Tien Chuan, Chi Liung Klang - No yam rice ... Just noodles!

Add: Taman Chi Liung, Klang
Located: An old area with few rows of shops, and a morning market right behind a row of shops.
Thanks: Recommendation by Motormouth from Ipoh


The yam rice was well recommended but by noon, it had sold out. Guess its a breakfast thing, gotta try it next time!


RM$4 ... Good value Sing Chao Chau Mai, Singapore fried mee-hoon. Haven't had this in eons, and it was rather good!


Decent Wantan Mee ... I really liked the char-siew and noodles, but the sauce is beaten by Indiana (Port Klang), Wah Chai (Bukit Tinggi, Klang) and of course Tanjung Malim's.

What happens when a Proton wants to be a Bufori?

Remember my visit to the Bufori Motor Car Company?


Take a closer look...

Mi Bakso, Es Teler 77 - Samratulangi Airport, Manado

My last Manado post ... this is the outside of Samratulangi Manado airport :-)


As we travelled to Bitung ... we stopped at this local store to get some Mi Sedap.



At the end of our Sulawesi adventure, this was ALL the money the six of us had left... we wanted to spend all our remaining rupiah on ... food!


First stop at Samratulangi Manado Airport ... Es Teler 77. Average-tasting Mi Baso!

After checking in at the airport ...

Our last rupiahs were spent on Sup Buntut, decent! And ... nasi kuning.

Farewell .. Manado! See you in 2011?

Mi Bakso - Pork balls in Indonesia

Mi Bakso stall spotted everywhere .. including this one at the Port of Bitung. I didn't dare savour this particular's vendor's pork balls though, that was left to be savoured at the airport before we left :-)

planetmole.org/indonesian-news
One of the foods with Chinese culinary overtones is bakso, which literally means pork ball in some Chinese dialects. Originating from northern China the pork meatball came rolling down into Southeast Asia and set foot in Indonesia some 20 years ago.

It was the younger set, like teenagers coming out of school and waiting for a bus who would stop at the mi bakso (noodles and bakso) vendor who would park his cart strategically near the school entrance. Being hungry they seldom ate only one bowl but a second bowl followed whilst chatting with their friends. And from that teenager habit came a new socially accepted term nge-bakso meaning chatting or dating whilst savoring bakso.

When bakso first appeared here, it was considered a food for those who could not afford to spend much money, but bakso slowly stepped up the culinary and social ladder because its aficionados were not only schoolchildren, but their parents too. Some of them even set up bakso factories and produce bakso in great quantities. And even on the wedding buffets of the upper social class in larger cities, bakso is a popular dish.

But the best propaganda for bakso was when during the election some years ago, the President served his guests mi bakso, saying that it is one of his favorite foods.

Sunset over Manado, Sulawesi - Indonesia

Nikon D80 set at ISO400 ... Shots from the poolside of our resort at Bastianos, Manado in Sulawesi.

ps - One more shot ... this one was taken early one morning :-)

Don Diego - 4 Perlas Cigars

Good value at under RM$20 per cigar. An easy puff :-)


Cigar.com - Don Diego cigars have been around for over a generation and today are rolled in the Dominican Republic. It is made by Altadis USA, makers of such brands as Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta, and Trinidad.
Don Diego’s central component is its Connecticut shade grown wrapper that is silky and smooth making the cigar very mild with virtually no finish.
The Don Diego is the perfect cigar for those enthusiasts who don’t want a lot of body or an overbearing flavor. By all measures it is exactly what one would expect from a smooth Dominican cigar and it is fairly strait forward on the palate.
The brand has a lot of history and is considered a classic. Taste the lighter side of the Dominican Republic with a Don Diego.

Grasshopper of Manado - Nikon D80 and Kit Lens

I was quite impressed with what could be achieved with a little imagination and my Nikon D80 / 18-55mm kit lens :-)

Just before he sprung off!

Hae Sien Tien - Seafood and Chinese food at Bitung, Sulawesi

On our last Saturday at Manado, we got Bastianos to ferry us across to Bitung to have a "seafood" lunch... this is Hae Sien Tien, recommended by our divemaster.


Hey... these items are NOT FOR SALE! :-) Heh heh...
"Pakai sendiri" translates to "Used by this restaurant"


The famed ... Loh See Pan. Delicious steamed in soya sauce. This would have cost many hundreds of ringgit in KL!

Air jeruk - Sort of like a kalamansi drink or "thai oranges"... Refreshing!

The crackers were TERRIBLE though, under- or over-cooked... Take your pick!

Excellent simple fried rice!

Strange fried rice with cheese over the top...

Japanese tofu on sizzling plate ... Pretty good, but was that because we were starving from the slow service?

Kung Poh Chicken ... eeeep. Terrible sauce, and so much batter (This would be a recurring theme!)

Deep fried sweet-sour garoupa ... TERRIBLE! So much batter, and tasted terrible.

What a waste of reasonably fresh sea-food, sigh ... and no lobsters available too. Would never recommend this restaurant ever again! Can't quite remember, but I think the meal came up to about RM$140 for all of us (6 pax).

ps - They charged us extra for "deep frying" the garoupa, but did not tell us up-front when we ordered... tsk tsk. Bad service! Bet they didn't figure I would publicise this on my "little" blog.

Legislative elections in Bitung, Manado - Sulawesi, Indonesia

One month before the elections! Here's the scene, hundreds of posters and banners on shop-fronts and vehicles...

indonesia-oslo.no
Legislative elections for the 128 seats of the Regional Representatives Council and the 560 seats of the People's Representative Council will be held in Indonesia on 9 April 2009.
Over 60 parties registered for the elections, but only 34 originally met the eligibility requirements. However, on August 15, following a successful legal challenge, another four parties were permitted to join the contest, making 38 in total.

The schedule for the elections is laid down in General Election Commission Regulation No. 20/2008. The first phase was finalizing the list of voters. This was completed on 24 October with an announcement from the General Election Commission that a total of 170,022,239 people would be eligible to cast their ballot.
However, the commission said that this number might change as the figures from West Papua province were not yet complete. The figure of 1,609,737 overseas voters in 117 countries may also change due to the difficulties of registering voters.

The election campaign will run from 12 July 2008 to 5 April 2009 followed by a "quiet period" of three days, during which all election posters, banners and other materials must be removed from public places. The legislative will take place on 9 April, with results to be announced one month later. The new members of the Regional Representatives Council and the People's Representative Council will be sworn on 1 October.

One of the candidates for Bitung, Lembeh ;-)

OK ... enough election madness, time to head back to our little island resort. Bastianos!

Welcome to the Port of Bitung, North Sulawesi

www.best-maritime.info
Port of Bitung is located on the coast of North Sulawesi peninsula in Lembeh strait.
Add: Jl. DS. Sumolang, Bitung, Sulawesi Utara, Indonesia

Here are some shots with my Nikon D80 on a rainy afternoon, as we passed by the Port of Bitung on yet another one of our dive trips :-) on the Lembeh Straits!


Churches in the distance

Large vessels ... deep waters!

Found this online... The large Gunung Klabat volcano (2,022 m) is west of Bitung. The summit can be reached by foot in 5-6 hours, and on holidays this is a very popular destination.

As quickly as the rain came down... the skies cleared!

We visited Bitung during our Manado dive trip, Sulawesi

We took the Bastianos boat from the resort at Manado over to Bitung, approx. 15 minutes...

Lots of big ships along the way!

Arrival at Bitung ...

Wikipedia - Bitung is a city on the northern coast of the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. It is in the province of North Sulawesi, and faces Lembeh Island and the Lembeh Strait, which is known for its colorful marine life, in particular sea slugs. Bitung has a population of more than 100,000.

Grasshopper photography at Bastianos, Manado - Sulawesi

Here are more shots with my Nikon D80 and the "kit-lens", the super-value Nikkor 18-55mm . Previous photos of my Lembeh bug-adventure can be seen here

My mates with their Canon 450D and 60mm macro-lens, and Canon G9 with Macro-converter.

Bunga raya!

Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009)

Cinema: TGV Bukit Tinggi Klang (RM$9)



imdb.com ... Struggling with her debilitating obsession with shopping and the sudden collapse of her income source, Rebecca Bloomwood unintentionally lands a job writing for a financial magazine after a drunken letter-mailing mix-up.
Ironically writing about the very consumer caution of which she herself has not abided, Rebecca's innovative comparisons and unconventional metaphors for economics grants her critical acclaim, public success, and the admiration of her supportive boss Luke. But as she draws closer to her ultimate goal of writing for renowned fashion magazine Alette, she questions her true ambitions and must determine if overcoming her "shopaholic" condition will bring her real happiness.


Directed by P.J. Hogan
Writing credits ... Tracey Jackson (screenplay) and Tim Firth (screenplay) and Kayla Alpert (screenplay), with Sophie Kinsella (Author of "Confessions of a Shopaholic" and "Shopaholic Takes Manhattan")


A strong cast of veterans and newbies, include..
Isla Fisher ... Rebecca Bloomwood
Hugh Dancy ... Luke Brandon
Joan Cusack ... Jane Bloomwood
John Goodman ... Graham Bloomwood
John Lithgow ... Edgar West
Kristin Scott Thomas ... Alette Naylor

Yes, this is the same Isla Fisher who played Shannon Reed in UK and Aussie favourite, "Home and Away". She was in that popular "soap" for a total of 11 seasons, 1994-2005!

