Sepang Retreat

We did not reach Sepang Gold Coast by sunset as intended, as our car was somehow infested with ants in Singapore and we had to stop by to get rid of those pesky creatures. I think a nest must have dropped off from the tree the car was parked under. I take it that the car must have been cozy for living creatures.

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It was already dark when we reached the resort. This time we were greeted by the illuminated Christmas archway.

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This is the sea villa that the girls stayed in for the evening. I took the one-room villa opposite.

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This is a single room villa. I love the steep pitched attap roof. It reminded me of my grandmother's house in the old days in Singapore - back then when we still had kampungs.

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We stayed up chatting for a while, but I went to bed earlier to catch sunrise in the morning.

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Where the villas are, it is possible to watch sunrise in the morning at one side and sunset in the evening from the other.

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The entire resort, other than the restaurants and offices are built in the sea on stilts. This allows the water underneath to flow without disturbing the ecology. In fact, the villas offer a good shelter for marine life, such that local fishermen have said that there are more fishes along the coast since the resort was constructed. Oysters also grow on the stumps underneath the villas.

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The chairman and owner of the resort has planned it all along that the construction do not disrupt the ecology of the surroundings. "We must have the resort in harmony with nature. That way nature will help us, because man is also part of nature," he said. This philosophy goes well with Tao, that man exists in balance with nature in respect to the Natural Laws, and all in nature circulates and transforms in harmony.

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This half completed building in the background will be a multi-purpose hall, which the girls are planning to organise an International Latin and Ballroom Dance Competition in August 2010. I suggested that they make Sepang Gold Coast the Blackpool of Asia (Blackpool has hosted such international dance competitions for 80 years!).

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This is the villa balcony. In the distance, are other huts.

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They look like this close-up.

.This is the dining area, but we did not have time to have breakfast here, as we have meetings at Shah Alam at 12noon.

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A flower dish in the showroom. Isn't it lovely?

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This is the model plan of the resort - a palm tree stretching out to the sea.

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We managed to reach Sepang Gold Coast's Shah Alam's office at 12noon, in time for a lunch treat! By then we were hungry, having skipped breakfast so that we had more time to find our way around.

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After Shah Alam and our meetings done, we headed for Malacca, with yours truly as the driver. However, the idea of a Peranakan dinner at Malacca soon petered out as it got dark and we felt that it will be too much of a detour. It was prudent that we get back to Singapore not too late as one of us had a morning flight the next day to Macau to judge a dance competition! Otherwise, a sumptous Peranakan dinner at Malacca would have been nice.

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We opted instead for a Teochew porridge dinner along our route at Seremban. The Teochew porridge restaurant was said to be near the town's Teochew Association, so our mission was to find the association building.

We were told that the association's building is behind this old Portuguese-Peranakan styled building of antiquarian charm.

This is the town's cinema - still a single screen theatre (as opposed to a multi-theatre cineplex). The last single screen theatre in Singapore, incidentally also called 'Capitol', closed down many years ago!

Finally, we found the Seremban Teochew Association!!! Hurray! But no restaurant, as it opens only during the day! So no dinner!

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Oh dear, we should have gone to Malacca!

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So from here, it was a straight speedy track back to Singapore. Once back, we headed straight for our favourite Wanton noodles at Lavender Food Centre. There was a long queue at the stall, but we needn't have to queue. For us it was special! Frequent customer privilege! :)

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For our previous trip to Sepang Gold Coast, click here.

Haji Weekend

Sunset and Sepang Gold Coast

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It was decided last minute, and then I was on the road to Malaysia for the Haji weekend. There was the usual holiday road jams at the immigration, so to keep everyone entertained, I did some "character and behaviour" readings based on their dates of birth. They were amazed with the accuracy and details that the readings exposed. Actually, I was equally amazed! My American guests in the car didn't seem to mind though, as they said that in America they can tell you everything about their life, even if you have just known them. (For more, read here and here.)

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It was a welcome change and relief to take a break from urban Singapore once in a while to experience the open space and laid back lifestyle of our neighbour up north with beautiful scenery of the undulating mountain ridges from the road. Given the heavy traffic, it took us a long time to get Sepang Gold Coast, but we managed to make it in time for sunset and dinner by the beach.

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Dinner was splendid! We started off with some delicious satays, prepared by the local Malays at Sepang. My friend told me that it is their plan to integrate the local community with the Gold Coast project by employing them and creating new business opportunities for them. The local staff are such gentle and polite people, characteristic of traditional Malay kampung folks. My friend told me that they did not need to train them to serve well, as they seem to know that naturally.

