Pangkor Island 13.11.10 – 14.11.10

let me think back when was the last time i went to Pangkor Island…

was it 17 years ago? it must be somewhere around that time as i was just a primary school student back then.

wanted to go with GF for a few times but to no avail. so you bet i was anticipating it when i’m going there again after so many years.

the bus ride from KL to Sitiawan took 4 hours as the damn bus stopped at a few stations (4 i think).

the ride was a pain in the ass, literally as i’m sitting at the back of the bus. i wonder how the Ah Moi beside me can watch series on her laptop for the whole journey without getting dizzy.

upon seeing this, it is another 30min ferry ride to the island.

shipyard

marine base.

since we sat foot in Teluk Nipah, we decided to put a night here

Purnama Beach Resort. the rate is ok but trust me, DON”T stay there. coz the staff there are lousy. they are those people who are open for business yet they don’t.

i would say it is better if you go to other spot. plus, the lane which i stayed at is not as happening as the other lane.

anyway, when you are in Pangkor, the main thing will be beaches. so off to the beach we went.

get a beach boy (which are waiting for you), and you ar eoff to go to another island for snorkeling and stuff

i’m not sure where this island is, but the water is clear although there are a lot of people there.

after a day out in the island, why not come back for a beach volleyball game (which i am suck at), banana boat ride and then end it with a dip on the water?

of course, you have to pay for all of these except for the dip-in-the-water part. haha!

at the end of the night, go for a bbq dinner where the beach boys will do all the grilling and serve it to you. we did not go for that though. will try it next time.

night time at Teluk Nipah is nothing to shout about, there’s one small row of night market selling all sorts of souvenirs and stuff. other than that, i see nothing. unless there’s a pub hidden along somewhere that i missed out.

on the second day, there’s nothing better than to take a stroll along the beach early in the morning

this lanes remind me of pattaya. minus the shops and gogo bars

early in the morning

spotted this group of middle west teens having fun on the beach. and oh, the girls are pretty even without bikinis!

i think development on the island is a good thing, but if they take their own sweet time and take too long to wrap up the project, it will only become an eyesore. c’mon! finish up the project fast!

after a hearty breakfast, it’s time to check out, rent a van and take a small round the island tour.

1st stop, to the marine products shop/factory. time to stockpile on the dried anchovies and fish snacks!

i’m not sure whether it is cheaper to buy from here as the prices does not differ much everywhere is see. and i’m not sure of the difference in the quality either. but for convenience sake, i just bought everything there.

stopped by a shipyard. cost of one is not cheap yo! and it does not include the engines and stuff.

second stop, Dutch Fort. this is one place that surprises me the most! when i was here decades ago the fort is only a damaged fort with two kampung houses located beside the fort.

now it is complete with a small park (with cannon) and shops and some buildings (must be administrative office). the only thing remain unchanged is the fort. nothing much you can do about it , right? haha!

the final stop. also another place that surprises me a lot. this temple used to be a very small temple which is also famous for its mini Great Wall of China. it has now changed into a full fledged temple with a big park!

enjoy the rest of the photos :-

at the end of the trip, it is time to take the ferry back to mainland…

…and take another agonizing 4hour bus journey back to KL.

and oh, di i mentioned that i have to be back to work the next day? that sucks man… haha!

10/12/2010 – a tiring day

so tiring that you would rather stay in the office and work!

what is so tiring then? i’ll tell you what, it is taking pre-wedding photos!

waking up at 5am, reaching the bridal shop by 6.30am, going for make up for a few hours (not me, i have to wait for a few hours instead)…

getting yours truly to smile naturally is one of the hardest thing to do. in fact, i got chided by the photographer for not being able to smile. haha!

and oh, the positioning of ur body, hands, etc is like a rocket science.

for the next 6 or 7 hrs, time was spent on the following 3 procedures :

1. pose

2. smile

3. relax

keep repeat the whole process.haha!

and oh, after the indoor photoshoot, then there is the outdoor photoshoot in FRIM. which means driving from PJ to FRIM for it.

bought a battery operated bubble gadget to enhance the effect of the photos, but sadly it did not work when we were there. wasted almost half and hour trying to figure out why only to know it is due to the lousy batteries. screw you Made-in-China Batteries!!!!!

outdoor shootings are the most tiring ones as they really test my strength! i was sweating like pig that time. the heat and sun made it worse…

at the end of the day, we were dead tired, thirsty (as we were to occupied to remember to drink) and hungry (did not eat from morning till 6pm. only had small piece of bread in the morning). but to think of it, the photographer and the make up artist not having any lunch either! talk about dedicated staff!

there’s another couple who had photoshoot with us on that day too. at the end of their photoshoot, the guy told me that at last he can smile!!! it really made me LOL! it seems that i’m not the only one having difficulty smiling after all. haha!