Entertaining film, that should not simply be type-cast as a "girlie flick", there were actually some strong messages about credit card debt and the "American way".

Some cool quotes, include...

Graham Bloomwood: Your mother and I think that if the American economy can be billions in debt and still survive, so can you.

And,

Rebecca Bloomwood: When I was 7 most of my friends stopped believing in magic. That's when I first started. They were beautiful, they were happy. They didn't even need any money, they had magic cards.

How about...

Rebecca Bloomwood: You know that thing when you see someone cute and he smiles and your heart kind of goes like warm butter sliding down hot toast? Well that's what it's like when I see a store. Only it's better.

Haagen-Dazs experience - AEON Jusco Bukit Tinggi, Klang

Add: G31, Ground Floor, AEON Bukit Tinggi Shopping Centre, 1, Persiaran Batu Nilam 1/KS 6, Bandar Bukit Tinggi 2, Klang.
Located: In the AEON-Jusco Bukit Tinggi mall, at the end of the Kesas highway, Klang exit. This is not to be confused with the old Jusco mall near Bukit Raja along the federal higway. Haagen-Dazs (HD) is located on the ground floor, opposite McDonalds and Pizza Hut.

This is the Haagen-Dazs experience in Klang :-) Nice ambience, even though it is located smack in the middle of a mall, good service and excellent ice-cream!


A glass of water, unlimited refills, is then brought over with the dainty little utensils.


Next... the waitress brought across three new flavours for us to try. Nice touch!


Soon after, our "main course" arrived!
We chose a banana-split with strawberry and chocolate trimmings, with some lovely almond flakes, with Strawberry, Mango-Passion fruit and Belgian Chocolate HD ice-cream combo! Deeeeelicious ;-) to the last drop.


Ah... one more shot before digging in!


HD happens to be perhaps the most expensive "consumer" ice-cream in town, and RM$35 for the above is not cheap! We had a RM$25 voucher, but that couldn't be used with the 15% discount which was being offered on certain items, so we topped up RM$10 for the experience. I have to say it was well enjoyed though!

ps - Remember that Haagen Daz v Baskin Robbins shoot-out in Mid Valley many moons ago? :-)

Sabi-Wasabi Japanese, Bukit Tinggi in Klang

Add: 26 Lorong Batu Nilam 21A , Bandar Bukit Tinggi 2 , Klang
Tel: +603 3324 6777
Previous reviews:
First visit in July 2007
Second visit in Sept 2007

Yakiniku Ramen (Item "199" @ RM$16) - "Beef noodles" were Rather enjoyable, but perhaps the flavours weren't subtle enough. The beef was fresh though.


Karaage Toji Don (Item "216" @ RM$16) - "Fried chicken cutlet with omellete on rice" was slightly mushy rice due to the gravy, but I quite like the way it was prepared. May taste a little bland to some.


We washed it down with unlimited refills of hot green tea "Ocha", RM$1 per head. Inclusive of taxes, the bill of RM$37 was moderately priced. In Klang, I have to say I prefer Funa Zushi which is located near the Klang Istana, in the vicinity of Klang Club.

Harold and Kumar - Go To White Castle (2005)

Source: DVD (Location - unknown!)
Recommended by: JNWJ (Cheers bro ... way back in 2005/2006!)


Director: Danny Leiner
Writers: Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg
Cast:
John Cho ... Harold Lee
Kal Penn ... Kumar Patel
Neil Patrick Harris ... Neil Patrick Harris (Yes, Doogie Howser MD!)
imdb.com ... Harold and Kumar, two stoner roommates who like to get high, end up having the cravings for White Castle burgers after seeing a TV commercial. However, getting to White Castle proves much harder than these two ever imagined. On their way, many things seemed to interrupt their journey, including a raccoon that bites Harold, Neil Patrick Harris, and Kumar getting in jail because of a racist police officer.


Great quotes a-plenty, in what I feel to be a "must-watch" film! I have had to sieve through hundreds, just to choose one example ...
Harold: I want that.
Kumar: What? A Hot Dog Heaven super chili cheese dog?
Harold: No. I want that feeling. The feeling that comes over a man when he gets exactly what he desires. I need that feeling!
Kumar: Are you saying what I think you're saying?
Harold: We gotta go to White Castle.
Kumar: YES! YES! I knew you had it in you dude!

This film left us in stitches, a laugh-a-minute, and simply mad! :-)


The music's brilliant as well, including the moment best described by a review on majorchord.blogspot.com

I've been playing this scene in my head all day. It's the driving scene where Harold and Kumar start singing Wilson Phillips. There's something subversively funny about that scene. Maybe it's because it's about these 20-something guys who for some strange reason know all the lyrics to "Hold On". Or maybe it's because I secretly know most of the lyrics as well.

I know this pain
Why do lock yourself up in these chains?
No one can change your life except for you
Don't ever let anyone step all over you
Just open your heart and your mind
Is it really fair to feel this way inside?

Chorus: Someday somebody's gonna make you want to
Turn around and say goodbye
Until then baby are you going to let them
Hold you down and make you cry
Don't you know?
Don't you know things can change
Things'll go your way
If you hold on for one more day
Can you hold on for one more day
Things'll go your way
Hold on for one more day...


ps - Harold and Kumar Part 2 to be featured... soon!

Hao Jie crab roe Steamboat, opposite Jusco Kepong

Add: Jalan Metro Perdana Barat 2, Kepong
Located: Opposite Jusco mall

Thanks to VY for the recommendation ... one of the better steamboats in Steamboat-town aka Kepong!


Communal eating ala steamboat is great fun!


VY recommended mixing some fried shallots in the chilli sauce ... it works!

Fried bits and pieces ... a good "appetiser" whilst waiting for the cauldron of steamboat to boil!

Crab roe ... so colourful! RM$79.

Crabs ... before and after! Really fresh, RM$66 per 2 kg.

ps - Hope everyone had more luck celebrating Earth Hour then we did, the propietor of the restaurant had not heard about it and even when she did ... didn't want to switch off the lights! As a small contribution, we each switched off all lights in our home, and I even had my FB-gadget and Nokia ... off!

Cheong Fong, Kalumpang - Near Tanjung Malim

Cuti cuti Malaysia continued...

Located: 75km from Hulu Klang, near National Zoo, 15KM from Tanjung Malim, and 15km from Kuala Kubu Baru. Kalumpang is located along the old north-south highway which we used to travel along, when we were children from KL-Ipoh.
District: Hulu Selangor


A shot of the "high street"


We visited because L remember frequenting this institutional coffee shop when she was a child, and TW must have been here during the filming of Like Sunshine After Rain

Add: 12 Jalan Besar, Kalumpang, Kerling, Selangor
Located: Near the local police station


Old school :-) I liked the "young" poster of Liverpool's Stevie G on the wall!



Very strong coffee!


TW recommended the Steamed Bread with kaya and butter, which was OK...


The kon loh mee with curry gravy was good ... but the curry mee was too "santan"-y!


In all, the bread, the 2 coffees, and 2 bowls of noodle came up the princely sum of ... RM$10. Don't you love little towns!

Mangoes galore - Tanjung Malim street market

Majlis Daerah Tanjong Malim street market ... each weekend :-)


Was only just here recently and made another return visit to this lovely town!


I was impressed to see the different types of mangoes available ... and how much cheaper they were compared to KL!


Yummmmm....

Kickapoo Joy Juice - Available in Tg Malim!

Previous Review: Created by the Monarch Company

Hmmm, what do we have here amongst all these bottles...


Yes... that elusive soft-drink called, Kickapoo!

The Macallan 12 v 18 - Highland single malt Whisky comparison!

One weekend tea-time, we had a brain-wave ... could we tell the difference between Macallan 12 and Macallan 18?

Price comparison: The "18 year" vintage costs about 150% more then the "12 year". For example, KLIA (KL Airport duty-free) would currently retail the "12 year" at RM$190.

Colour: Experts describe the "18" as much darker, but I noticed they were of a rather similar amber-shade

Nose: The "18" has a clearly more powerful scent to it ... a hint of the magic to come!

Taste: Simply marvellous, we could both clearly tell that the "18" is more powerful, flavoursome and best of all ... clearly SMOOTHER then the "12". Taking a slow drink, it is so easy to enjoy the "18" though I have to say the "12" is the king of "12 year whiskies", when compared with other brands like Famous Grouse, Glenmorangie etc. When I "downed" the "18" rapidly, it still left no trace of "burning" on the throat... Marvellous!

Wikipedia on Macallan ... The Macallan is a single malt Scotch whisky, produced at Macallan Distillery near Easter Elchies House, at Craigellachie in the Speyside region. Originally, The Macallan was only matured in oak sherry casks brought to the distillery from Jerez, Spain.

Delicious charsiew - Seng Kee Kitchen, Taman Desa

Add: 61A Jalan Desa Bakti, Taman Desa, KL
Tel: +603 7981 6136
Located: Taman Desa is located off Old Klang Road
Opening hours: 09:00 am - Lunchtime

Few "new" restaurants wow me these days, this was one of those rare occassions. Thanks to MY and SY for the recommendation ;-)

The roast meats here are fab ... good duck, great chicken, excellent char-siew, and I've been told the Siew Yoke (Roast pork) is great too.

