www.mieranadhirah.com: Immerse yourself in Haven-ly luxury amidst prehistoric settings...

What did you do for your weekend? Weekends are great times for relaxation, spending time with family or catching up with good friends, and it is sometime the time you can chill out, unwind and relax.... Relaxing in the city can be a little bit difficult and usually we either stay home or hit the malls...

I had one of the best weekend ever with some amazing friends when we took the ETS (Electric Train Service) to Ipoh from KL Sentral and checked into The Haven Ipoh. It was just a 2 1/2 hour ride and

we were met and picked up by The Haven's Shuttle Service..The trip to The Haven took just about 15 minutes...

The Haven happens to be Perak's tallest and most luxurious resort Condotel and possibly, the only one of its kind in the world where you get to live by the forest and yet be in the city at the same time...

The Haven is operated by Best Western International (BWI) family chain of hotels, which is also the world's largest, under its 'Premier' or five-star status. It is Best Western's finest eco-resort in Asia...

The Haven's centerpiece is an iconic 14-storey high, 280-million-year-old limestone outcrop known as "Rockhaven". The picturesque ancient hills half surrounding The Haven are home to many beautiful and unique plants and animals...(if you are lucky you can spot some...)

The tower karst hills there at The Haven are rare geological features only found in very few locations in Southeast Asia, and the virgin forest you can see has been deliberately preserved and maintained.

The natural pristine 4-acre 'constantly flowing' lake gives guests and residents a most tranquil environment.

And for your information, the Haven is among the first developments in Malaysia to harvest all available energy resources-rainwater harvesting, solar energy and even a windmill turbine- all withing a sustainable budget to reduce carbon footprint

Anyway, by the time we checked in and entered our condotel unit, we almost had our jaw hanging open from the view... For a little while I was somewhat unsure if I was in the Haven or if I have died and went to heaven... hehehe

I got to share my condotel unit with Aliza and Fatin, and we had three rooms in our unit on the 12th floor. two rooms had queen beds and one room with a single bed. The master bedroom had a bathroom attached with a bathtub and shower, whereas the 2nd bedroom had an attached bathroom with a shower, and there was another smaller toilet/shower outside.

We had a lovely balcony with an amazing view of the "Rockhaven" , lake and forest... and we had kitchen and an airwell as well. the kitchen can only be used for guest staying for more then a week here.

Once , we had dropped our luggage and belongings in our rooms, we headed down to have some refreshments and snacks before we headed out to admire and immerse ourselves in the beauty of nature and of course, do the things bloggers always do... take lots and lots of photos... any blogger, photographer amateur , professional or wannabe worth his salt won't be able to resist taking pictures here as the place is simply breathtaking....

There are times that the sheer beauty of nature can seriously move you, and I have to admit this is one of the few rare times I truly admire nature's beauty here in Malaysia....

The lush greenery is so serene and we truly took our time enjoying the glory of nature. It was perfect to have a picnic, or a stroll, or practice yoga moves like Aliza here.....

We took our time going on a stroll around the lake... Despite thinking the walk around the lake would take quite a while, we were surprise that it only took us about 20- 30 minutes of slow walking with lots of photography stops.. and probably 15 minutes or less with brisk walking... There was a guy who had passed us two or three times while we were taking our pwn sweet time strolling along the path.

And you know what, this is the most secure place there is to jog or walk..Safety and security here are top notch with their 5 level, 24 hour security and fencing to disallow wild animals or snakes into the pathway....so the likelihood of encountering wild animals or snakes is very low...

Personally, I had an amazing time admiring the view and taking pictures of the amazing flora and fauna around the pathways ...

Look at all the gorgeous flowers I encountered.....

There are so many gorgeous views from the walk around the lake of both the "Rockhaven" as well as the condo. And do you know the condominium was painted with the best waterproof paint around and it was painted with a gradual change of colours...dark green , light green, blue to white... and this is to 'fit in' with nature - green for the forest, blue for the sky and white for the clouds...

The Haven is designed for the comfort of both business and leisure guests. The well-planned and thoughtfully designed units offer spectacular panoramic views of nature and the surrounding, and ideal for rest, recreation and vacation for both the young and old...and very suitable for parent(s) child(ren) and grandparent(s)

Check out the adorable little playground for the kiddies...

There is the Cuisines, the main restaurant at the moment though plans are in place for a more attractive and formal The Premiere restaurant which will be open in near future...

The Cuisines offer the best of Local, Asian and Western cuisines under one roof...

We had our dinner there at Cuisines and were treated to a sumptuous meal fit for a king. We got a glass of their home-made fruit punch, made out of 6 different fruits, and then indulged in Kerabu Chicken and Kerabu Fish, among their unique signature dishes, as well as a lovely bowl of Ipoh Laksa which is very much like our Curry Laksa or Curry Mee but the gravy is thick and just delectable. Then we had some Ipoh Chicken Rice, and a slice of cheesecake to finish our dinner..

