Had a nice long lie-in today and then met up with Hanis for lunch at Istana Lemuni. Back in 2018 I had worked with Hanis to produce a guidebook for Janda Baik, called Janda Baik Top 30 Attractions. At that time, Istana Lemuni was still on the drawing board with the planned removal of three old wooden houses from Terengganu to Janda Baik. Today they are installed in their new home as part of a hotel complex with a restaurant in a similar style. Access to this site is down a long narrow muddy lane, so it all feels rather remote. But you are in the middle of the glorious landscape of Janda Baik and it is a delightful place. The restaurant is currently only open at weekends and you do need to book in advance. We had a delicious meal with food sourced from the garden or locally produced.
We did get a peak inside one of the houses, and they show how you can make a cool interior without the need for airconditioning. The house had been fitted out with lovely old wooden furniture, and looked very stylish indeed. Not cheap to stay here the night, but what an experience?
After a leisurely lunch, it was time to visit Hanis’s new garden nursery over at Radiant Site B. This new facility is to provide plants for her Edible Garden project; for more details please click here. I have purchased two sets of instant gardens for my balcony in Johor Bahru, and am already reeping the benefits of having fresh green herbs on demand. I helped Hanis prepare some signs to direct visitors to this site, then we returned to the hotel to rest and work on our videos.
On the way back to the hotel, we passed this food stall in the heart of the village which Hanis insisted we stop at. I must say we were glad she insisted! We had crispy crepes filled with a peanut sauce. (It's in front of the supermarket in Janda Baik, called PSG One Ent).
The sunlight in Janda Baik is often golden in the late afternoon, so we joined Hanis and her staff outside the hotel so Lawrence could get some drone footage for her. We also tested out some of her new games and it turned out that Hanis and I made a winning team at target shooting! For dinner, we drove to Figgy's Cafe which was very busy indeed. Janda Baik is a popular weekend destination from Kuala Lumpur and it was good to see it busy.
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