Inclusive of delicious fragrant oil-rice, the meal came up to a little more then RM$11 per head for the 8 of us. Fab!

We shared a few "pots" of soup, the Herbal Chicken was espesh good.

Choy Keuk aka Preserved mustard greens wasn't "powerful" enough i.e. wasn't sour enough. But it was still reasonably good.

Roast chicken? Roast duck? Yummy!

The star ... Char siew!

The restaurant refers to this rather average caramelised custard as "Tun Tan" ... Well I thought it was rather average, but everyone seemed to enjoy theirs! I miss the one at Ipoh's Kong Heng and Thean Chun

ps. Look who joined us at lunch! This pincher's name is ... Coco :-)

Yik Mun - Instant 3-in-1 white coffee

Previous review: Legendary pao of Tanjung Malim

During my travels, we brought back some sachets of instant "3 in one" coffee, from Yik Mun of Tg Malim.


Quite the brew, and a really robust aromatic coffee taste ... delicious.

Pangkor Village aka Pang Kor Fish Head, Taman Megah

Add: 59, Jalan SS24/8, Taman Megah, PJ
Tel: +603 7803 6577
Previous write-up: Review from August 2008
Located: Opposite Fatty Crab

Return to what was my family fave restaurant, in Taman Megah, on a cold stormy night...

Average salted-egg crab dish :-( Next time, we shall stick to fish here!

Tool for smashing the shell!

Wrong choice of to-fu ... a little bland. The minced meat to-fu which we normally have is MUCH better!

Signature dish ... delicious as always. Honey Chicken.

Another signature dish ... a small portion of Curry Fish Head. Pretty good, but I have been told it is bettered by the one served at Ara Damansara.

Dipping fried man-tou in the curry fish-head gravy was so good that we ordered TWO helpings of man-tou!

Stir fry veges ... Good!

Kam Heong La La - Average.

Four of us had this meal, and we split the bill of RM$150 between us.

Sam Mei Bak Kut Teh, Pandamaran - Klang

Previous review: Visit in 2008 to this yummy BKT
Directions: Directions near Balai Polis Pandamaran

Eeep, the tea was like ... gunpowder! Should have brought our own :-) brew!


Deeeelicious! The soup here is thicker then most, but that makes it rather unique.

I love the rice here, very fragrant!

What was left behind.... :-)

Japanese v German-BMW Sharks-fin!

Ever since BMW included a "sharksfin"-like communication antennae in their 5-series E60 BMWs, many have started to copy them in the "after-market" category. Check out this white CBU-Camry spotted at Kota Damansara :-)

Sun Yin Loong kopitiam at Kota Damansara

Located: Sun Yin Loong @ Opposite Pappa & Pak Li Kopitiam
Add: Sunway Damansara, Kota Damansara, PJ
Thanks to Masak-Masak and L for reminding me about the name of this place!

There are many kopitiams at the "newish" area of Kota Damansara (Take the NKVE, the next exit AFTER Damansara when heading from Shah Alam - KL), and I found ANOTHER unspectacular one ... didn't even check out the name of the shop!

Simple "combo" meal of noodles with fried egg and curry "chup", and a small bowl of "tong suey".


Kampar noodles - Average!

ps: Uber food blogger Masak-masak recommends...

Coffee ... "I love the white coffee here, it is the closest thing to the mind-blowing version they serve in their Ipoh oulet probably because they use the same coffee powder."

Spaghetti ... "Generally, all were good - the fried spaghetti was al dente and aromatic since fried with herbs. They do a version with luncheon meat or bacon."

Porridge ... "The porridge place is also good - smooth porridge and noodles topped with very sinful crunchy intestines."

Curry mee ... "I quite like the curry noodles too; topped with roast pork slices just like Ipoh."

Roti Canai Garing - Nasi Kandar de Maju, Damansara Perdana

Location: Damansara Perdana


Sunday papers at the mamak ... bliss!


Was slightly dissapointed that the Roti Canai wasn't "garing" enough!

Thursday Tutoring - Trinity Children's Centre with Helping Angels

Add: Trinity Children's Centre - No 10, Lorong 4/49A, PJ Old Town.
Directions: Near Assunta Hospital roundabout. From there, head towards Old Town Petaling Jaya. You will see an Indian temple on your right. Turn into this 'indian temple road', then go straight on and turn RIGHT, into Jln 4/49. Thereafter turn right into Lorong 4/49A.
Previous review: My first visit with the Helping Angels

Helping Angels at work :-)

The smiles say it all!

Here's where I tutored all evening :-)

Helping Angels ... We are looking for interested volunteers to help tutor 13 quick-witted young individuals residing in TRINITY CHILDREN CENTRE with their school work (mainly English and Maths). We aspire to increase their excellence in learning and improve their studies, while we develop strong friendships based on love and trust. There are 12 primary students and 1 secondary students between 8 - 14 years old. Most of the children are proficient in English. For angels who are seriously interested in helping out, it isn't necessary for you to be a top grade student. Although this event is focused on developing merits in their studies, we still look for individuals who love working with children, thrives on making them smile and laugh - to guide them towards educational achievements and to grow through bonding friendships.If the above sounds like something you might enjoy doing, then this might just be a most fulfilling way to spend 2 hours on a Thursday evening!!

If you are new to this, you will not have any problems fitting in as you can quickly pick it up with the help of the more seasoned volunteers and discover that you possess some unused skills.The common result of being involved in this type of angel activity is the personal joy in sharing whatever we have been so blessed to have. Even if you are not sure whether you can commit on a longer term basis, just come and have a first-hand experience to see how you could fit in other ways besides tutoring, to discover other helpful activities that may not require your committed attendance.

We look forward to meet you, do bring a friend if you are shy to come by yourself. Thank you for sacrificing your precious time for this!

Claypot Chicken Rice - Jalan Othman Market, PJ Old Town

Add: "Corner Shop" - 90A, Jalan Othman, PJ Old Town.
Directions (Thanks to masak-masak.blogspot.com): Opposite the Pasar Besar Jalan Othman and next to an optician shop.
Closed on: Wednesdays
Another review of a nearby claypot chicken rice: Veng Soon PJ Old Town

Take a closer look ... that little saucer contains "ham yee" aka Salted Fish flakes! Interesting way of serving it :-) You can opt without, if you wish. Turned out to be better then the nearby Veng Soon, but pales in comparison with Berkeley in Klang's finest!


The "Yeh Chee Kai" aka coconut chicken soup was deeeelicious :-) as were the veges.

Kinrara Golf - La Salle Klang get-together

Add: Jalan Kinrara 6, Bandar Kinrara, Puchong
Tel: +603 807 62100

OL has a gorgeous swing ... and boy does he hit it miles!

Magic Mushrooms!?

CCY joined us for the round...

La Salle Klang bros :-)

Nice swing!

What a juicy, plump "fella"!

juliansi.blogspot.com - Struggled to string together good shots, putted decently, and drove rather well, but that was about it. Had trouble with iron-play, and surprisingly wedge-play too. Shot 52+57, bah!

Agngolf.com - Designed by Edward H Parslow and our in house designer En. Roslee Muda with most jaded of golfers in mind, Kinrara Golf Club (KGC) is conveniently located just 15-20 minutes drive from Kuala Lumpur via Sungai Besi/Kesas Highway.
Its 18 hole golf course presents new challenges for every golf enthusiast as the fairways,articulately positioned bunkers, challenging water hazards and its excellent green make KGC the ultimate golf rendezvous.

Coconut Grove / Yah Kar / Kebun Kelapa - Pandamaran Seafood

Add: Kedai Makanan Laut Kebun Kelapa - 1352, Jalan 19, Kawasan 10, Pandamaran, Port Klang
Tel: +603 3168 4451
Opening days: Daily, except closed on Mondays

Dad was dissapointed when we arrived at about 08:30pm one evening, when we asked for crabs, Yah Kar (our family's regular seafood haunt, near the Shell petrol station along the main road leading to Pandamaran) had run out! They didn't even have ... Lah Lah!

Chuk Tan - too large, and a little slimy!


Tang hoon - My fave dish!


Fried mee-hoon ... pretty good.


Stir fried choy sam - My other fave dish. Does not bode well when the best dishes at a seafood-joint are noodles and veges!


Dad's fave dish ... Salt-baked prawns. Always fresh!

ps - Meal came up to just over RM$100, not cheap!

Q Jelly Birthday cake ... Happy Birthday, Uncle Y!

Happy Birthday, Uncle Y :-)

Cute, eh... Hand delivered by V all the way from KL!

Just two of the dishes we had during the birthday dinner, at a chinese restaurant in Tg Malim :-) Fabulous!

My 3000th blog! Coconut Chicken Soup - With love from Tg Malim

Welcome to my 3,000th blog!

It has taken me a long time to realise that home is where the heart is.

I started this blog on 23rd July 2006, and over a life-changing period of 2 years + 8 months ... we arrive on Blog entry number 3,000 !

Yes, there is excellent food on the streets and at the finest restaurants in Malaysia (and Thailand, and China, and Indonesia, and the US of A) ...

Yes, there are fantastic clubs serving the finest wines and whiskies ...

Yes, there are brilliant golf courses ...

Yes, there are wonderful dive sites especially in this region ...

BUT, there's nothing quite like spending a day with loved ones at ... home!

