J&J ReST and ReLAX

Hatyai 3 days 2 nights trip

2010-02-17T14:37:00.018+08:00

Let’s start with a little bit of historical moments:

Hat Yai (Thai: หาดใหญ่; also Haad Yai / Had Yai) is a city in southern Thailand near the boundary to Malaysia. With a population of 157,359 (2008) in the core city and about 800,000 in the Greater Hat Yai. Hat Yai is the biggest city of Songkhla Province and the largest metropolitan area in Southern Thailand, and is thus often mistaken as being the capital of the province. However Songkhla is the capital and the center of administration and culture while Hat Yai is the business center. The two cities are considered as twin cities due to the close connection, accordingly, Hat Yai and Songkhla form the Greater Hatyai-Songkhla Metropolitan Area.

(Quoted from Wikipedia)

On the very first day of year 2010, we, a gang of 4 people, left Penang at around 5.30am in the morning, heading to Hat Yai. We are leaving in a van packed of people. Ha~ It is a bit too early for me, so most of the time in the van, I was asleep as a baby.

When I was awaken, we are not far away from Malaysia-Thailand border, we made a stop at Chang Lung where we can take some breakfast, change money or buy souvenir at the duty free shop. We noticed that the goods sold in the duty free shop are more expensive than the malls in Penang, example, biscuits and chocolate (May be these items are not really ‘duty-free’). However, if you are looking for cigarette or liquor, they are cheaper; I would say 15-20% cheaper?

Entering custom is always a chaos. First, our van driver dropped us at the Malaysia custom whereby we queued at the custom counter next to the road. After stamping the passports, we were boarded into the van and it droved through the custom checkpoint again, leaving Malaysia border. So as to make our journey ‘smoother’, we need to follow a predefined and informal rules. Reader as smart as you, will get what I meant here, right?

Drove a few kilometers down, we stopped at the Thailand custom counters. Thank God, we have chosen the right time to start our journey, thus we were way in front of a few tourist buses, or else I don’t know we would be stuck in long queue for how many hours. There you go, after those stamping, stamping and checking, we finally entered into Thai kingdom. About 45 minutes drive, we were then entering the heart of Hat Yai.

To fulfill our hungry stomach, the van driver suggested us a place where we can taste the different type of Chinese Dim Sum. Curios of how they taste like, we all jumped into the van and headed to the destination. Honestly, I still prefer Malaysia’s dim sum as the dim sum here tasted so-so only. And the size of each dim sum is much smaller. See the picture below. However, we tried the Thai ‘pork leg’, that was nice.

Next, the driver uncle brought us to the famous local bird nest + shark fin restaurant. This is the first time in my life that I can find so many pieces of ‘big’ shark in the soup (As you know, the normal shark fin which is served in the wedding dinner, is those of very tiny slices), but here, you can find pieces and pieces of shark fin (not in string form). The bird nest soup tasted good too, sweet and tasty.

In the afternoon, we took ‘tuk tuk’ to start our local tour. Our targeted places include the Reclining Buddha temple, market shopping and floating market. Here, you need to practice your bargaining skill to get a good price from the tuk-tuk driver. We got it at 600 baht for 3 places.

If you asked me, of all these 3 places, which one appears more interesting to me, I would suggest you to go to the floating market. I was told that this floating market is new attraction which was introduced recently. Unlike floating market in Bangkok, visitors are not allowed to ride on the ‘sampan’ and tour on the river, visiting different ‘stalls’ reside next to the river. Here, the ‘mobile stalls’ on the sampan, park at the river side, selling all variety of local food and beverages. The food and drinks are well presented, for example, you can pick a drink and opt to have it in a cute mug made from ‘tanah liat’ (however, the mug is not for take away) or you can choose to have it in a bamboo container (you may take this away). Some of the food are sold in a bowl made of coconut shell. To me, it is quite a brilliant idea, we can recycle it and it is totally environmental friendly!