**this is one post that i will not attach any photos as we were not allowed to take any photos at that time. i did secretly took some photos but i think it is not so nice to upload it here.

i hope that the photos will turn out great! *crossing my fingers real hard*

when you are sick…

this is the only thing i managed to cook in an hours time…

white porridge in scallop sauce and egg and topped with pickled vegetables.

getting sick is bad, but getting sick alone is worse…

Seng Kee ‘Loh Shu Fan’

this is one of my i-should-have-posted-this-3-weeks-ago-but-procrastination-got-the-better-of-me.

anyway, for my Petaling Street food hunt a few weeks ago, i was not alone. hooked up with a forum friend of mine, Gavin, to sample this :

Seng Kee’s claypot ‘loh shu fan’. literally translated as ‘rat’s tail noodle’. this restaurant is famous for this claypot noodle dish.

i got a chance to sample this a few years ago, and i’ve never tasted other claypot loh shu fan better than this

served on a claypot with lots of minced pork, with liver and topped with a raw egg, this dish is a heaven when everything is mixed together. my bad for ‘destroying’ the egg before the photo was taken.

the slight aroma of sesame oil is just nice. not overpowering the whole dish!

price is quite reasonable with 3 different pricing (RM6 for a small, RM12 for medium and RM18 for large portion).

apparently Seng Kee is also famous for other dish, one of it that i know is ‘sang har yee mee’ (fresh prawn egg noodles) but we did not order it as we were already full just on the loh shu fan alone. plus, i’m not a fan of egg noodles anyway…

unlike the usual restaurant where kitchens are hidden at the back of the restaurants, this is totally opposite of it! the kitchen is located right in front of the restaurant, in full view of passer-by. maybe the kitchen behind is too cramped and hot,  guess? can i say than open kitchen is started by Malaysians instead of the Westerners? haha!

Seng Kee is located along the end of Jalan Sultan. just a bit further from the Bah Kut Teh stall in my previous post. i think people will not miss it from it’s open air kitchen.

*a big credit to Gavin for providing the photos taken from his DSLR. this post is without my usual crappy handphone photos. haha!

Bak Kut Teh Stall in Jalan Sultan

it’s one of the friday nights when no one in the house is cooking. which usually mean a walk down to Petaling Street for my fix.

i was thinking whether to have a yummy ‘lou shu fan’ for my dinner in Jalan Sultan or to have Bak Kut Teh located along the same road which i had never tried before.

alas, i had decided to take the road less taken…

yes. bak kut teh conquered my mind this time.

i had walked pass this stall for so many times and noticed that there are quite a number of customers patronizing here. so i decided to pop in.

there were a number of choice in the stall too. but i guess BKT is their main dish as that is the largest word. haha!

my bad for the lousy photo that did not show much of the BKT.

at first sip, there is something that is vastly different from other BKT. the main thing is, instead of the intensity of ‘dong kwai’, this BKT is a bit heavy on star anise. yes. star anise. it may take some time to get used to, but the taste is still similar to the usual BKT. but the good thing is, you won’t get the heaty feeling associated with ‘dong kwai’ after eating it.

there are two type of serving, either in claypot (RM9.00) or in bowl (RM7.00). servings in bowl will be for those who want to order other dishes also.

as with most of food stall, there are no name for it. but as you walk along Jalan Sultan, you will definitely notice this stall.

will definitely come again to try other dishes that they offer!