Marvellous home made soup :-)


Deeeeeeeeelicious!


ps - Yes, this beats the "commercially" available stuff that is commonly served at Claypot Chicken Rice outlets!

Bambi the Labby's gorgeous!

Hi! I am Bambi :-)


Hmmm, food?


I may be big ... but ain't I ... cute!

Delicious Wan Tan Mee, near Leon Yew - Tanjung Malim

Located: Kopi tiam opposite the Leon Yew shop, on 29 Main Road, Tanjung Malim, Perak.

Eagerly awaiting our Kon Loh, oops... Wantan Mee!


We spooned a large portion of pickled, "cheng lat chiu" (green chilli) ... awaiting our noodles.


A few minutes later.. Deeeeeeeeeelicious! Fantastic noodles and gravy, we enjoyed every last strand of noodle.


Even the wantans were good ... especially when you splash some of that black soy sauce from the wantan mee on them!


Future Michelin-star Reviewer, S, agrees! SLURP!

Saturday Pasar Malam, Tanjung Malim

Pasar malam scenes, at Tanjung Malim ... Saturday evening.

Bunga Raya and Heap Seng - Historical barbers, Tanjung Malim

Whilst driving through TM (Tanjung Malim)'s city centre .... the "muhibbah semangat" (multi-racial diversity and cooperation) was clear to be seen at Bunga Raya and Heap Seng, two barbers which have been operating since (what must seem like!) the dawn of time ... I love this town!

The International (2009) - Dull, dull, dull!

Cinema: TGV One Utama, SHE-Club movie night ... Free!


The International had much to promise, starring Clive Owen as Louis Salinger, and Naomi Watts as Eleanor Whitman.

Even the tag-line, "They control your money. They control your government. They control your life. And everybody pays" was intriguing. But that was about the most interesting thing about this film!

imdb.com ... In The International, Interpol Agent Louis Salinger and Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Eleanor Whitman are determined to bring to justice one of the world's most powerful banks. Uncovering illegal activities including money laundering, arms trading, and the destabilization of governments, Salinger and Whitman's investigation takes them from Berlin to Milan to New York and to Istanbul. Finding themselves in a high-stakes chase across the globe, their relentless tenacity puts their own lives at risk as the bank will stop at nothing - even murder - to continue financing terror and war.

This photo just about sums up the film ... beautifully shot, gorgeous actors/actresses, but a waste of 2 hours!


imdb.com Rating: 2.0/5.0 ... Playing off the current fears about privacy and the control of worldwide corporations, writer Eric Warren Singer tries to blend modern paranoia with the genre of the action thriller, but ends up writing a film that is somehow both overly complicated and shockingly predictable at the same time.

juliansi.blogspot.com thinks ... Shockingly dull, and poorly acted :-)

Sunset over the Federal Highway

Gorgeous soft cloudscape over the Federal Highway, as seen from near Midvalley, one evening...


My Canon G9 captured this from our moving car as well ... L spotted the warm golden-glow :-) against the glass frontage.


Wikipedia has some interesting history...
The history of the highway started after the separation of Singapore from Malaysia on 9 August 1965, when the Malaysian government decided to make Port Swettenham (now Port Klang) as Malaysia's new national port as a replacement of Singapore.
As a result, the government planned to build a highway connecting Port Klang to Kuala Lumpur by upgrading the former Kuala Lumpur-Klang Highway (Jalan Kuala Lumpur-Klang) to a full motorway by replacing the existing at-grade intersections with interchanges, making the Federal Highway as Malaysia's first expressway.
Funded by a loan granted by the World Bank, the upgrade works started from 1974 until 1977.
The highway was originally a 4-lane limited access highway except for the Petaling Jaya stretch where it became 6-lane highway. However, in 1992 PLUS Expressway Berhad, the concession holder of North-South Expressway has upgraded the entire highway to a 6-lane highway with two toll plazas, Batu Tiga and Sungai Rasau.
The 6-lane toll highway had begun in operation on 11 May 1993. The highway handles incredible volumes of traffic and one should expect a significant jam at more or less any time of day.

Interesting commentary on the same article about the parallel "motor" lane!
Dangerous motorcycle lane ... The Federal Highway is well-known as the first expressway in Malaysia to have motorcycle lanes. However, the motorcycle lanes in the Federal Highway are known for its dangers towards motorcyclists, such as dark, narrow and poorly-maintained lanes and ramps, dangerous sharp corners, and the nature of the motorcycle lanes themselves to be vulnerable spots for robberies.
It is due to the fact that the motorcycle lanes are originally intended for bicycle riders,with the design speed limit as low as 60 km/h.

Even more interesting!
Notable event ... 18 December 1988 - R Arumugam. Malaysian's national football player died in a car accident on Federal Highway near Petaling Jaya. (Source: Muzium Sultan Alam Shah, Shah Alam).

Pizza Uno Italian - Centrepoint, Bandar Utama

Another italian!? Its called .. Uno? That seems to be ONE (heh heh, pun intended!) popular name. Simple, cosy atmosphere awaited me, at my first visit to this eatery in BU's Centrepoint. We were joined by Y, A and B (good luck with the op, mate!).


Add: Lot G6 & G7, Ground Floor, Centrepoint, 3 Lebuh Bandar Utama, Bandar Utama, PJ
Tel: +603 7710 1325
History from foodpoi.com:
Pizza Uno started as Pizza Italia in USJ in 1997. After 18 months, the 2nd outlet was opened in Kuala Lumpur. Now, there are total 3 outlets in Klang Valley ( USJ Taipan, Centrepoint Bandar Utama, Bandar Puteri Puchong).

Excellent start .... delicious and plump prawns.

Baba Ghanoush ... Delicious as well. Eggplant and Humus dips alongside freshly grilled bread.

Wikipedia - Baba ghanoush is a popular Levantine dish of eggplant (aubergine) mashed and mixed with various seasonings. Frequently the eggplant is baked or broiled over an open flame before peeling, so that the pulp is soft and has a smoky taste. It is frequently eaten as a dip with pita bread, and is sometimes added to other dishes. It is usually of an earthy light brown color.

Homemade fettucine costs RM$2 additional, and I found the Carbonara I ordered to be decent, but hardly spectacular.

Baked pasta proved to be tastier!

When in doubt, add some of this Tabasco-esque HOT sauce!

The pizzas were dissapointing, can't remember the name of the first one we ordered, but the Margherita which took ages to arrive was equally ... bland!

Desserts ... well, average! Choc mud-cake ... and Tiramisu.

Happy Birthday, G - Leonardos, Jalan Bangkung

Happy birthday to a gal with some amazing GROUNDSTROKES ;-)

Heh heh ... like the TENNIS cake!? I do :-)

Back to Leonardo's along Jalan Bangkung ... once again ;-) That's 2 nights in a row! Here's what some of my friends had for dinner-supper!

Something light...

Spicy sausage and a salad...

Wabisabi Yakitori Bar, TTDI Plaza

Add: Unit C-1-7, TTDI Plaza Jalan Wan Kadir 3, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, KL
Tel: +603 7710 5209

Chilled out, relaxed atmosphere ... We like this hang-out place!

Putrajaya International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta

The start of the event ... setting up the balloons.

I was armed with all my lenses, but ended up only using the Nikkor 55-200mm VR Zoom and Tokina 12-24mm zoom.

The MAS Kargo team ;-)

Thousands had gathered :-)

My Bunga Raya and La Salle Klang buddy ;-)

And to our surprise ... they took off!

Yes, that's a plane "below" the balloon!

There were plenty of Nikon and Canon SLRs, and even a couple of Sony Alphas, and of course mobile phones too :-)

Did you know that even the "simplest" ones cost USD$20-30K?

Team Malaysia :-)

Fire it up!

12mm wide-angle shot :-)

We were lucky to have the PEACOCK right in front of us :-) It towered above us!

And the peacock goes up :-)

It was a gorgeous sunny evening!

There was even a Pink Elephant!

TW had his 300mm zoom with him :-) Lucky boy!

Is that a ... yes, it's a pink elephant!

A clown!

We enjoyed the evening with thousands of others :-) Malaysia boleh!

Thursday Tutoring - Trinity Children's Centre with Helping Angels

Add: Trinity Children's Centre - No 10, Lorong 4/49A, PJ Old Town.
Directions: Near Assunta Hospital roundabout. From there, head towards Old Town Petaling Jaya. You will see an Indian temple on your right. Turn into this 'indian temple road', then go straight on and turn RIGHT, into Jln 4/49. Thereafter turn right into Lorong 4/49A.

My first evening with the lovely Helping Angels!


It was a really rewarding evening :-)


More Helping Angels :-)


Helping Angels ...
We are looking for interested volunteers to help tutor 13 quick-witted young individuals residing in TRINITY CHILDREN CENTRE with their school work (mainly English and Maths). We aspire to increase their excellence in learning and improve their studies, while we develop strong friendships based on love and trust.
There are 12 primary students and 1 secondary students between 8 - 14 years old. Most of the children are proficient in English. For angels who are seriously interested in helping out, it isn't necessary for you to be a top grade student. Although this event is focused on developing merits in their studies, we still look for individuals who love working with children, thrives on making them smile and laugh - to guide them towards educational achievements and to grow through bonding friendships.
If the above sounds like something you might enjoy doing, then this might just be a most fulfilling way to spend 2 hours on a Thursday evening!! If you are new to this, you will not have any problems fitting in as you can quickly pick it up with the help of the more seasoned volunteers and discover that you possess some unused skills.
The common result of being involved in this type of angel activity is the personal joy in sharing whatever we have been so blessed to have. Even if you are not sure whether you can commit on a longer term basis, just come and have a first-hand experience to see how you could fit in other ways besides tutoring, to discover other helpful activities that may not require your committed attendance.
We look forward to meet you, do bring a friend if you are shy to come by yourself. Thank you for sacrificing your precious time for this!