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The Sea Villas facing the Straits of Malacca

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We spent the evening in the villas in the middle of the sea. These villas are built on stilts and configured to the shape of a palm tree from an aerial view. They are selling well to Europeans wanting a place to escape for winter.

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What is more amazing is that the Sepang Gold Coast Palm Tree project was funded privately by its owner, a Malaysian Chinese businessman. A big financial commitment that is now paying off. At the start there were sceptics who thought that he was taking a big risk, but undeterred he continued. You see, if one has a vision that others cannot see, it would be seen by the others as a risk. Being able to cultivate that vision and stay the course, is the hallmark of a successful entrepreneur.

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In contrast, the Dubai Palm Island project is in a financial mess after the banks pulled the plug on them. Now, construction has halted and they are potentially facing legal injunctions. Perhaps the moral of the story here is not to borrow from the banks if one can afford to do so. Funding through financial instruments and bonds are akin to trading financial risks, which strictly speaking, is forbidden in Islam. Ironically, it is the non-Muslim Chinese towkay (businessman) that has conformed to this prudence and reap the fruits of having done so.

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During the evening, after more 'birth date' readings to amuse ourselves, we read a chapter of Ekhart Tolle's book "Stillness Speaks". In the chapter, it speaks about the illusion of duality and that all we see 'outside' are essentially happening 'inside' us in our consciousness. It is hard to conceive that, as we cannot see our own consciousness and that consciousness itself does not have a locale. Since consciousness has no locale, then perhaps it has to be all ONE, and therefore making the concept of 'self' a mere illusion!

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I draw this to a parallel of opening a Word file in my computer. When I open the Word file, there is an illusion that there is a 'file' (self) appearing, however if we dwell into the computer, the contents of the file (self) is scattered all over the memory (one consciousness).

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Do not despair if you are lost in this consciousness-speak, some of us still are. But what else better can a group of four people do in the middle sea in a tropical evening under the stars? :)

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The Village Pau Shop

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The next morning, we had breakfast in the nearby village. We bought some 'pau' (buns) from the famous local stall. They sell about 5,000 paus per day and you have to order them early, before they sell out!

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The pau was delicious. They have pork, vegetable and soya bean fillings. The buns are different from most others in that their 'skins' are exceptionally 'springy' and will not turn soggy when it turned cold.

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After breakfast, we left for Penang to watch the International Dance Competition at Bayview Hotel, Ferringhi Beach. But of course, stopping on the way for durains and other goodies! :)

A roadside durain stall

A pamelo stall

The competition was already on its way when we reached there. Tension was in the air as the dancers dressed in full costume and heavy make-up, awaited their turn to compete. The costumes, I was told, cost at least a few thousand dollars, with the more expensive ones over ten thousand dollars. Add that to the cost of dance instructors, professional dance partners, flights, accommodation for the instructors...etc, and you get a handsome figure. So I guess one has to be financially well heeled in a hobby like this.

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So much time must have been spent trying to perfect their twirls and turns to the day of the competition. To dance well, the dancer has to get almost all his muscles moving in synch. Quite a feat!

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After the competition ended, I had dinner at about midnight with my friends. If you are mixing around with dancers, be prepared for late nights and suppers. They are a bundle of live wire, never seeming to need much sleep.

We left the next morning for Sepang. We were supposed to pick up 3 other friends in our van, but had not accounted for their sizeable luggages. So we had to book a local taxi to ferry some of the luggages and (ironically) our driver. The driver rode in the taxi so that the rest of us can be in one vehicle, and yours truly ended as the driver of the van.

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The driver must be smiling all the way back to Sepang, as he relaxed in the taxi. But I must say, he was always smiling during the few days I know him. He is ever so gentle, polite and so patient; and certainly happier than some of the super-rich people I have met. This is a wonder, as his income as a driver is minuscule compared to the latter. The moral of the story is that money can't buy us happiness and that happiness must come from within.

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The next morning, we left Sepang. Before that, as we went to collect our pau's, the shop owner asked if we could give his daughter a ride to Singapore. This reminded me of old Singapore, when public transport was scarce and we had to hitch rides from neighbours and friends to get to town much of the time. This is grand nostalgia and small town coziness; it also mean that we have made a friend in the village.

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