Not only you can find various kind of stalls on the river, please make sure that you don’t miss the stalls that were set up next to the river. Pictures say it all……

On the second day, we decided to take a tour outside of Hat Yai city- to the other province, Songkhla. We were lucky; we managed to bargain a good price to take us to Samila beach, the Songkhla Aquarium, Tang Kuan temple and Khoyor island at the price of 600 Baht. And the interesting part is, we were not riding on those normal tuk-tuk (van like), but this is a private car. Our guess is probably the driver is just doing part time during peak hours. Of course, it makes our journey much more comfortable.

The Samila beach is famous of its Mermaid statue at the sea side. From the beach, you can see a few islands not far away, to some people saying, the islands look like a mice or a cat, depending on from which angle you view them. It is up to your while imagination!

The Songkhla aquarium is not much different than the one in Pulau Langkawi. It was New Year season and X-Mas was just a week ago, the Aquarium has a special performance where there was a fish feeding performance. The performer was dressed in a red suit and white beard like a Santa Claus. Imagine, a Santa Claus is feeding the Sting Ray, Leopard Shark, Turtle? How hilarious!

Leaving the Aquarium, we were heading to Tang Kuan Temple. It is a temple located on top of the hill. Visitors need to take a lift from the root of the hill and the whole lift ride takes about 10-15 minutes time to reach hill top. Too bad, by the time we reached hill top, the weather was not in good mood and of course, it rained shortly after we reached the temple :(

Next, the tuk-tuk driver brought us to a place where there is nice seafood and the price is reasonable too—Khoyor Island. The island is located at the other side of the city. We need to take a ferry to the island. The special thing about the ferry is the ferry is not the same as what we have in Malaysia. The ferry does not have a roof or borders. It does not look like a ship or ferry at all. It is basically an open ended ‘tarred road’ and it is moving on the sea! See below:

Yummy! Do you feel hungry too, seeing the pictures?

The reclining Buddha at Burma lane

2010-01-10T22:32:00.003+08:00

After having filled up our tummy happily, we continued to the adjacent lane to see the 'sleeping Buddha.'

Here is the entrance:

Here is the view of the sleeping Buddha:

Here is a row of upright Buddha at the side of the wat.

Towards the back, lies 12 statues of Buddha which is the horoscope of everyone.

The mee sotong of lorong Bangkok

2010-01-10T21:13:00.007+08:00

We woke up this morning to a lazy Sunday and wondered where to go for brunch....
then Janice suggested, let's go mee sotong and so we go...

....to the infamous mee sotong at lorong Bangkok.

The mee is served hot.

Then I saw a new batch of mee just being cooked.

The uncle called up to us...hey! Come up for a closer look!

So we went up close to him...
He started by frying the eggs....

...then pouring the mee into the pan....

....after that, the mee is stirred together...

...and some sotong is added.

A closer look reveals the seduction of a steaming hot plate of mee waiting to be eaten. :)

The mee after it is being cooked!

Penang Heritage Trail- Part 1

2009-07-13T14:15:00.018+08:00

Hi hi, J&J is back after a long, long break. Blame on me that I was too lazy to write a blog but now I have successfully kick the lazy bugs out of my mind.

As a Penangite, honestly, I have never visited all local heritages. If you ask a friend who comes from other states in Malaysia, he/she might have visited those places more than I do. Perhaps it suites a Chinese saying, the moon is rounder at the other end. The closer it is to you, you tend to ignore it the most even though you may pass the same places, see the same scenes, breath the same air everyday.

So, one of this morning, we have decided to do something which we have never done before. That is, take some time- our own sweet time, slowly, to explore and know the other aspects of Penang.

Our first destination: St. George Church-– South East Asia oldest Anglican Church

Second destination- a place where I have not stepped into for 20++ years, where you can see the old tramps, trains where they served the old Penang

Look at this old Penang pictures where our ancestors was brought up. I bet they can never imagined how Penang is shaped into the view that we see nowadays...