Nibbleish.com event - Tasting Room, Jalan Bangkung, Bangsar

Ever heard of a pub-crawl? Hic hic ... well, these guys at nibbleish.com have just up-ed the ante, and introduced a restaurant crawl!

Enjoy full-sized meals (i.e. starters, main courses and desserts) at 3 different restaurants, along one road! The aim is to get a feel of what each and every restaurant has to offer, savour speciality dishes and best-sellers, as well as quaff delicate wines and bold, colourful cocktail favourites. Not forgettting the opportunity to soak up the atmosphere and spend some quality eating-time with friends and family. Best of all, the menu prices are about 30% cheaper than regular prices!

Current promotions include Changkat Bintang - Delucca, Flams, Bermuda and Onion, and Palate Palate , as well as a personal favourite of mine... Jalan Bangkung - Leonardos Dining Room , Tea For Two, Tasting Room (this review!), all in one night! A typical event would mean Starters at about 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm, Mains between 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm ... and (slurp, everyone's favourite part!) Desserts (or SWEET as I would like to call it!) from 9:30 pm till late.
Pop over to http://www.nibbleish.com/ and give it a go! All you have to do is pick a location, choose a restaurant-combo and pay online.

Add: 65-1 Jalan Bangkung, Bukit Bandaraya, KL
Tel: +603 2092 4404
Located: Above Wine Cellar, along Jalan Bangkung (That's the road which houses Cava, Opus, U, Leonardos - Previously The Attic, and Tea for Two)
Opening hours: Mon-fri @ 11.30am till late, Sat-Sun-Public hols @ 5pm till late

A casual yet cosy dining atmosphere greeted me on my first visit here ...



Starters

Portobello mushroom toasted with crusted cheesy chicken served with creamy mushroom concentrate ... Excellent start, the balance of the mushroom and the concentrate was quite perfect.


Sautéed baby octopus with white wine sauce and water chestnut ... Have to admit I didn't try this, baby octopus scares me! (In general, I don't take sotong!)


Prawn bisque with braised tiger prawn ... Dissapointing. The flavours were incoherent, and the tiger prawn was miniscule!



Mains

Roasted cod fish served on the bed of squid ink pasta, sundried tomato, asparagus accompanied with cepes voloute’ sauce ... Simply delicious! I do wish there was a little more pasta though, overall this dish works very well!

Pan-fried chilled Angus tenderloin served on wild mushroom risotto, braised vegetable, Portobello confit with cabernet reduction ... Decent, but hardly spectacular. Wasn't a big fan of the risotto. Portions were a little small as well.

Roasted Lamb Rack on roasted potato, fresh garden vegetable glazed with rosemary infused lamb jus ... Looked a little bloody, but turned out to be perfectly cooked and well presented. Excellent.

Desserts

Home made strawberry cream cheese cake ... Average!

Crème Chantilly with amaretto strawberry coulis ... Average, and not very memorable.

Chocolate cosmos with vanilla sauce ... Best of the desserts, but I prefer the similarly prepared Lava Cake at Cava, or is it Opus?

We then adjourned to Leonardos along Jalan Bangkung for a post-mortem of the event :-)

A great evening, thanks to Nigel and his team!

Wonder why the Tim Sum standards are slipping at Reunion in BV2?

Add: 2F, 18/19, 2nd floor, Bangsar Village II
Tel: +603 2287 3770
Review: My previous glowing review of this place!

The char-siew pao is still magnificent!


Really tasty Woo-kok with beautifully light pastry, and the Lor Mai Kai has maintained its high standard too.


I am glad the Porridge (Pei Tan Sau Yuk) and Beancurd skin is still good too :-)

I didn't try the Fung Chau aka Chicken Feet, but our dear co-eaters didn't seem to complaint :-)

Decent ... but no longer spectacular! The chee cheong fun :-P

Again ... simply decent. The Carrot Cake with XO Sauce, and Fried Rice. Didn't try the other items ...

What REALLY dissapointed me ... the Hokkien Mee. It was bland, tasteless and lacked "life"! How sad ... when it was once THE BEST in town. When I told the Manager, he promptly replaced it ... And the 2nd plate was better, but no longer "the best"!

Can you tell which photo is the first and second plates?

On to the portion where I describe the sub-par service ... sigh!

We asked for egg-tarts, waited over 25 minutes, constantly reminding the staff, and it was only then they told us it was SOLD OUT. Not acceptable! I do wonder why the service levels, as has the quality, gone down ... Hmmm, should I give Reunion another go?

Veng Soon, PJ Old Town - Claypot Chicken Rice

Add: No. F19, Jalan 1/21, PJ

Here's our RM$30 dinner at Old Town PJ tonight ... Claypot Chicken Rice which was simply mediocre (Eeep, huge chunks of Ham Yee aka salted fish, thought they usually mince this up at other restaurants!!!?), and Poh Lay Sang Choy. Our soups are listed below :-)



I was wondering today, who thought of putting together Claypot Chicken Rice and "Tun Tong" (Boiled soups) ... hmmm, L reckons it is cos' many people don't have the luxury of having soup at home (i.e. living away from mum, etc), and this was a way of meeting that need. I agree!


The "pig stomach" soup on the left was disastrous ... more like "pepper water", but the "coconut chicken" soup on the right was delicious!

Bugs of Lembeh ... More macro photography in Manado

Thanks to R who got us interested in bug photography :-)
Guess Lembeh TRULY is about MACRO shots ... both under and above the waterline!

That's R's Canon G9 and E's flash, with bounce lighting provided by some white porcelain plates!

Common moth?

Beeeee....

Heh heh ... I like this one with dual subjects!

Wow ... cool "fan"!

Uh ... dropped dead?

Nice colours...

ps - Didn't have my Tamron SP90 Macro lens with me, so I made do with the low-cost Nikkor 18-55mm kit-lens and SB-600 bounce-flash!

Bastianos Lembeh Diving Resort - Photo tour

On my final day at Bastianos, I tried to capture with my Nikon D80 the essence of this boutique resort.

Taking a break from your dives? There's a pool table ... and a swimming pool!


View of our villas


View of the restaurant and the villas


The Office area


Where would you like to dive?


Pathway to the Dive Centre


Bliss...


Shower to help you into your wet suit :-) and much needed cool-down after a dive!


A simple and clean Dive Centre

Couple of the Dive Boats :-)

Satay, Mi Sedap, Maggi Mee and Whisky at Bastianos Lembeh

Here's our last evening at the resort!


Dinner is served!


Satay was good ... as was the spag bol :-)


Enjoying our meal, on our last night at Bastianos...

Local Mi Sedaap ... delicious :-)

We brought along Mee-in-my-mug aka Mini Snack Maggi Mee, both Curry and Assam Laksa. Have to say I much prefer the "large" / normal packs!

Take your pick ... Mmmmh, Bintang lager!

Our resident bartender!

Bastianos Lembeh Diving Resort, Manado - Our meals!

All meals are included with the dive package ... this includes breakies at about 07:30, lunch at about 13:00 and dindins at 19:00. Feel free to snack in between too, there're always hot drinks and some cakes available :-)

The restaurant


The view from the restaurant :-)


Breakies :-)


Some of the lunches we had...


Dinner time on various nights!


We enjoyed having our lunches and dinners with freshly prepared local "sambal". Spicey!

Bastianos Lembeh Diving Resort, Manado - Sulawesi

Add Resort: Lembeh Island, Bitung City @ North Sulawesi, Indonesia
Add Manado reservation office: Jl. Cokroaminoto No. 19, Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia
Tel: +62 431 864025 and +62 811 435176
Founded: February 2008

Here's our gang checking-in ... and signing a disclaimer!


The view that greeted us on a daily basis!


Where should we dive first? Over 40 sites!


There's a pool now!

The cute keychain to our room ...

Yes, air-conditioning and hot shower en-suite facilities in our "deluxe cottage" . Fab!

Arrival at Bitung pier ... Diving the Lembeh Straits

Here're the rest of the photos from our recent Lembeh adventure!

On the day we arrived at Manado, we were taken by van (approx an hour's ride) from Sam Ratulangi airport to Bitung pier. This is ... Bitung :-)


Waiting for our boat...


Hop on-board... a 10-15 minute boat ride from Bitung pier to Bastianos resort.

This is the first glimpse of the dive boat that would take us to see the most amazing little critters in the Lembeh Straits!

Our dive buddies!

View from the boat ride as we approached Bastianos Lembeh...

First glimpse of the resort where we would be spending the next 8 days :-)

There's even Wi-fi at Bastianos Lembeh Dive Resort

Hmmm ... check out the Wi-fi coverage!


I managed to stay away from FB (Yes, faceeeeebook) until the day before we left, when we were on our extended no-fly-time aka surface interval!


