Eagle Ranch Resort, Port Dickson, 26TH to 28TH December 2007

Sophia once asked me to document this trip down, since apparently none of the odac people i asked knew exactly the way to go Port Dickson.


From Singapore:

1.Take bus 170 from kranji MRT station towards Johor Causeway. Upon clearance through JB customs, board the same bus again towards Larkin( Johor bus interchange ).
2.Look for buses that go to Serembun Terminal. Serembun is located between Malacca and KL. So it would take approximately 4 hours plus to get there.
3.At Serembun terminal, board the bus that says Port Dickson Terminal on it( Will cost approximately 3RM per pax, its a town bus ). Locals usually call it P.D if you have to enquire the locals about it. This trip will take about 1hour.

Both me and Dearie did not go by that way. The idea of finding a bus in Larkin to Serembun did not cross our busy minds and Dearie opt for a VIP coach with Gunung Raya ( GR for short ). We parted 79SGD per pax for a 2way ride to KL. Expensive right? But its worth the cost as you will see next.... The main idea was to go KL -> Bus to Serembun -> Port Dickson -> Cab to our resort

26th December
-------------

Both me and dearie were ready at Boon Lay Shopping centre's GR branch by 730pm. Bus was to leave at 8am, and it took the 2nd link. It was a quiet tuesday morning over at Spore/ JB customs, so by 830am we cleared both. Traffic was smooth until we exited the North South Highway for KL. By the time we reached Puduraya Bus terminal, my watch says 130pm. I wasn't sure if serembun / P.D had places where we could get chilled beer or snacks so we decided to get some of these once we place money for tickets to Serembun.

It was quite a challenge; We couldnt really find bus ticket counters that will bring us to Serembun in Puduraya. We later found out from the locals there that the bus leaving KL to Serembun is parked somewhere facing the Pasar Seni LRT.

1.For those who are keen, there are lines of buses parked by the side of the road ( Don't expect to see ticket counters ; it is a common sight for bus operators to stand outside their buses, holding on available tickets shouting the destination they are heading to) UNDER THE PASAR SENI LRT tracks ( just less than 100m away from Pasar Seni LRT ).It is a 4.70RM ride and would take about 1hour.

It is easy to navigate from Puduraya Bus terminal to Pasar Seni Lrt.

We were both lucky to find it fast. By now its close to 230pm and the next bus to Serembun leaves at 230pm. No time to waste....Subsequently we reached Serembun terminal and had no problem finding the P.D bus. It was another one hour bus ride before we finally reached P.D terminal.

There are shops selling snacks and beer ( fortunately ) in P.D town. After a good bite of north indian cuisine, we took a cab to our final destination Eagle Ranch Resort. See. Ok, the cab ride covered about close to 21km of distance, and both of us paid 20RM for it.

By the time we reached that place it was close to 5pm. Though almost 12 hours was spent travelling, Dearie and I had lots of fun catching up and crapping with each other during the bus ride. Sometimes i wondered if crapping is contagious, because when i started knowing Dear back in 1996 , she was a real serious and uptight looking Cresent Red Cross Cadet.

Come, let me show you the nice place that we checked in....



This is the kampung house resort. It was supposed to overlook a pond but when we were there, the pond was dried up. Made me confused since it was like a north east monsoon season


Horseshoe behind the door replaces the normal dull looking hooks for hanging clothings


Wadrobe with extra blanket and pillow cases and hangars. Shiok



Finally settled down after a day of travelling!


It was close to dinner time. We didnt want to spoil our stomach because we wanted to booze and snack our night away together, so dinner was to be a light one


The interior of the bar, the Rodeo Style


I cant smile after a day of travelling, so here's to appease the camera and the camera lady


My precious... hahahah

After dinner our stomach was unfortunately quite full. So i took out my chapteh to kick abit and sparred table tennis with dearie. Not a very spectacular place for youngsters but good enough for a couple yearning for an urban getaway.

Then comes the snacking session....


Dearie got some twisties-flavoured Japanese snack and both of us drank before we head for a good night's rest...


The next day started real fresh. We had quite alot of agenda's for this day.



starting the day with some simple breakfast fare

After breakfast, we went and walked around the vicinity of the resort and took more pictures...



This is the bandwagon resort. I felt like part of an acrobat trooper...



Here's one funny sign by the post along the resort walkway. I think eagle ranch is quite popular for corporate events maybe say team building.



I swear this is one ideal ride of my life. So cool just to take a picture beside it. I think this is the REAL P*SSY Magnet borat would be looking for.


Big horse shoes are all around. Its their signature


The bridge.....


...that led us to a nice walking path....



... to our kampung house.

Apart from the bandwagon resorts, there's also another variety ( smaller )called the tepee house




Our next highlight of the day was to try riding on horses. By lunchtime both of us were already lurking by the stable.



Each of us tried 2 rounds of horse riding on this NOT-SO-BIG field. Of course there's no speed but its just for the experience. Our horse for the day is a racing horse reject ( opps ~!) named STAR.








"I love you STAR. Next time i come i buy you greener grass", says the goat


Right after the horse rides we went to the bar area to try and challenge each other on dart throwing. Let me show you who is a better one.


Both of us taking up positions.....





This is the outcome :


The goat


Dearie

Feeling sore, my worthy opponent vow to trash me in the next dart game we played. It was quite threatening so i deviated from the dart board and pacified my lady to go eat lunch. After that we went to go kart ( no pictures because we were busy trying to outrun each other. But guess what? i won again. ) Dearie claimed that her legs werent long enough to reach for the brake and acceleration pads so half the time she had to lie real down.... Maybe that's a loser's excuse HAHAHAHA~!

By late noon we decided that there's not much to be done. So i took up the chapteh and made merry with it.




I think from all the trashing and kicking, the feathers on the chapteh kept falling out... i suddenly got an idea when i saw this huge turkey...

Maybe i can go and catch this bugger and then pluck the feathers out of this Christmas feast icon. But too many people so i kept the idea in my head.

By evening we were quite drained out. Dinner was at the western cowboy styled bar with some steady showers pouring against the glass windows. Both of us had the luxury of watching some European Cup Rugby over a projector screen with our dinner. Actually i thought this rugby game really looks like a game of taupok. Everyone's evading from the ball, and whoever unlucky holds the ball would be taupoked... HAHAHAHAHAH...

It was booze time again at night. With the rain, we could only drink our sorrows away.


Both me and dearie left Eagle Ranch Resort on the 28th morning after breakfast. We ended our short getaway in KL and shopped for some berms, topshop tops and window shopped in Pavilion, a shopping complex bigger than Times Square and comparable to our Singapore's Takashimaya... if you guys have the time you have to check out the merchandise and boutiques available.. Bus back to Singapore from KL was to leave at 1030pm, and both of us had a great time watching some HK Jackie Chan show till we reached Singapore Customs at 2am.

Great trip...