Soong Kee Beef Ball Noodles

After a hard day of work, i crave for a beef ball noodles for my dinner. what better place to have one than Soong Kee?

this place brings me lots of memories when i was in my previous company. hence the reason i came here.

but enough about the nostalgia. let’s talk about food. nostalgia aside, the main reason i went to Soong Kee is because their beef ball noodles kick ass!

a small serving above cost RM4.50 now compared to RM3.50 two years ago. but i think the price is still reasonable considering the minced meat and the beef balls are a lot.

the noodles may look dry but looks can be deceiving. once it has been mixed with the minced meat, it has all the textures that you should get in a good bowl of noodles. the beef balls are springy without any strong beefy smell.

but there is nothing special with the soup though. for me, there is not much flavours in it. there only one taste – salty. that’s why i never bothered to order the soup version of the beef balls noodles here.

for a better soup version, it is better to go to Sin Yee Kee in Seremban. yeah i know it is a bit too far, but be rest assured, there will be another beef noodles tasting in KL very soon. yum!!!

be sure to sit near the cooking area as sometimes if you are lucky, you’ll get to see the chef/cook making a Bruce Lee movements. i guess he must be a big time Bruce Lee fans! haha!

Soong Kee is located at the end of Jalan Tun Tan Siew Sin. you’ll notice RHB Bank just opposite it, be prepared if you are going during lunch hour though!

Seremban > Port Dickson > Melaka 18.09.10 – 19.09.10

it a continuation from or trip in Seremban anyway. since the previous post is quite long, it’s better to make a separate post.

after the  food hunt in Seremban, it’s time to head to our next destination – Port Dickson

the place that we are staying for the day here

the place is actually quite a distance from Port Dickson town (around 9km away). but for those who don’t mind the distance (and the price!), this place might be suitable for you.

some photos of the deluxe room that we stayed :-

the living room and with ASTRO!!! important for my weekend football fix you know?

the dining place

the kitchen. but no cooking are allowed

the bedroom with a double bed and other necessities

bathroom and the toiletries

and… there’s a balcony too!

    fishes from below the balcony

this is how the rooms look like from outside. there are two storeys

swimming pool #1

   swimming pool #2    

there’s a beach just outside the resort too. but it’s not so clean on the day we went there. not because of the rubbish, but roots, plants, etc. i guess it was low tide at that time?

looks nice eh? that’s because i have omitted some unpleasant parts of the beach. haha!

not long after checking-in, it’s a 1 1/2 hour agonizing drive to Melaka via the old road.

it is another food hunt upon arriving in Melaka.

1st stop, getting our fix of Baba laksa & cendol in Jonker 88. that is our usual haunt in Melaka! be prepared for a long queue if you are going there on weekends. the queue never stops till night!

 

Baba laksa

 

and not forgetting Durian Cendol and mango ice kacang

Since there’s still a lot of time to spare, we decided to wander around…

i never find anything special at this wall (A’Famosa), but will camwhore with it in the background anyway to show that we are in Melaka.

 

when the time (and the temperature is right), it’s time to head back to Jonker Street

i know this is a lousy photo shoot…

 

taking some photos while GF buying some knick-knacks

    

some activities organised during the weekends on Jonker Street

i missed the chicken rice balls earlier as we did not know that the shop closes as 4pm. damn!

before leaving Melaka, it’s time for Satay Celup in Capitol.

BUT BUT BUT…

the queue was so bloody long outside the shop, we decided to give it a pass and head to another Satay Celup shop in Jalan Ong Kim Wee - Ban Lee Hiang.

over here, there was a long queue too, but not as insane as the one in Capitol.

*there’s a tip for you, they do allocate tables behind of the shop, so do go there and try your luck there as most of the people does not know the existence of the ‘extra tables’.

what you see here is only the beginning, at the end of it, we had at around 30 sticks each. the price is still quite reasonable (60sen each), with the usual fishball, kankung, shellfish, meats etc. but most of the time, we dig for the prawns (which is VERY fresh and crunchy) and also taiwanese sausages (our favourite).

for me, there’s nothing really special with satay celup and some of the people with not like to eat it as it seems unhygienic as they do not change the satay sauce every time the previous customer from the same table left.

but hell, the experience of dunking the sticks of meat in satay sauce (albeit a recycled one) is a fun thing to do!

after the dinner, it’s another 1 1/2 ride (almost) back to Port Dickson using the highway + trunk road. funny that the time taken to and fro is the same although the route taken is different, right?

left early the next day as we are scared of the jam in the highway (as it as a 3 day holiday on that weekend). no breakfast were provided for us as we stayed there using the complementary coupon.

thought of taking breakfast in the town as i know there’s a few good place there, but laziness got over us. so we end up having this for breakfast :

 

HOW CAN YOU FORGET SEREMBAN SIEW PAU??!!! haha!

and this is the final touch of our trip.