Pulau Langkawi (10.04.14 - 12.04.2014) - Part 2

going to merge day 2 and 3 as there was nothing much on the final day of the vacation :)


Day 2

second day, i woke up with a great muscle pain on my right calf. this must be due to the the all the carrying and 7 hours of walking a day before the Langkawi trip (no joke). but it is not a big problem and we proceed with our trip anyway.

Isabel waking up feeling refreshed and getting ready for the next destination.

which is of course Langkawi Cable Car. the ticket is only RM15 for an adult (with Mykad).

 

Queuing up for cable car. Isabel was very excited when she saw the cable car. i was freaked out on the thought of sitting in a glass compartment which hangs only on a cable going up high.

and i mean very high! can't blame me for freaking out, right? hehe!

taking an photo on the viewing platform. and this is only a pit stop, mind you. there is a skybridge on this level too but it has been closed for maintenance for many years. pfft!

the last stop. the temperature was cooling, but the heat from the sun was melting us at the same time!

family photo in the cable car while on the way back.

other than the cable car, there is also an oriental village down there. but i think it is forgettable. and so we left right after the cable car ride.

since we have no plans for the day, i decided to take the longer route to Kuah town. and boy, that was a real petrol waster route. nothing much to see on that one hour journey as we mostly pass by villages and hills, not much seaside to see though.

had a great Thai food at Wan Thai. food was really great and the price is reasonable too. too bad no photos as we were famished at that time.

after lunch, it is off to some chocolate price survey at the town and back to another session of power nap and a dip in the swimming pool again...

the plan for the night is to drive back to kuah town after the nap for a dinner at Teo Seafood Restaurant as we read about the rave reviews there and then stroll at the Eagle Square to have the obligatory photo with the big eagle there.

but turns out is is not a good idea to drive from Cenang to Kuah at night. the road was dark, creepy and there was not much car. but we still drive there nevertheless. reached the restaurant and we see a large crowd there. we decided to skip this and also the eagle square and return to the hotel right away...

the 17km journey feels like eternity. moral of the story, not going to drive that stretch of road at night next time. too creepy. the hair at the back of my neck were standing at that time. huhuhu...

as for the eagle square, next time then!

dinner was spend tapau-ing food from the malay restaurant next to our hotel. not bad though.


Day 3

time sure flies fast when we were having fun. an this was the last day of our vacation. nothing much was done on that day. woke up, had breakfast at the hotel and off we go to the shops beside Underwater World to get our fix of chocolates, liquors, cigarettes and perfume before going back to the hotel to pack and leave for the airport.

stopped at one of those stalls along the beach nearby airport for a laksa and cendol. the view was nice, the same cannot be said for the food though...

at the airport waiting for check-in. Isabel was tired and i think she knows that holiday was over from her look in this photo. again, she had been a good girl throughout the flight back and slept for the whole journey.

it's been a short and tiring vacation but it's been a great one. and i know there will be more fun vacation to come. this is only the beginning!

Pulau Langkawi (10.04.14 - 12.04.2014) - Part 1

it's been almost two years since we actually went on a vacation. there weren't any vacation for both of us last year due to arrival of Isabel.

but this year onwards, we will have to include our daughter along for vacation! and so, we decided to have a pilot test for her by bringing her to langkawi by flight.

and boy, bringing a baby along for a vacation is really a different level of game. i'll post about it when i don't feel lazy in the future...

in fact, the chaos started the moment i stepped out of our home. noticed that i wore a different flip flops? i only noticed that when we reached the airport. haha.

fortunately, Isabel adapted well to the flight. gave her a pacifier (to ease her ear pressure) and some kiddy videos in the phone, she is an angel throughout the 1 hour journey

the distance from the airport to our hotel in Pantai Cenang area was less than 30minute. we chose Favehotel, nice, clean and cheap hotel which fulfills our requirement for a family trip. bought a 3D2N pacakage (2 days breakfast included) with a Myvi auto for RM490 in Matta fair. quite a bargain right?



