REFLECTIVE JOURNAL

2 days 1-night trips to Kulai has become an eyes opener for us. Kulai isn't just an old Cowboy town, it's more than what you expected. It took us only 50 minutes drive from Politeknik Ibrahim Sultan (PIS) to Kulai district. 

Once we arrived at Kulai Town our eyes were stumbled upon the buildings, the shop lots, the hospital, the schools and everything was just too old-school and vintage. Not as what we expected in our mind. Kulai is just an old cowboy town, the building is still remain preserved until now and the town is not overly developed. Based on the history Kulai gots its name after the flood, there will be many fishes and turtles will arise. Then, the villager will shout "Gui Lai Lio" means the turtles are coming. As a result, the villager named the town as "Gui Lai", because of the difficulties to spell the name in English, the villager then change the name to "Kulai". Most of the people in Kulai are Chinese, the groceries shop owners are Chinese, the food stalls and restaurants are mostly selling Chinese food. Therefore, it's hard for the Muslim travelers to find a convenience Halal local food stall. Except, there's a McDonald, KFC, Marry Brown and other franchise food outlet in the Mall, Hipster restaurant and few well-known food stalls like Nasi Lemak Wak Kentut. 

As we arrived Kulai The first things that we did was food hunting. We already had the idea of what to eat in our mind "Daging Salai Masak Lemak Cili Api". So we when to the restaurant "Belanga Warisan" to get their signature food. We had Daging Salai Masak Lemak, Tempoyak Ikan Patin, Pucuk Paku Masak Lemak, Ikan Keli Goreng with Sambal Belacan. It was so tempting, we were so contented with our lunch, it's worth our penny, none of us complained about the taste of food. Except we complained about the choice of the food, because there were not much left for us seems that it's already 2pm and everything almost finished.

After having our lunch, we went straight away to check in Sri Hoover Hotel. It's not really hard to find this hotel because we were using Waze application to get here. Once we arrived here, we went straight away to the lobby on the first floor, unfortunately, the staff there asked us to go to the lobby on the second floor. So we get our room key 304. It was a quite massive room that can fit 5 us even though we only book for 4 of person, due to the budget concern. But it's worth it, to book online through Agoda because we get the best deal, only RM88 for 1 night for two Queen Beds. This hotel was chosen,  not only because we want to minimize our cost but also the distance from this hotel to another attraction places are quite close.

We went to the Kulai Terminal Bus that is interconnected with Taxi terminal, it just 5 minutes away from our hotel. We get to see the main transportation hubs in Kulai, there are  few ticket counters, a food court, a groceries shop at that terminal. After that, we head to Kulai Railway station only 4 minutes away from the Bus terminal. Kulai Railway station is just an old railway station in the middle of the city that makes this city looking more classic. We do think that it's nice spot to do a photoshoot, but there's a sign there not allowing us to take any pictures there. There is nothing much there, just a small Wak Kentut Stall before we found this railway station.

After a visit to the terminals, we went to have our high tea at Profesor Cendol. We heard that they offer the best cendol in the town and we can refill the cendol for free. Free food? why not right. It only cost us RM5 per bowl, so everyone was having their Cendol Special, with the scrumptious Laksa Penang. So we decide to share a bowl of Laksa Penang and get another bowl for free so we can refill as much as we want. So why not, right? We had rojak buah too, unfortunately, we cant refill for rojak buah. Only Cendol and Laksa can be refilled. But for the refill cendol, we can only refill for a regular cendol. Nevertheless, some of my group members said the Cendol taste stale because of the coconut milk that they used. Maybe because we came too late almost 6pm so that's why the cendol no longer fresh. But to be honest the Laksa Penang taste so good, we can feel the fresh mackerel in the thick sour and spicy soup.

Upside down house is just 3 minutes away from professor cendol. This house is just in the same row with the other shop lots, nevertheless, it’s quite hard for us to find this shop because we couldn’t see any sign. Even depending on Waze we still couldn’t find this shop. Therefore we decide to park our car and walk to find this shop. As we found this upside down house we decide to take a picture in front of the house. We wanted to get in but too bad none of us brought the student card so we couldn’t get the cheap rate.