I really loved the Kerabu Fish and it reminded me a little of Thai Style Steam Fish .. the Ipoh Laksa is yummy and bear in mind that Cuisines serve dishes made fresh and without artificial flavorings or MSG. The chicken and fish are all juicy and succulent, evidence of the freshness promised...and the chicken rice is just so fragrant...Even the chicken rice soup has been painstakingly made with fresh vegetables that included a different chicken especially just for the soup, carrots, shitake mushroom, celery and cabbage...

After our very filling dinner, we took the time to take yet another stroll around the lake, something I won't normally do... LOL and also explore the lobby and front of the hotel again as when we were checking in, there were too many people and we could not really take a proper picture of the place then...

The lobby is spacious with generous leather sofas neatly arranged for guests comfort...

The front of The Haven at night....

The signage and part of the building....There are three condominiums that make up the Haven Lakeside Residences and only 150 of these are managed by the Best Western International group and open for guests to visit and enjoy...

After taking some pictures, we made our way back to our condotel unit to watch some TV, check our emails and get online...

The WiFi here is pretty awesome and unique as The Haven does not rely on Celcom or Maxis or TM but rather their own development provides the condominium with Malaysia's 1st 100% digital living Fibre to a Home Condominium. The Haven has an Integrated FTTH that covers all ELV services including copper cables intensive SMATV and structure cabling Intercom as well as an IPTV system.

We were up early, having set our alarm for about 6 ish in the morning as we wanted to see the breaking dawn, no, not the movie, but the real thing... We wanted to watch the sky turn from dark to light and the sun popping out from behind the "Rockhaven" or the other limestone hill...

So the four of us, Aliza, Fatin and Ella were out in the dark of the morning, since all the lights were turned off by the poolside stretching, lying down a well as catching up with the latest gossip etc...as well as taking turns taking pictures of each other...and there was me, in my pyjamas still... LOL

I even went for a stroll with my new beau.... the lone Tyrannosaurus Rex, near the "Rockhaven", Rexxie (I call him Rexxie...) is placed there to signify how old "Rockhaven" really is... hehehe

Am loving the mirror effect of the serene lake and could not resist a picture here to share with you... Then we headed off to Cuisines for our breakfast...

Check out my breakfast, they have a pretty reasonably good breakfast buffet spread at Cuisines with local favorites, including the Nasi Lemak with a very unique sambal tumis kacang.. normally I hate kacang (peanuts) in my food...but I actually found this sambal quite delicious...There is of course, the normal egg "live action" stall where you can get your scrambled eggs, omelette or sunny side ups cooked in front of your eyes.

Shortly after breakfast, the few of us went to the Clubhouse to check out the tennis/badminton court, table tennis room as well as the very generous gymnasium. You really have to love the idea of admiring nature in its glory while walking on the treadmill....or exercising being surrounded by lush tropical greenery....

We then took the opportunity to jump into the very unique 5 level pool..The Haven has their pool specially designed in the shape of a 60-metre seahorse and it is also trademarked...Ella, Wendy and I had a great time playing in the pool , making faces and smirking at each other from one side of the glass pool that overseas the tranquil lake as well as relaxing in the warm pool at the top of the head of the sea horse and jacuzzi at the "eye" of the sea horse. For the kiddies, there is a shallow end of the pool at the "tail" of the sea horse with a water slide as well...

When it was noon, we headed back to the Cuisines restaurant to indulge in some Mediterranean food for lunch. We had some Lebanese Tabouleh Salad which was refreshing and a favourite with the ladies, some Moutabal and Hummus with Pita Bread as well as Chicken Shawarma , Swish Tawook and Spaghetti Aglio Olio . We also had a fruit cocktail to quench out thirst and a gorgeous creme brulee which I still manage to find space for just because it is a creme brulee and one of my favourite dessert...

For your information, The Haven has an amazing adventure challenge site which was unfortunately closed for monthly maintenance while we were there...They have the First Via Ferrata in Peninsular Malaysia, Challenge Courses that consist of a series of physical challenges and obstacles that require a combination of individual commitment and teamwork which include Wobbly Log, Hour Glass, Multi Vines, Rope Traverse, Boardwalk, Rope Climbing, Giant Ladder, Burma Bridge, Flying Fox, Abseiling, 12 ft Wall, Commando Crawl, The Tyres, The Beam, Rock Climbing, Rappelling and a whole load more....

This is just ideal if you want to bring your huge family there or your company employees/colleagues there for teambuilding, family day or so on...

And of course, the majestic beauty of The Haven makes it just the perfect place for a romantic garden wedding your guests will remember for a long, long time....

Amongst The Haven's overall achievements are 33 firsts for the state and 12 for the country...and The Haven has won 28 prestigious awards , both locally and internationally thus far, including Best Green Development, Malaysia and is currently in the running to win the Best Eco Resort award by Going Places , the in-flight magazine for Malaysian Airlines....