“Hey, do you know that the southernmost tip of Mainland Asia is not far from here?” My husband asked me after driving out from Nusajaya, Johor. “Really? Where? Show me,” I replied. And off we went to Pontian where the  the southernmost tip of Mainland Asia is at.

Located within the district of Pontian, Johor, Tanjung Piai National Park covers an area of over 926ha — 526ha of which comprise of coastal mangroves. Entry into the Tanjung Piai park requires a minimal fee of just RM3 for adults (Malaysians) and RM5 for foreign visitors, payable at  at a small ticket counter just before entering the visitor’s complex.

The above monument, made of eco-friendly-reinforced concrete, was erected in 2001 to mark Tanjung Piai’s unique geographical position as the “Southernmost Tip of Mainland Asia”. Measured at 20 metres high and 10 metres wide, the monument’s stark grey colour represents the rich mangroves and mudflats of Tanjung Piai. The monument is adorned by image of Paku Piai Raya (Acrostichum aureum) – the indigenous fern from which Tanjung Piai derives its name. Tanjung means ‘cape’ in Malay, and Piai is the name of the fern species.

The monument is just a landmark but the real southernmost tip is actually situated some meters away from the visitor’s complex.

We love the fact that there are many information boards provided along the trails to educate visitors.

Along the trail we also got to see monkey, kingfisher, mudskipper, telescopium and crab.

After walking more than 500 meters, we reached the actual site of southernmost tip of mainland Asia. Yay! We made it!

Southernmost tip of Mainland Asia.

A globe structure to mark the cape as 0ne of the Ramsar sites.

Sunset at Tanjung Piai.

So how do you get here? From Kuala Lumpur, take the North-South Expressway (NSE) south past Machap, then take the Simpang Rengam exit (Interchange 247) onto the highway headed for Tanjung Piai, via the Benut – Pontian – Kukup highways (Highway 96, Highway 5 and Highway 95). Once near Kukup, follow signboards leading to Tanjung Piai.

As for public transportation, currently there is no direct bus service to the Tanjung Piai Johor National Park. Take a bus from KL to Pontian and then take taxi from Pontian bus station to Tanjung Piai.

When my husband and I told our son that we will be visiting LEGOLAND Malaysia, he jumped to joy. He is a fan of LEGO and surely to be able to visit the land is something to add to his life’s event. And so we departed KL to Johor Bahru (JB) the night before Dec 1, 2012. As LEGOLAND is big, we want to spend the whole day exploring it. We put up the night at a very cheap hotel in the city and checked out the next morning.

The drive from JB city to LEGOLAND is about half an hour. We drove from JB to Danga Bay and then proceed straight via the Coastal Highway to Nusajaya.

We went in LEGOLAND Malaysia at about 10am after having breakfast at Medini Lifestyle Mall situated just outside LEGOLAND. Ample parking space here at the mall.

LEGOLAND has lots to offer for families with children looking for adventure – enough for several days of fun and action. Opened in 15 September 2012, LEGOLAND Malaysia is the 1st LEGOLAND in Asia, the 6th in the world and 1st International park in Malaysia. Entrance fee is RM140 for adult and RM110 for children.

As you can see below (screen-captured from the website), the place is huge, covering a total area of 76 acres!

LEGOLAND Malaysia boasts more than 40 interactive rides, shows and attractions; almost everything is hands-on, so you can push, pedal and program, or steer, squirt and splash, your way through a truly interactive experience – and of course there’s building too. LEGOLAND Malaysia has seven themed areas of attractions for all ages such as The Beginning, LEGO® Technic, LEGO Kingdoms, Imagination, LEGO City, Land of Adventure and MINILAND. It’s an inspirational land where the children are the heroes. The centrepiece is MINILAND, where Asian landmarks have been recreated using more than 30 million LEGO bricks. It’s an interactive world on a scale of 1:20, where people, trains and aeroplanes come to life at the touch of a button. From LEGO experiment centres to rollercoasters, the park is a day-long voyage of discovery for all the family. Of course if we were to cover and experience all, it’ll take us few days to finish.

As we went during school holiday, the crowd was huge! The queue was quite long too. Yassin did not mind queuing for more than an hour to have his first driving session at LEGOLAND’s Driving School.

And later we walked and played at areas which doesn’t require queuing. We’ll come back to explore other interactive rides next year. Here are some pictures captured at LEGOLAND:

Playground area.

Yassin and his dad posing at one of the many LEGO bricks structures on display.

LEGO show.

Yassin under the LEGO giraffe structure.

Yassin having fun playing with LEGO bricks.

I joined in the fun creating something too. 🙂

What we built – From left; a house by Yassin, a boy character by me and an unidentified-structure by my husband.

Yassin and his dad admiring Einstein.

Yassin and his travelling buddy toy, Crocker, posing with LEGO wolf.

Yassin doing his ninja-warrior thing at one of the playgrounds available here.

We had great fun and definitely will return soon. If you don’t know where to take your kids during school holiday, take them here. You won’t regret it. If you need to bring food, you can have a picnic anywhere in here. But there are many food outlets here that your kids will love. Everything is Halal, no worries. For more information, Visit LEGOLAND Malaysia’s website.

And oh, the most exciting part of the visit, to buy something from the Big LEGO Shop! Yassin is one happy boy to buy something here.