Isabel hogging the bed the moment we reached the hotel!

after a brief rest, we wasted no time for our next destination, the Underwater World Langkawi. entrance fee is not cheap , RM30 for an adult (with Mykad), but i think it is worth it.

upon entering, we are greeted by various birds which are not restricted in cage. the birds are free to fly freely in that area.be sure to lookout for the parrot that can greet hello!

seals are swimming behind us. don't let Isabel's moody face deceive you. she was in fact very exicted and was screaming around excitedly although she was a bit scared of certain big fish and don't dare to tough the aquarium! haha.

and the main attraction there, the penguins! everyone was excited as it was their feeding time too! don't miss this and make sure to check the feeding time beforehand. i've forgotten the time, i think it is around 2.30pm.

other than penguin feeding, there was also another feeding time at 3.30pm where the divers will be in the aquarium to feed the fishes. damn, the fishes are so pampered here.

decided to 'dump' her to sit in front of the aquarium as my body was aching from all the carrying (nope, we did not bring a stroller along).

once we were done with the Underwater World, we were back for a power nap. once Isabel is refreshed, off we go to the hotel swimming pool!

the kiddy pool is slightly deep than an average baby. so we have to hold her while she splashes happily in the pool. so happy that she cried when we carried away her away from the pool later on.

i'm sure she will be tall enough to play on her own in the kiddy pool the next time we come back to this hotel!

dinner time, we were thinking of what to eat, at first we we thinking of having our dinner at Orkid Ria (maybe next time) but we went to Little Mexican instead. taste not bad but the portion is quite small though.

at first we planned to go to the pasar malam nearby but we decided to give it a miss as it is just like other malay pasar malam that we have frequesnted before. so we decided to walk along the pantai cenang area.

we were dead tired that night. and to think of it, we only spend less than 12 hours in Langkawi...

Valentines Day Dinner 2012

we are not a really big fan of valentines day as we think that it gets too commercialized and things get absurdly expensive.

at least i think that way… or maybe because i’m stingy. haha!

in the end, there are no candle lit dinner on a fancy restaurant this year. instead, we chose to made it ourselves on a few days before valentines day..

without further ado, let me introduce the ingredients :-

1st main dish : beef burger patties mixed with parmesan cheese and french onion

mix everything together and we made it into a heart shape

grill/fry the patties to perfection

and of course, lay it on cheese and lettuce for the final touch. the cheese will be slightly melted once it got contact with the hot patty

2nd main dish : minute steak and minimal marinade. the marinades are red wine, Lea & Perrins, soy sauce, black pepper and mixed herbs

grill it to our preference, in our case, it’s medium well.

and oh, i forgot to take pictures of the cranberry wine sauce for the steak! dang!

mashed potatoes which is made by mixing boiled potatoes with garlic spread. just that easy. no sauce are needed.

our own version of salad which consists of lettuce, carrot, tomatoes and one special ingredient!

see the bits of meat on the photo? instead of getting bacon, we use leftover BBQ meat from Chinese New year.

and of course, for the salad dressing, we only use olive oil and fish oil (something we found in the fridge. haha!)

as for the soup, we got lazy. we just opt for an instant cream of mushroom soup and top it with mixed herbs. all this took less than 5 minutes!

and voila! behold the end result!

*notice a lump of something between the burger bread and mashed postaloes? it is actually Gari, which is a japanese ginger pickle you see in japanese restaurant. since we don’t have pickled cucumber, we opt for Gari which we had made earlier.

and of course, other than that, we went out for a valentines day movie premier a few days later too!

which romantic movie you may ask?

well… how about this one?

Ghost Rider 2! hahahaha!

and the best thing is that the tickets are free as waifu won it from the radio station! haha!

that was one of our cheapest valentines day celebration to date!!!

*p/s : and oh, the movie sucks! lucky it was free!

Blueberry Tarts! 07.02.12

out of the blue, we found that there is a can of blueberry filling that will be expiring in a few months time.

not sure when we bought it, but we were damn sure it was meant for baking blueberry pie (which we have not tried it yet!).

since she never tried making the pie base, we decided not to take the risk and she made tarts instead!

master chef at work, tart shells in the making

these will be used to cover the top of the tarts

the main ingredient!

we are lucky that we made tarts instead of pie as we found out a can of the blueberry can only make 14 tarts!

there, before these tarts are off to the oven. WAIT! how come there are 15 tarts when a can can only fill out 14 tarts?

well, since there is an extra tart shell, we salvage our kitchen to see what filling can be filled. in the end, we found a bottle of cranberry sauce! problem solved. from the photo above, i guess you will know, which is the one with special filling.

waiting to sink our teeth on these lovely tarts!

the end product! oh, and i only took one photo! a blur one. damn!

a close-up of one of the tarts

the special one!

to sum up the result of fatpig’s tarts, i can only describe it in one word :

AWESOME!!!!!

and it’s her first time doing it!