Coincidently there was a "Pameran Mata Wang" exhibition during our visits. All kinds of ancient coints- crocodile, dragon, elephant, tortouise etc. Isnt't it interesting? Those mata wang and wang Pokok Pisang that we used to hear during our history class.

Next, we went to The Marian Shrine of the Assumption Church. Tips: a little bit of its background at http://www.asiaexplorers.com/malaysia/assumption_cathedral_penang.htm

Enough of pictures this time? To be continue on part 2...

Neighbouring country: Singapore

2009-01-23T21:12:00.016+08:00

I've always wanted to go to Singapore to experience the X-mas atmosphere. I've long heard about how happening it is at Orchard road during the X-mas's eve, how clean the environment where you will get fine even if you 'sneeze' & pollute, how kiasu the people are and so on so forth.

Here come the day where Johnny told me that he was going to plan out a surprise trip for me. No matter how I asked or peeked, he refused to let me know. I know he just did not want to spoil the surprise. Well, I shall see what happened then ^^

So, the trip remained secretive until the day we departed. We departed here from Penang to KL at 3pm, then took the transit from KL to Singapore. The flight got delayed because there was a heavy downpour at Singapore. Herm... I felt sweat rolling down from my forehead. Gosh, I've waiting for so long, please, please don't spoil my X-mas's eve...

Luckily, the sky turned clear. Thank God!

Immediately after we reached Changi airport, we straight away rushed to our hotel as it was getting close to 8pm. We certainly did not want to lose the fun of counting down in Orchard.

The sea of crowd.. The roads were decorated with beautiful light bulbs and ribbon-like lambs.

There were many comic-style and tree-alike Christmas trees and cupcakes. Don't you think it looks like the world of fairy tales?

The excitement made us temporarily forgot that we still haven't taken our dinner yet, until we see these...

Never think twice, let's have some. We were hungry! Here is the picture of the "Old Chang Kee". I think this is quite famous in Singapore as we've seen a few of other franchisees in the next few days in different places.

Here I am in Singapore :)

Many people waiting at the road sides, holding the white snow spray, counting down to the moment.

I will never miss Sentosa now that I was given the chance to visit Singapore. Haih, just wish that I have more time there to cover all that I could.

More pictures...

Of course, we won't miss to visit the Underwater World and dance with the sharks and dugong.

The next day, we just wandering around the town area, just to check out what surprises we could discover along the way.

Walking on Tree Top

2008-12-05T21:02:00.043+08:00

Have you ever dream to swing between trees like Tarzan? Ever wonder what is the feeling of walking, jumping or shaking on a suspension tree? Personally, I have never heard of Tree Top Walk in Sungai Sedim until our visitor, Yii Peng from San Jose suggested to pay it a visit. Forgive me for being this 'ignorant' like a frog undercovered by a coconut shell (you will know what I meant here if you've learned a famous proverb in Malay about the story of a 'katak' and a 'tempurung).

That day, we headed to Sungai Sedim in Kulim after a heartful dim sum breakfast in Chai Leng Park. You can imagine how heartful we were from the pictures below?

Let's skip the boring part about the journey to Sungai Sedim (in fact, I'm not sure how I got there, hehe (I think I just get some memory lost symptom). By the time we reached there, it is almost 11a.m. in the morning and we were expecting a tree top walk right under the big, bright and shinny sun.

Not far from the entrance, there seated a fish pond with many, many fishes. We are amused by the sign board "Dilarang Memancing". I wonder who will take a fishing rod and spending his day next to the pond though.

Here we were, the gang of tree top walkers. We looked energetic before the walk.

Shall we start?

Johnny was jumping on the suspension bridge to test its reliability (luckily we came back in one piece).

Hooh~ Take a break and it's photo time.