IOI Mall is just 4 minutes from the upside down house, it’s a huge mall, with lot of shop outlets inside. We decided to stroll around the mall for some shopping. There’s nothing much there, not so many people but quite comfortable for shopping. However, there is no up to date brands outlets like H&M, Vinci, Padini, Brands Outlet and etc that cater the teenager style like us. Therefore, it’s quite boring for us, so we when shopping at the Guardian and YFS. It's like there are lot of empty shop lots inside. Nonetheless, there is  plenty of fast food outlets inside. Such as, KFC, Pizza Hut, Marrybrown and etc. Well actually it’s quite hard to find Malay food stall outside. Therefore, it is suggested that if Muslim or Malay traveler couldn’t find any Halal food outlet in Kulai, they can go straight to IOI Mall. Moreover, there is also a mmcineplexes cinema inside IOI mall, there were not many people there too, we couldn’t see anyone was queuing to get the ticket. Basically, IOI mall really needs some marketing to promote this mall and add more teenager style fashion outlets, to attract more people.

After like spending almost few hours in the mall until night, therefore we decided to had our dinner at Nasi Lemak Wak Kentut. For someone who loves “warung” style food stall, we do recommend Nasi Lemak Wak Kentut. At first, we have turned so many times to get the parking. Just right in time we got our parking space, because we couldn’t wait anymore, therefore we parked our car at the corner of the road, luckily we drove Kelisa. We have to queue to get our food and picked the chicken parts that we want. Thanks god we came early, so there was a table for 5 of us even though the table wasn’t really comfortable, but don’t really care about that, we only care about the food. We had the best dinner on our first night at Kulai. The taste of the Nasi Lemak was so scrumptious, we can feel the coconut milk, the nice fragrant from the Nasi Lemak really seducing, with the spicy sambal topping, fresh cucumber and sprinkles of anchovies and groundnut, accompanied with crispy chicken cuts, perfect. There no words can describe our feeling, how perfect it was our dinner that night. We feel so contented with our dinner, worth our penny.

After having our dinner, we went to the most lively karaoke in Kulai. The Melody karaoke. We can't really believe that there is a karaoke in this old cowboy town. It is located in the same row with the other hipster restaurants. The red building and the colorful light blinking are so catchy. We wanted to have some bonding time together with our group mates, but when we went there the place seems doesn’t really welcoming us. It was full Chinese, we cant see any Malay there. Therefore, we decided to ask at the counter about the rate, the staff were friendly, unfortunately, they do serve alcohol drink. Then, we decided to change our planned to go back hotel.

Early in the morning, we check out the hotel. Actually, that morning we had planned to go to the star fish farm, unfortunately, the plan changed when the Google. maps leading us to the wrong way. It’s lead us to Pulai Mountain. It was a long journey to Pulai Mountain, we had to go through the plantation farm, Felda, and the forest along the way we only see all the greeny thing. It was so rejuvenating, it boosts our mood that morning. At one point we saw a huge signboard to the Pulai mountain village with a huge entrance. We get in there to get to the Pulai mountain at the end of the village. Along the way, we can see the villager houses and few small food stalls that become one of the attractions there. We saw the jogger, the hiker and the other foreigner there. Everyone had the same mission to explore the beauty of the Pulai Mountain. We parked our car somewhere almost near to the Mountain entrance. We started to take some pictures and after 15 minutes strolling in the Mountain, we saw a stunning waterfall. We were amazed for a while, it’s so beautiful and we regret that we don’t bring the swimming suit. We saw some visitors were picnicking with family, couples were swimming, and the monkeys were swinging from tree to tree. It was a perfect view for us. We spend an hour  nearby the waterfall to meditate and enjoy the sound of nature.

After few hours spending our times at the Mountain and now we were back to the reality. We went straight away to the Putuo Village. Again, it was a along journey accompanied by the greeny plantation view. As usual we depending on the Waze to lead us. Once we arrived there, we feel like we were lost in somewhere in China dynasty. There were a humungous tall gate at the entrance with numbers of red flags flown in the air. We feel like we were welcome here. There is no words can describe our feeling, once we enter the village, we saw all the Chinese traditional art architecture along the village, it was something different from our cultures. The architecture there is depicting the Chinese Empire. We saw the long path that they call “the repentant path”, 3 steps bow lotus trail, the Buddhist temple and there were also an Indian uncle selling ice cream over there. Just right in time, what we need under a scorching hot weather. As we finished the ice cream, we stroll around the temple, the recreation area, there’s a small pond with the turtles and fishes inside. We saw the “Wishing tree” but we did not make any wishes, we just read all the information there. We saw the peacock everywhere as they are the sacred animals according to the believe. 