Bali 16.06.2011 – 21.06.2011 (Part 1)

Bali is where we went for our honeymoon! breaking our four consecutive years of holidaying in the Land of Smiles.
gotta try something different for our honeymoon. haha!
after a hasty booking for a hotel a month earlier, we end choosing AP Inn located in Kuta.

the exterior of our room

the intricate carving of the door
to be frank, we are not happy at all of the room. the interior sucks to the max which i don’t even feel like posting it here. but for the price we pay (around RM130+ per night), i think we shouldn’t complain much. in the end, we end up upgrading the room for the subsequent nights

Hard Rock Bali!

the road in the town are always congested…
since it’s already night on our arrival, upon checking in, we just went for a quick dinner (cheap!), get some booze from the convenience store, take a short walk around Kuta and went off to bed for the next day!

the long alley (or ‘gang’ as they call it) from our hotel to the main road

hanging around kuta beach while waiting for our driver to fetch us to the next destination. which is…

Sukawati Art Market!

which consist of a complex where vendors sell their handicrafts. nothing much for me though.
and there are a few places where they sell it by category (ie, gold, carvings, painting, furniture etc) in the vicinity too. of course, by car. haha!
just remember to bargain hard!
 
hungry and feel like having pork for lunch? fret not for Bali serves kick-ass roast pork. one of the prominent ones is at Ibu Oka.

price wise, it is not cheap. but it is worth a try for the experience of it

just order the sepcial version and they will chuck everything for you. remember to go there early as it is said that the restaurant will be packed with crowd. we went there early on that day. i think is around 11am just to beat the crowd.

next stop, Tirtha Empul Spring Water Temple. one of the temples where people cleanse themselves. ooohhh… look at those japanese ladies. hehe!
what does the 2 photos below have in common?

1. civet cats

2 coffee beans
cannot guess? here…

the legendary Luwak Coffee. what does it have to do with the civet cats?
well, the civet cats will eat the coffee beans, the enzymes in their stomach will churn out some magic and the undigested coffee bean will be ‘shitted’ out, literally. sounds gross, but be rest assured that they are washed thoroughly (i hope) and then roasted before being grind into coffee powder. plus, those cats are picky eaters and they will only eat the best beans. hence, you’ll only get the best ‘poop coffee’! hehe!
and oh, you know how much this i paid for this freaking small cup of coffee? 50K Rupiah! goodness!!! again, it’s all for the experience. i’m not really a coffee connoisseur, so i can’t give much comment on the taste/texture of the coffee.
feeling refreshed after the cup of coffee (no, not really because of the coffee but more of the price), we went to…

Mount Batur

and also Lake Batur both in Kintamani
this is one of our favourite place it Bali as it is cooling!!! and the view is spectacular. nothing much to do other than to enjoy the view. but we will definitely go there again next time!

passing by Tegalallang rice view on the way back to Jimbaran view was not that spectacular. maybe it is not the right season when we were there.

beware of touts though. they can be seen everywhere in Bali. you can smell them from miles away. once they know you are interested in it. you will be swarmed by a lot of them…
and by the time we reach Jimbaran at 5pm, we were just in time to enjoy our dinner by the beach and enjoy the sunset. for your info, the sun sets in Bali at around 6pm.

the whole of Jimbaran is transformed into al-fresco dining.

there’s a lot seafood to choose from. but to make things easier, we just go for the set dinner for two. the damage? 805k Rupiah.

here’s a closer look of the food. no included in the photo are the rice, soup and fruit. the food is nothing spectacular though and the fish is not fresh. ouch!

but the view is spectacular! our cheapo camera did not give any justice to this photo!

not to mention that you can view the airplanes landing too! nice!

when the night comes, expect a sea of candle lights along the beach

some dance shows and some live band performing around tables. i guess if you look rich enough, they will come to your tables and perform songs of your request. get ready to give tips if they do come to your table. hehe!

which restaurant did we went to? this is the one. oh… looky! ‘wong lou kat’ has its market in Bali too! cool!
more to come in the second part of our Bali trip!