Bastianos Lembeh rocks ...
1) Good makan
2) Friendly staff
3) Great diving
4) Hot water en-suite
5) Air-conditioning (Yes, A/C in paradise!)
6) Nice pool
and ... 7) Wi-Fi too!

Bloggers and Pork Knuckle at Leonardos - Jalan Bangkung

Add: 61-1 Jalan Bangkung, Bukit Bandaraya @ Bangsar, KL
Tel: +603 2096 2226
Opening Hours: Daily, 5pm till late
Previous review: Leonardos Dining Room



The wine cellar


Delicious Pork Knuckle, with great condiments - Mushroom, Apple and Mustard. Goes great with the garden salad and toast too ;-)



Thanks to Nigel and his team for the evening, and good luck with nibbleish.com



Blurb about this really interesting dining concept...

Experience dining in KL at new heights as we take you on a good food journey; sampling signature dishes at quality restaurants at attractive prices. Guaranteed to be a night of light-hearted stomach-pleasing fun - so get a group of friends, family and foodies together and embark on a tastebud-tempting night of culinary delight!

Take this chance to sample full-sized meals (i.e. starters, main courses and desserts) at three different restaurants in one night. All restaurants are within walking distance of each other and the furthest restaurant is only a relaxed 5-minute walk away. Get a feel of what each and every restaurant has to offer; savour speciality dishes and best-sellers, quaff delicate wines and bold, colourful cocktail favourites, soak up the atmosphere and spend some quality eating-time with friends and family.

All you have to do is reserve your place online right at www.nibbleish.com. Simply pick a location, choose a restaurant-combo and pay online. Menu prices are about 30% cheaper than regular prices and places are limited.

ps. Changkat Bintang (Yes, slurrrrp... Bermuda and Onion is on the list!), and Jalan Bangkung is on the list of events!


Nite guys ;-)

Not the Red Hot Chilli Peppers ... Under The Bridge, BKT!

Add: 9 Jalan Besar, Klang
Tel: +6012 309 8303
Opening hours: Opened everyday @ 07:00am - 01:00pm, and 05:00pm - 11.00pm.
Founded: 1979
Previous review: Funny to think I had only ever been here once

The legendary "Under the bridge" Bak Kut Teh, known as Seng Huat.

Definitely one of Klang's finest ... the lightly oiled rice is cooked (fragrant!) to perfection

Sai-kuat was the order of the day ... herbal-type soup, and near enough perfect!

View from outside the restaurant ... what a beautiful new mosque being erected!

Fatty Mee Hoon Kuih House - Berkeley Gardens, Klang

This is an institution in Klang, founded nearly 20 years ago in Berkeley Gardens / Taman Kenari. Be prepared for a wait and long queues at rush-hour / lunchtime!

Add: Fatty Mee Hoon Kuih House - 19 Lebuh Bangau, Taman Berkeley, Klang
Opening hours: 10:00am - 11:00pm daily.
Previous review: Check out the delicious Barley-Cincau, slurp!
Directions: Thanks to Masak-Masak ... To get here, use the Federal Highway. After the turn off to Jusco Klang, keep left, if coming from KL, take the first left and you will reach a roundabout. In front of you will be Centro. Take a 3-o clock turn, go straight and continue until you see a shophouse with a restaurant on the left. Take a left and go straight, Fatty Mee Hoon Kuih is on the second row.



The propietor at work himself, slowly pulling away at the pan mee / dough, producing pieces of mee hoon kuih! He offered me a small plate of lard / chee yau char, add it to the broth ... it works!


Magic!


Gotta add an egg ... delicious!


Silky smooth "mee hoon kuih" (aka "pulled" pan mee) and hardly starchy at all .. bravo!

My favourite pan mee, Taman Bukit Maluri - Kepong

Location: Roadside, off Jalan Burung Bebarau, Taman Bukit Maluri. Near Bandar Sri Menjalara in Kepong.
Previous review: Read all about my first visit here recently!

Best kon loh pan mee ... ever!


RM$3.50 (small portion on left), and RM$4 (huge portion on right).
A much needed Barley drink is RM$1 each.

Goes really well with the vege soup ... and of course, make sure you pour the special chilli sauce all over your noodles. Firey and perfect!

ps. Wanted to have "Round Two" at Yip Kee, supposedly the best Wan Tan Mee in Kepong. Alas it was closed. There's always next time ...

Shun Kao Fu - Tai Chau, Pandamaran Klang

Located: Near Balai Polis, Pandamaran
Directions and previous review: Shun Kao Fu on a previous visit

I like eating by the road-side, and one can find many tai-chaus (Big fry ups, preparing a plethora of family favourite / comfort-food dishes) across Malaysia ... this one is located in Pandamaran, Klang.


Yummm...

Signature ayam kampung (village chicken) dish ... and To-fu too :-)

ps . Food is tasty, hot, freshly prepared, and cost under RM$28 for 2 persons!

Air Asia v Tiger Airways - LCCT

So ... which plane looks better?

If you were a Man U fan ... this is the plane for you! Air Asia's A320.
Hmm, what are these 2 guys still doing on the plane? Alan Smith (Left Man U for Newcastle, 2007) and Ruud van Nistelrooy (Left in 2006, for Real Madrid). Time for an update!


Fly TIGER anyone?


ps . Spotted these 2 planes as I was taking the long walk out of our Manado Air Asia flight to the new LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal) over the weekend...

Happy Village Restaurant - Claypot Tau Foo

A perennial favourite of Klang-ites!

Add: 39 Jalan Satu, Kawasan 16, Jalan Batu Tiga Lama, Berkeley (Taman Kenari), Klang
Tel: +603 3343 0933


RM$1 a bag, comes in bags of 5 with approx 2 large pieces of yam / potato / fish crisps in each bag. FRESH!


Claypot Tau Foo - RM$13. People travel from a-far to have this dish here, par supremo!


Yau Mak Fu Yee - Delicious! RM$7

Salted fish chicken - Tasty, but rather salty! RM$13

Cupcake Chic, The Curve - Mutiara Damansara

Add: GZF-4, Ground Floor - The Curve, Mutiara Damansara
Tel: +603 7726 9075
Opening hours: The friendly staff member told me they were opened until 10pm

A "cup" of heaven ... RM$4.50 at Cupcake Chic.


Creamy delicious chocolate, baked to purrfection!

Low Cost Carrier Terminal, KL - LCCT Duty Free

Really nice new duty free shop at the new LCCT terminal awaited us, upon our return :-)


Gars for sale ... Gars for sale!


Still wanna smoke!?

KL - Manado - KL on Air Asia AK1030 and AK1031

Flight: Air Asia AK1030
Time: 6:20am - 10:20am (Yay, on time!)
Route: KL's LCCT - Manado

Pak Naseer's nasi lemak, best dish on board Air Asia flights!


Early to rise, to catch the earrrrly flight ... Yawwwwn :-)


And on the way back...

Flight: Air Asia AK 1031
Time: 11:05am - 03:05pm (Nearly an hour late departing, but the pilot made up some time ... zoom zoom in the air!)
Route: Manado - KL's LCCT

Soggy hot-dog, cos' they ran out of Chicken Rice ... bah!




View from many thousands of feet UP in the air!


ps - Lessons learnt!
1) Buy luggage allowance (15kg) on-line when booking
2) When diving, purchase additional sports-bag package at RM$40 from Air Asia, sure beats the RM$20 per kilogramme of additional weight!

Our dive kakis at Manado's Lembeh Straits

Having fun under the seas of Lembeh :-)

My dear buddies...

Steady now ... shooting a giant frogfish ;-)

Canon G9 housed in a Canon WP-DC21, with a single Sea&Sea YS-110 strobe.

Just chilling out after another super dive...

Congrats A! Your 100th dive :-)

Congrats YT ... a century of dives logged!

The boys with our super guides / Bastianos Lembeh divemasters :-)

Manado, Lembeh - Diving Police Pier 1

Our 17th and last dive at Manado's Lembeh Straits ... Brilliant time with the Bastianos crew and our dear dive buddies.

Site: Police Pier 1
Stats: 3.27pm, 50 mins, 19.5m deep (Some current on the first half of the dive)
Critters: Banded pipefish, Juvenile Barramundi cod, Flabellina nudi and a large school of Benggai cardinal fish at the end of the dive.

The finalist of the "best eye" contest between R, E and me!


Yes, this is not zoomed in. Just cropped :-) Sized at 100%, shot with a G9 on 12 megapixels. As close as I could get to a puffer fish!


More nudis!

Gorgeous orange frog fish!

Another frog fish .. spongey orange colour!

Smaller then my small finger-nail! As seen on a starfish ...

Remarkable ... BLACK frog fish!

Awww... pretty!

What do we have here on a sea cucumber...

A perfect end to a perfect dive trip :-)

Camera: Canon G9

Housing: Canon WP-DC21

Lighting: Sea&Sea YS-110

Buddies: L, E, YT, R, A

Manado, Lembeh - Diving Teluk Kembahu 1

The ultimate frog fish dive!!! Brilliant :-)

Site: Teluk Kembahu 1
Stats: 6.07pm, 65 mins, 12.5m deep
Critters: Various colours of ribbon eels, and 4 different frog fish ... all on one dive! (1) Green, (2) Orange, (3) Yellow, (4) Black-white

Two of my favourite shots from the trip ... I just adore frog fish!


