Visits: PD-Seremban Day Trip

It's the school holidays! Yay!

Since we didn't have any big holiday activity planned, we decided to make a day trip down south.

It was a relatively economical, yet activity-packed, much-needed break.

Sand, Sun & Surf

The kiddos wanted some beach time, so we left early in the morning to Port Dickson.

It's been a long while since we've been to a Port Dickson beach. In fact, I don't think the kiddos have ever been.

Based on a friend's recommendation, we packed some buns/pastries and made our way to a stretch of public beach at Tanjung Kemang.

It was a public beach, but we were pleasantly surprised at how clean it was.

We bought some (overpriced) beach toys from the nearby stalls as our own had become too brittle as they were left out in our sandpit.

We got to make use of yet another new picnic mat Mummy bought (Mummy loves picnic mats!), and it was so comfy to lie down and chill as the kiddos played in the sand and sea.

What a sight to start a morning!

Baby enjoying the shoreline

Boy crab hunting

Lido Hotel, opposite the beach, had sparse but clean shower facilities for washing up at RM1 per person

Money spent: RM60
Toll: RM15.80 + RM3.20 = RM19 (estimate cos we weren't paying attention)
Beach toys: RM38
Shower: RM3



Big Guns & More

Next stop: PD Army Museum (or Muzium Tentera Darat).

While the exhibits were quite static and basic, Mummy and kiddos actually enjoyed ourselves a lot.

There were all sorts of army vehicles that you could climb onto, several exhibition halls featuring various time periods of Malaysian history (which was quite educational), and even a hidden beautiful outdoor playground and picnic area.

Best of all, it's free!

The grand entrance to one of two blocks of exhibition halls

Some of the vehicles lining the driveway in

Exhibits give a walk through Malaysian history

An elephant skull used as a "letterbox" during the Communist era

Entrance to an underground Communist hideout

Underground exhibit hall

Huge fighter plane greeting all who enter the Museum grounds

A hidden treasure: this beautifully landscaped play and picnic grounds

Baby was super brave in tackling the shaky suspension bridges

Boy #2 climbing up the rope ladder

Check in for a week's stay

We'll be back!

Money spent: RM10
Canned drinks from the cafe: RM2.50 each

Jalan-jalan Cari Makan

We headed off to Seremban for the second part of the day. And to kill 2 birds with a stone, we went to Empayar Siew Pau for lunch and siew pau.

This part cost a bit more money, but it was pretty good value for the large number of dishes we took (we were hungry, and everything looked so good ...). About RM14 per pax with 6 courses. The helpings were generous, and we had to tar pau some back.

Siew Pau here we come!

Money spent: RM110
Lunch: RM90
Siew Pau: RM20

Load up on 'em Probiotics

The next programme on our agenda was a tour of the Yakult Factory. Another fun, free activity (pre-booking required).

It began with a presentation on the history of the "Lactobacillus casei Shirota strain", which is the active good bacteria in the Yakult drink. Of course, there was a lot of marketing talk, but there was also a free Yakult drink, so it was worth it :-)

We were not allowed to take any photos during the production tour. But safe to say, it was very informative and fascinating. We walked through this long corridor with glass panels on both sides, which overlook to the high-pressured production floors beneath. 

They had vats for cultivating the culture, which were then mixed with the other ingredients, such as skim milk and glucose. 

There was a section where machines work round the clock to make the plastic bottles. Incidentally, Malaysia is the only country with a different shaped bottle, as its normal bottle shape is very similar to its main competitor's (V******).

Then there were a whole series of conveyor belts, where the drinks are bottled, sealed, packed and stuck on with straws. Again, Malaysia is the only country with individual straws on each bottle as we apparently don't know how to drink anything without straws. 

Of course the trip ended with a visit to the sales counter where we walked away with some packs of Yakult.

A look at Yakult packagings from around the world

Money spent: RM45.70
Yakult: RM8.70
Siew Pau: RM20
Toll: RM17 (more or less)



Total amount spent for Day Trip: RM225.70
Not bad for a whole's day activity for our group of 7.

It was such a lovely day. Good cloudy weather. Smooth traffic. And rain that only came after we reached home safely. Thank you, Jesus.