After spending almost half an hour at Putuo Village, then we decided to go to the Star Fish leisure farm that is located in a rural area. Once we arrived there, we were greeted by Ms. Lau the owner of the farm. She knows that we were coming because we did informed her earlier. The first things that we asked “Where is the Starfish?”. Ms. Lau giggle at our question. She said there is no starfish and we told her, so why is the name of the farm starfish. She replied us it is actually Star Fish farm, because according to her, formerly this farm is a fish breeding farm and then they upgrade it to a leisure farm. Ms. Lau brought us to a site visit of her farm, where the water activity usually conducted. We saw the water homestay, and the stilts house homestay giving the “Kampung style” environment to the visitors. This place is suitable for team building activity, therefore we have to come in a group of 10 minimum. 

After an arduous day of city tour around Kulai, our stomach were growling so we had “Siput Sedut Berapi” in our mind. We knows where to go as we heard there is a small food court in Kulai town, at the food court we went to the “Gerai Makan Azilah”. Without wasting our time few of us were queuing to get the self service food, few of us were looking for a table, because it was a lunch a hour. Therefore, the stall was full house. We had the best “Siput Sedut Berapi” “Siakap Bakar with “Spicy Kuah Kicap” “Babat Masak Lemak”, “Ayam Kicap tradisi”, “Asam pedas Johor” and “Nangka Masak Lemak”. It’s marvellous accompanied with “teh O ice limau”. Again we had a perfect lunch. It wasn’t really costly, affordable for budget traveler like us.

Everyone feel refueled, hence we decided to continue our journey that was just 5 minutes away from Gerai Makan Azilah, we went to the Creator hotel, one of the famous city hotel in Kulai. It’s a 2 stars hotel but it get the best review in town. As we arrived here we were astonished by the loveliness of this hotel, the outside of the hotel is all blue but the interior design is all white English theme, and with a wild animal statue on the wall. It was a quick visit, the staff were friendly when we asked about the rate of the hotel. This hotel is so easy to spot because it is located in the middle of Kulai town.

Johor Premium outlet(JPO) was our last destination on that day. This the biggest shopping mall with high end branded kinds of stuff, suitable for branded conscious people. We stroll around JPO , nothing much to buy except we went to Cotton On, Padini and Rubi because it’s much more affordable compared to the other brand. Actually, we have been here for so many times so nothing excite us, except for the first timer.

Due to the time constraint, we couldn’t manage to cover all destinations in Kulai within 2 days. Therefore, we came again to Kulai another day, for a half day city tour. We went to the Senai international airport, for few of us, it was our first visit there. Thus, we were so excited to have a look at this airport. Well, actually it’s nothing much. It’s just a small airport for the international title, there were few shop lots inside, some were closed. We saw a self-service ticket counter, so we decided to take a closer look with the help of the airport staff. We stroll around 20 minutes there, just to take pictures and videos.

We were thirsty, and we do like to have something refreshing. Hence, we went to the Gerobok Pisang Cafe. It’s hard for us to find the location of this cafe, because the google maps lead us to the wrong way. Once we arrived there, the first thing we asked what so special here? Is there any fried bananas for us. Unfortunately, there is no fried banana there, it’s just the name of the cafe, we were bit disappointed. Thus, we had a try on their cendol. Luckily their Cendol save our moods! It was fantastic. The Durian and Mango Cendol. The creamy taste, we can feel the freshness of the Cendol not like the last time we had at profesor cendol. Quite pricey but worth our penny with that good taste.

Hence, from this trip, we had learned to not underestimate the ability of an old town to capture our heart. We just need some time to explore and discover its uniqueness. We also learned that not all that we planned will go as smooth as we want. For example, we couldn’t manage to cover Hutan Bandar Kulai due to the weather constraint. It was raining heavily on that day, so we have to cancel our planned. Furthermore, the itinerary that we made is just a guideline for our trip, because when something that we cant avoid happens, therefore we have to change our plan. Luckily, everyone in our group is flexible and able to adapt to any changes in planned and we can handle it smoothly even though it is not like what we planned earlier. Moreover, we also have learned the uniqueness of the culture, we learn how to respect, we learn how to plan a trip, we learn how to book a hotel and also learn how to deal with some people within the industry. Basically, this trip is an educational trip for us because we learned something while traveling This trip also had make our bonding stronger than before because we have to trust on each other and cooperate in planning a trip and solve the unexpected problem. Not only that, this trip only cost us RM75 per person we feel proud that we managed to travel within a tight budget. We do hope to have this kind of opportunity again in future.

Overall, we had an awesome trip to Kulai. Kulai isn't merely just an old town, but it's full of something unexpected to discover...