Relax - Kampung retreat in Johor Baru’s Hutan Bandar

Relax

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When Ruby Al Rashid invited her friends to join her for lunch in Johor Baru's Hutan Bandar, they asked her, "Are we eating with the monkeys?"

Undeterred, Ruby patiently reasoned with these city-slickers that even tourists made appointments to eat with Ah Meng, the Singapore Zoo's famous orang utan, so it's not unusual to have such an experience! There are no orang utans in the Urban Forest but Ruby and her friends soon discovered that a kampung retreat in Rumah Melayu Johor is a refreshing and relaxing experience.

The Rumah Melayu Johor, a new kampung house created in typical Johor Malay architecture, is the newest attraction in the Urban Forest.

An experience in this one-stop destination is designed for tired city folk to enjoy a pleasant retreat away from the pressures of city life and give both local and foreign visitors a glimpse of an authentic Johor Malay house. Events organised for day-trippers can be tailor-made with meal menus, cultural entertainment and heritage activities to suit the tastes of every group.

Ruby and her friends arrived at Rumah Melayu Johor to enjoy a typical local breakfast of nasi lemak with sambal ikan bilis and condiments, fried mee siam, jemput-jemput or cucur with chillie sauce dip and steamed tapioca eaten with spicy sambal and salted fish. A buffet spread will introduce guests to a variety of local favourites and allow them to savour and appreciate each flavour at leisure.

As they discover new and agreeable tastes, they are welcome to visit the buffet as often as they wish to enjoy these specialities again.

As guests relaxed over their meal, "live" traditional music was provided by the angklung, a traditional bamboo musical instrument and the gambus, with a keyboardist who sang traditional songs to entertain the guests. Guests who are curious about the traditional musical instruments are welcome to meet the artistes and try their hand at playing the various musical instruments. In events planned with cultural dance performances, guests will be guided to learn to dance zapin, the Johor folk dance, and zamrah, an Arab-influenced Malay dance.

After a satisfying meal, guests can browse around stalls with traditional specialities and interesting handicrafts. Ruby and her friends sampled a range of cakes, cookies and local products like crisps and dodol before buying them. After they observed demonstrations in sewing beaded embroidery and making accessories, they tried their hands in creating their own jewellery from beads, crystals and semi-precious stones. Wire jewellery designed with glass beads may look attractive and intricate but with step-by-step guidance by the experts, guests had fun making unique creations for themselves or as gifts for others.

Seated in a corner, a portrait artist quietly sketched away and in just 20 minutes, he produced a coloured portrait for Ruby.

The striking resemblance in the sketch encouraged many of her friends to give this talented artist their passport photos to sketch their portraits. Some tried their hand at batik painting set out in a verandah while others indulged in soothing herbal therapy and foot massage with traditional treatments. Before enjoying more Johor specialties for lunch, the group took a short walk through the Urban Jungle to visit the nearby Orchid Garden.

They enjoyed viewing a riot of colour and variety of rare and beautiful tropical, exotic and hybrid orchids to the soothing sound of cascading falls and bubbling pools in the 10-acre landscaped garden. A comfortable footpath meandering through the indoor and outdoor sections of the garden led them through the Jewel House which shelters a collection of rare and hybrid orchids named after distinguished people.

After feasting their eyes on the flowers, the guests returned to the sprawling kampung house ready for a relaxing lunch of more local specialties like Laksa Johor, assam pedas fish and a salad spread of ulam eaten with a variety of spicy sauces. While the floor-to-ceiling long windows in the semi-hexagon shaped anjung or salon were opened for natural ventilation, this modern kampung house also offers air-conditioned comfort in the halls. So guests have a choice of sitting on the wooden floors to enjoy their meals ala kampung or eat at the banquet tables set out in the comfortably cool dining hall. If Ruby and her friends had arrived empty-handed, they left with bags full of local products, handicrafts and souvenirs. The ideal ambience of Rumah Melayu Johor encouraged them to consider organising breaking of fast events during Ramadan as there were halls that could be prepared as prayer rooms. It was an exciting idea for the coming festive season because they could also buy a range of festive goods like home décor items, exclusive designer clothes and accessories as well as quality Raya goodies in this one-stop destination. Reservations for the kampung retreat experience at Rumah Melayu Johor should be made at least three days in advance for groups of minimum 35 people, to S N Vacations Sdn Bhd at 07-226 1780/1, Fax: 607-226 1782 or email: snvc@snvacations.com

Kampung retreat in Johor Baru’s Hutan Bandar

New Straits Times | Tue, Jul 27 2010

A kampung retreat in Rumah Melayu Johor is refreshing and relaxing.