R and A having a closer look at the fella!


Heh heh.. a playful ribbon eel

Nice nudi!

Gorgeous juvenile lionfish!

My "pomelo-like" Frog fish in motion!

Another ribbon eel! And a tooth-less (!?) moray eel :-)

Transparent ... gorgeous!

Check out this little guy on the featherstar!

Awww, nudis mating!

Two different frog fish together!

What a cute fella :-) Check out his "antennae" for catching prey!

Camera: Canon G9

Housing: Canon WP-DC21

Lighting: Sea&Sea YS-110

Buddies: L, E, YT, R, A

Manado, Lembeh - Diving Batu Sandar

Site: Batu Sandar
Stats: 9.02am, 60 mins, 24.3m deep
Critters: Thorny seahorse (A pair of them!), orang utan crab, and an arrowhead crab that looked like a ... green leaf! Well done for spotting this, YT!

CONGRATS YT :-) It's your 100-th dive!


Thorny seahorse ... Nice!


Only one other shot, a cool Cowfish, just before the "OK/ENTER" button on my housing decided to "jam". Strange ... This happened to my WP-DC21 Canon housing only when I was at depths of beyond 16m. When I came out of the dive, I managed to clean it up, loosed up the button, and it was OK on subsequent dives!!

Manado, Lembeh - Diving Compreng at Night

By far the most prolific night dive to date!! What an adventure ... all these mad critters :-)

Site: Compreng (Wow! Another new site ... our only night dive this trip)
Stats: 6.07pm, 65 mins, 12.5m deep
Critters: Just about everything we hoped to see on a night dive, shrimps, crabs, octopus, squid, and more! Lembeh is brilliant by day, and magnificent by night!

Bobtail squid ... magnificent! The highlight of our dive ...

Heh heh ... a shy Hermit Crab!

And another little crab...

Was trying to shoot some shrimp hiding behind this guy, who was drawn to L's torch :-) heh heh... Normally extremely shy, I was surprised I managed to get so close!

Crocodile fish with lovely colour and texture, a first!

Cute Joruna nudibranch

Love them nudis!

Different shrimps!

Two very strangely decorated crabs!

Fighting crabs!

Long arm crab ... the first I have ever spotted! Love these night dives...


Pure bliss ... a magnificent Coconut Octopus!

Camera: Canon G9
Housing: Canon WP-DC21
Lighting: Sea&Sea YS-110
Buddies: L, E, YT, R, A

Manado, Lembeh - Diving Serena

Site: Serena, another new site that we didn't go to 2 years ago!
Stats: 2.56pm, 57 mins, 18.5m deep
Critters: Nudibranches, Banggai cardinal fish (both adults and juveniles), junior barramundi cod (so cute!), decorated crab, various devil fish, porcelain crab ... and an amazing black/white frog fish!

Scarey looking little fella :-) a juvenile scorpionfish!


Cool nudi :-)


Check out this guy!


Eye ball close-up! No zoom, just cropped :-) Canon G9 rocks!


More wonderful creatures ... tiny, oh so tiny!


Gorgeous tiny porcelain crab :-)


Spiney, thorny, lethal ... fabulous!

Spotted under a staghorn coral ... an amazing Frogfish!

Manado, Lembeh - Diving with the Wonderpus and Flamboyant Cuttlefish at Tg Kareko

Site: Tanjung Kareko
Stats: 10.18am, 57 mins, 18.9m deep
Critters: Flamboyant cuttlefish, "regular" cuttlefish, and wonderpus octopus too! Mind-bogglingly good dive, my breath was taken away!

The most magnificent of dives, we saw two out of three of the "holy grails" of diving, the Flamboyant Cuttlefish and the Wonderpus octopus!

What a great start to the dive ... a rather large cuttlefish in all its colourful glory!

This is the magnificent Flamboyant Cuttlefish!

Magnificent!

Some nice shrimps...

Hmm.. this fella is a... uh?

Who do we have here!!?

It's the mysterious Wonderpus!

And to end the dive ... a lovely "skirted" nudi!

Manado, Lembeh - Diving the Mawali Wreck

Site: Mawali shipwreck
Stats: 8.23am, 40 mins, 30.5m deep (Our deepest dive this trip!)
Critters: Nudibranches, couple of common fish, and some amazing buddies :-)

Here's us outside the entrance of the cargo hold, of the Mawali wreck, 30m deep!

Our dear friends ;-)

A bright coloured nudibranch!

Asiadivesite.com

A Japanese steel cargo ship from WWII was scuttled and sank in 1943. She now lies in 30 to 15 meters of water on her port side. The wreck is around 65 meters long and has heavy coral growth, a number of large lionfish lurk in suspension over the hulk. Spotted baramundi cod are seen along with the usual macro subjects including pipefish, nudibranchs and shrimps. Penetration is no longer recommended due to the heavily encrusted surfaces and instability of the structure.

Juliansi.blogspot.com ... With the right amount of training (such as reasonable buoyancy, and keeping all your hoses tucked in), keeping calm, and having good buddies, penetratrion of this wreck is not a problem!

Manado, Lembeh - Mandarin fish diving at Serow Point

Site: Serow Point
Stats: Sunset dive at 5.02pm, 55 mins, 6.4m deep
Critters: A focused dive, strictly mandarin fish ... Pity we didn't see them mating, but I am probably to blame for that with my strobes firing away! A struggle to take these RAW shots, with staghorn coral in the way, and very shy mandarin fish!

Gorgeous fish :-)

So shy ...

Thanks to our patient Divemasters, we got to see a cute nudi too!

Manado, Lembeh - Diving Hairball 1

I remember from my visit to Lembeh in '06, this site derived its name from the existence of the "resident" hairy frogfish ... the fella has since left!

Site: Hairball 1
Stats: 10.59am, 60 mins, 20.7m deep
Critters: Cockatoo waspfish (Take your pick, there are so many of them!), featherstar shrimps, juvenile lionfish :-) ... Snake eel, brown seahorse, and more.
Photographic comment: First time I shot in RAW.

Up close and personal with a Cockatoo Waspfish :-) The surge current was pushing the guy against the volcanic sandy bottom!


More little fellas!

A lone lionfish ...

Camera: Canon G9

Housing: Canon WP-DC21

Lighting: Sea&Sea YS-110

Buddies: L, E, YT, R, A

Manado, Lembeh - Diving Tanjung Kubur

Morning dive at Lembeh ... Our eight dive of the week!

Site: Tanjung Kubur
Stats: 8.57am, 45 mins, 24.0m deep
Critters: Cool white Thorny Seahorse :-) , flatworm, coral shrimp, ornate ghostpipefish and more!

Close-up of a proud dragonet!


It's horsey :-) And it's thorny!


Close-up view ... gorgeous!

Ornate ghost pipefish!

Brightly coloured nudibranches

Camera: Canon G9

Housing: Canon WP-DC21

Lighting: Sea&Sea YS-110

Buddies: L, E, YT, R, A

Manado, Lembeh - Diving Pante Parigi

This was the site I was hoping to see my FIRST flamboyant cuttlefish on this trip, alas there was over-expectation and it was not to be found ... close to de-co! Eeep! A very deep third dive of the day, hmmm.

Site: Pante Parigi
Stats: 4.12pm, 52 mins, 20.1m deep
Critters: Decorated crab, featherstar shrimp, robust ghost pipefish (A pair of them), thornback cowfish, hingeback shrimps...

Common and rare nudi's!


Master of camouflage...


A cool crab!


Robust ghost pipefish ... darn difficult to shoot!

Mantis shrimp in hiding ... what huge eyes!

Hmm ... who do we have here!? Fire-y red!

Pregnant Seahorse and Nescafe ... Madidir 2, Lembeh St

Hmmm, Nescafe poster child :-) spotted at Madidir 2, Lembeh Straits.


Awww ... horsey is pregnant!

Manado, Lembeh - Diving Madidir 2

Site: Madidir 2
Stats: 11.34am, 66 mins, 5.4m deep (Who says you have to go DEEP to see cool stuff?)
Critters: Seahorse, lots of imperial shrimps on sea cucumbers (Oops, Wikipedia describes the fella as an Emperor Shrimp!), porcelain crabs, devli fish, comensal shrimps and more.

There were so many Cockatoo Waspfish waiting to be photographed ... I only shot a few of them :-) we are truly SPOILT at Lembeh!


Heh heh, hermit crabs are cool!


Hello grumpy devil fish!

Beautiful Coconut Octopus hiding in a coca-cola bottle!

Another cool crab! Master of camouflage...

Gorgeous strips ... Porcelain crab.

Now, now ... what would these be!?

Nemo eggs ... yes, CLOWN FISH! Check out the very VERY little pairs of eyeballs ;-)

Camera: Canon G9

Housing: Canon WP-DC21

Lighting: Sea&Sea YS-110

Buddies: L, E, YT, R, A

Manado, Lembeh - Diving Madidir 1

Third day of our Lembeh muck-diving adventure :-)

Site: Madidir 1
Stats: 9.06am, 70 mins, 9.0m deep (shallowest 1st dive of the day to date!)
Critters: Cuttlefish, octopus, lionfish, scorpionfish, devil fish, Ambon scorpionfish, snake eel ... and the coolest WHITE scorpionfish at the end of the dive :-)

Spot the ... flounder!


