YTL Group) and is not the same with Pangkor Island. Only resort guests are allowed on this island. We used to be able to fly to Pangkor Island from Subang Airport via Berjaya Air but if I'm not mistaken, the flights are no longer available so the only way you can get here now is by road. The journey from Kuala Lumpur to Lumut will take approximately 2 1/2 hours. Once you reach Lumut, you can park in the multi-storey car park (I think it costs about RM12 for 3 days parking) and then walk over to PLR's office and you will be checked in by the resort staff there. Ferry leaves Lumut at these times (08:00, 11:00, 13:00, 14:00, 17:00) so do arrive 15-20 minutes beforehand.

Your resort experience starts as soon as you check in at the Lumut office. You will be greeted with a cold welcome drink and a cold towel, all your luggage will be tagged and handled by the resort staff. When the ferry arrives, you will be ushered to the jetty and onto the ferry. Expect no less than top notch service throughout your stay, this is one of the reasons why we love PLR.

Apologies for the less than perfect photo quality, we took over 1000 pictures in the span of 3 days but most of them got wiped out when my HDD corrupted and most of the photos you see here have been resized and was not intended for blogging (very small).

Sea Villa at Pangkor Laut Resort

The journey from Lumut jetty to PLR by ferry / boat will take approximately 30 minutes. You know you have arrived when you spot the villas on stilts from afar.

Hello Pangkor Laut, long time no see :)



When you arrive at the resort, you will be greeted by the resort staff and management team and escorted to the main reception area. Here, you will be briefed by the resort staff on your package. We were here on the YTL Platinum Plus Package (3D/2N all inclusive) for RM749 per person. Under this package, the room allocated would be the Garden Villa but fortunately for us, we got upgraded to the Beach Villa. We have stayed in both Garden and Beach Villa during our last 2 visits. To be honest, the rooms are similar, but the Beach Villa is located closer to the main reception area, which makes it handier for families since you can catch a shuttle bus easily to other locations around the island.

Complimentary wi-fi available in reception and Library only

Coincidentally, we were given the same room as we did in 2006. As a YTL Platinum Plus member, we get some extra privileges like a welcome gift and personalised hamper (some Pavarotti CDs and VCDs). I also like the cute little elephant that room serv! ice has left for us... a really nice touch.

Fresh fruit platter


Mr. Elephant says " Enjoy your stay with us" :)


This is how the Beach Villa looks like inside. Very nice right?


The beds are very comfortable!


Nice deep bath, and complimentary sea salt to relieve stress.


We spent many hours in this tub - Baby C loved it in here very much since the water was nice and warm. We also enjoyed many "bubble tea" made specially by our daughter, hehe.

There is a beach located right in front of our villa, so we would spend some time here building sandcastles or just taking a stroll here. There is another beach called Emerald Bay which can be reached by shuttle bus (which I will blog about later). Both beaches are very clean and well-maintained, every morning you will see resort staff picking up rubbish and sweeping the beach.

Beautiful sea villa and yacht

Most of the restaurants are located within walking distance of the villa, but if you're really lazy, you can call for a shuttle bus to take you there. There is also a tennis court, squash court, gym, TV room, library and children's playroom in this resort. On the 2nd day, it was raining so hard we had no choice but to stay in (bathtub time!) and also visit the playroom. There are also 2 pools in the resort, one near Royal Bay Beach Club and one in the Spa Village. The one in the Spa Village is off-limits for children so we never visited. Baby C likes the infinity pool very much, the view there is great and she made quite a few friends in the children's pool.

Infinity pool... gorgeous view!


At the resort, you will find m! any flow er pots filled with different kinds of flowers (changed and arranged daily by the resort staff)... very colorful and beautiful!

More photos at Infinity Pool





Enjoying a Mojito by the pool :)

The gardens in PLR are very well-kept and beautiful. Lots of lush greenery and flowers.

View from the Garden Villa... you can see the Sea Villa from here


This is one of the older photos from 2006, Hubby (then bf) surprised me with a flower petal bath. The resort staff also decorated the bed with some rose petals in the shape of a heart.. how cute.

Rose petal bath


I Heart You

Everytime we returned from dinner, we will find a calming aromatherapy incense courtesy of turndown service.


I know we're on holiday and we're allowed to sleep in.. but we were excited to see the beautiful sunrise. Here are some sunrise photos we managed to capture around the resort during our stay.

Sunrise by the infinity pool

Sunrise by the resort jetty


Sunrise from Feast Village


I believe I can fly? :P


Taking a stroll on the beach

Serene










We managed to get a sneak peek of one of the Sea Villas..

And also the Hill Villas




We didn't manage to enjoy any of the spa treatments at the award-winning Spa Village this time, but have previously enjoyed the Couples Spa during our honeymoon here. Very very relaxing. One of the best spa experiences we have had. To enjoy special rates, you can pre-book your spa treatments via the YTL Travel Centre before you arrive at the resort.

View from Spa Village


Another thing you can do with your children is feed the koi fish in the pond next to Feast Village. We walked past this place during feeding time, Baby C had a fun time feeding the fishes.

Fish feeding time :)


Lots and lots of koi


Some beach time in front of the villa.. mummy and daughter bonding time


3 days flew past and it was time to say goodbye. I do have a few more posts to share with you from our stay at Pangkor Laut Resort, do stay tuned. Btw, if you're looking for a luxurious getaway anytime soon, maybe you'd like to consider PLR. We love this place and we hope you do too.

Mummy, when can we come back to Pangkor Laut again?

Love from Baby Sumo x

Love from Papa Sumo x

Full set of photos available to view here. You can also read about our experience at another YTL resort, Cameron Highlands Resort ! here. (Y es, our family is a big fan of the YTL Resorts)

Price: RM749 per person for the YTL Platinum Package (3D2N all inclusive). To make a booking, you can contact the YTL Travel Centre (03-2783 1000)

Location: Pangkor Laut Resort, Pangkor Laut Island, 32200 Lumut, Perak, Malaysia.

GPS Coordinates:4.214365, 100.610776