Whye Mun the cuttle!


Ambon scorpionfish

Mizu tako for P? :-)

Devil fish :-) A wee bit angry as you can see from its flared out "wings"!

Horsey and a ... friend?!

Gorgeous porcelain crab on a sea urchin ;-)

White!!!

Heh heh... I like this fella's face!

Manado, Lembeh - Diving Tanduk Rusa

Site: Tanduk Rusa
Stats: 3.29pm, 60 mins, 17.0m deep
Critters: Orang utan crab, scorpionfish, pipefish, imperial shrimps, porcelain crab, more snake eels!

Gotta love them nudibranches :-) The fella on the crisp packet is laying eggs!

Ah Siang would have loved to stroke his chin!

False stonefish :-)

Aww... little fella!


Up close and personal!

Do I look like an orang utan to you!?

A face only a mother could love!

Bright colours

Harmless?

Imperial shrimp and a crabby on a sea cucumber ... yes, I no longer "simply shoot the sea cucumber"!

Camera: Canon G9

Housing: Canon WP-DC21

Lighting: Sea&Sea YS-110

Buddies: L, E, YT, R, A

Manado, Lembeh - Diving Jahir

Site: Jahir
Stats: 11.25am, 65 mins, 17.0m deep
Critters: Filefish, trumpetfish (They were trying to steal away the attention from the ... Lionfish!), mantis shrimp, decorated crab, flounders (so many of them at Lembeh!), Seamoth, Leaf Scorpionfish and 3 snake eels!



Bizarre!

Besides Seahorses, turtles and frogfish ... Box fishies are my favourite!

Majestic!

Camera: Canon G9

Housing: Canon WP-DC21

Lighting: Sea&Sea YS-110

Buddies: L, E, YT, R, A

Manado, Lembeh - Diving Nudi Retreat

Site: Nudi Retreat
Stats: 9.07am, 56 mins, 20.7m deep
Critters: Cleaner shrimp, juvenile catfish (a school of them kicking up a sandstorm!), pipefish, pink squat lobster, bubble coral shrimp, ELECTRIC CLAM at the end of the dive :-)



Spot me if you can!

Gotta look around these bubble corals ...

Weird and wonderful, one of Uncle Jeff's favourites ... the Flying Gunnard!

Camera: Canon G9

Housing: Canon WP-DC21

Lighting: Sea&Sea YS-110

Buddies: L, E, YT, R, A

Manado, Lembeh - Diving Nudi Falls

Our first dive at Lembeh, on this 17 dive week!
Site: Nudi Falls
Stats: 3.27pm, 50 mins, 18.5m deep
Critters: Dragonet, featherstar squat lobster, frogfish, bearded scorpionfish, barramundi cod..


Gorgeous featherstar sqat lobster, and a barramundi cod aka Loh See Pan (Slurrrrp!)


Love this giant frogfish!

The "devil"!

Always time for pretty nudibranches!

Camera: Canon G9
Housing: Canon WP-DC21
Lighting: Sea&Sea YS-110
Buddies: L, E, YT, R, A

Lembeh Strait, Manado - Sulawesi ... Here I come!

For my FIRST dive trip of 2009, two and a half years after I experienced life in the deep blue and enjoying waking up to compressed air each morning (and afternoon, and evening, and even night!), I have booked myself to ... Manado. I will be there all next week, so there will not be any updates.

My last visit there was as a newbie diver in late 2006 , and it remains my best dive memory! I am grateful that this time we have a direct Air Asia flight there, which cost RM$400 (El cheapo!), instead of the KL-Bali-Ujung Panjang-Manado route we previously took!

Sources: Wikipedia, diveliburan.com
LEMBEH STRAIT has already been established as the mecca of what is known as muck or critter diving. Professional photographers and film crews are regular visitors to the strait, shooting award-winning images of the extraordinary inhabitants that mesmerize divers dive after dive.
Pygmy seahorses, mimic octopus, flamboyant cuttlefish, mandarinfish, hairy frogfish, ghost pipefish, rhinopias, pegasus seamoths, banggai cardinalfish, stargazers, bobbit worms, harlequin shrimp, candy crabs, bobtail squid, devilfish, snake eels, etc. The list seems endless, with every dive an opportunity to discover a species new to science. The array of nudibranchs and crustaceans is astounding. The number of cephalopod species on display amazing. The assortment of eels and venomous fish species is limitless.



I am looking forward to diving ...

Police pier : This muck dive site is common for harlequin shrimps (Hymenocera picta) on a Linckia starfish! Under the large columns of the pier you can find a special waspfish. There were a lot of Barramundi cods and the Banggai cardinalfishes (Pterapogon kauderi). They seem to be hiding between the spines of sea urchins and also joining the anemonefish hiding in anemones. The Banggai cardinalfish is endemic to the Banggai islands. It was probably introduced to Lembeh strait by dumping some aquarium specimens. Since there are a lot of orange sponges her is a really good place for the orange painted frogfish.

Nudi Falls : is a small vertical rock wall and below that a slope with sand and rubble that ends at about 27m. You are abke to see rare spindle cowries (Phenacovolva tokioi) and a flamboyant cuttlefish and Rhinopias. At the wall there is a Muricella gorgonian where you find pygmy seahorses and there is a crack with two fire shells hidden. Sometimes there are strong currents around the deep section on the rubble slope.

Juliansi.blogspot.com says ... I can't wait to meet my ol' friend, the Lacey Scorpionfish aka Rhinopias once again. That, along with running outta air (Thanks, E buddy!), were the highlights of my previous visit!

Nudi Retreat : This dive site is a small and protected cove. On the top resides a pair of pegasus sea moths and a lot of different nudibranchs. At a night dive you are able to find a ghostpipefish in one of the sponges. The highlight was a juvenile batfish with orange fringe that looked just like a flatworm! Amazing! Possible encounter a sea snake and a huge Pleurobranchus snail.

Hair ball : at this dive site there is some of the world's best critter diving, a true muck dive site. A gentle slope covered with black sand and algae. There are occasional patch of sponges - those are the places to look for hidden animals like seahorses, frogfish or the ambon scorpion fish. All these animals are extremely well camouflaged, the frogfish we found was brown and gray with numerous appendages, the seahorses brown or black.

Mawali Wreck :
This wreck is a sunken Japanese freighter from World War II. The coral encrusted ship lies on its side between 17 and 35 meters. This wreck is in very good condition. This wreck is beautifully encrusted with crinoids, black coral trees and soft corals. The boom sticks straight out sideways, and in this area huge schools of fish gather. On one dive we saw a group of at least a hundred full - grown batfish, and school of small silversides the size of the house. Moray eels hide in iron cervices, and it seems at times that every encrusted lump is a scorpionfish of one species or another. Within the groove of an overgrown iron spool we found two large octopus, perhaps interupted in the private moment. The owners of the wreck, however are pride of lionfishes. Group of 6 or 10 are always out, and at times as many as 40 of these calmly majestc animals gather together.

Juliansi.blogspot.com says ... I can't wait to do the swim-through / wreck penetration at Mawali's wide cargo-hold, an experience to behold :-)

Happy Birthday, SK Bro!

Add: Dynasty Hotel @ 218, Jalan Ipoh, KL
Tel: +603 4043 7777

I had previously been to Tang Palace at Dynasty a number of times for dinner, and loved every visit. The tim sum served here is equally good!


Jo brought these choccy biccies along ... Arnotts from Australia?


Great start to the meal ... FOUR starters!


More starters!

Oh oh ... tsk tsk, not very environmentally friendly!

Suckling piggy! Crispy delish skin... sinful!


The fish was so smooth, and I loved the thick soya sauce ... teriyaki?

X's fave ... Sweet and Sour Pork!

My fave dish every time ... Lamb on the bone :-)

Delicious variant of Xiong Tong Yuen Choy, with lots of ham tan wong (Salted egg yolks).

Longevity noodles, tasted so good!

Always room for good dessert!

What else ... it's Mac!

Bro SK ... Happy Birthday :-) and thanks for a wonderful dinner treat!

Pulau Ketam - Cuti Cuti Malaysia with my Nikon D80

Wikipedia describes Pulau Ketam ... literally translated, means "Crab Island". It is a small island located off the coast of Port Klang, Selangor, Malaysia, and was founded circa 1880.

The island is easily accessible from the Port Klang jetty by ferry. The "floating houses" that come to view as visitors approach the island is a sight to awe any city slickers. Perching casually on long wooden stilts, these dwellings are suspended about one to ten (1-10) metre above sea level. The main thoroughfares are narrow concreted pavements, whilst in the residential areas, the older rickety wooden plank bridges can still be seen. There are no cars in Pulau Ketam, only bicycles, some of which are motorised.

The locals are mainly Teochew and Hoklo (Hokkien) Chinese, with Teochew, Hokkien and Mandarin Chinese the main dialects spoken.


Here is our Cuti Cuti Malaysia trip to Pulau Ketam, 11:30am - 2:45pm. Yes, in just over 3 hours, one can travel by ferry to Pulau Ketam, check out the idyllic lifestyle and take a bunch of photos (Nikon D80 with Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 and Tamron SP 90mm Macro f/2.8), have some seafood lunch, and return on the ferry! Memories ... priceless!