This is how it is like, looking down from the bridge:

Ladies, smile~ yes :D

What this tree is called? :p

I'm not sure if these leaves undergo their 'youth time' where they have so many 'pimples' on their surfaces :)

There is another one who perhaps has its fruit grow at the wrong position-- at the tree trunk.

Ants are trying to build their own suspension bridge too. Never put your fingers to interrupt them.

The whole walk is around 1km long. Not that tough for you, right?

Honestly, I was a bit dissappointed when I saw the bridge. I was expecting something more 'convetional', like a suspension bridge built by wood and ropes?

If you love water rafting or kayak-ing, may be you should try that here. Chances are there. The river is quite rough, as long as you visit at the right time where there is rainy season.

Here comes the challenge. Rocks are unavoidable if you raft.

For those who does not know how to swim, I would advise you not to try rafting. See.

Johnny was trying to do mining. Let's see what he got.

What do you get? Nothing? Yet, smile as if he gets a diamond. Sweat!

Now, I will show you the activities and facilities we saw there. There are 2 types of camps available, one is the typical camp for outdoor activity.

The other type of camp is a small hut made of wood. Herm.. looks like a 'jamban' to me ;p

Here comes the rafting equipments.

The safety suites hanging in the air, like hanging salted fishes...

The whole journey took us a few hours. By the time we left the place, it is already 3.30pm in the afternoon. We decided to go to Lunas to taste the all time famous- Duck rice. If you are hungry, you may skip the following parts.

The famous duckie...

Chicken tasted like chicken in anywhere else..

Eggs and Tau Gua...

The sour "Chai Bui"...

Highly recommended- must try- Chili sauce. I think this is their 'secret weapon'.

Stay tune to the upcoming event...To be continued.

Tree Top Walk Reference: www.treetopwalk.com.my

Field report: Teluk Kumbar seafood

2008-11-30T10:51:00.007+08:00

In the outskirt of Penang, there lies a very special village that will hold the greatest memories in my mum's heart. The place is none other than Teluk Kumbar, the place where she was born and raised up.

Anyway, just to skip the nostalgic part and the reminiscent of this fishing village, let me introduce you to the seafood village located just opposite the chinese school.

You'll have to drive in to the beach to eat.

The location is about 15 minutes from the Penang Airport if it doesn't jam.

We went there on a rainy Monday night.

Most of the dishes here are fantastic but one of the must-order dishes will be the fried squid.

The crab cooked in toamto or chili taste excellent too.

The fried kuey teow is also very tasty.

This will be the dishes we ordered although not in totality. Didn't managed to capture the fish and Nestum prawns. Sorry! Busy eating by then. Rainy day, you know lah!

Anyway, after the meal, notice the grin on my left...

...and on my right!

My sincerest appreciation to Edy, Chandra, Andie and Janice for forcing me to make my way here to enjoy the seafood.

Oh ya! Take note on the satay too. A must order although it costs 70 cents per stick.

Field report: Penang Road Chendol

2008-11-30T10:39:00.003+08:00

Let me ask you a question...

...what's green, slimy, swims in murky liquid but is tasteless yet cooling and sweet?

The answer is Penang chendol!

Show me a Penangnite who doesn't know about this chendol and I'll show you an illegal immigrant.

Boy, I love this show me sh*t.

Anyway, back to the topic, here goes the picture:

You can either choose to sit in a designated shop or stand to enjoy your ice beverage.
Note the award winning background:

This shop is also found in the Rasa Rasa Penang food guide:

Thank you Penang for your neverending wonderful unique food.

Just a special mention, there's also a rojak stall outside.

It consists of mixed fruit with tofu and cuttlefish blended with a special kind of sauce.

Try it today!

Field's report: Dynasy Tang

2008-11-30T10:17:00.004+08:00

Hi again everyone!

After a brief absence due to busy working life, the JJ team is back.

This time we will try our best to update the blog weekly to appease our fans

and to avoid backlog.

Back in September, we went to a very sweet place called the Dynasty Tang.

This place is a thong sui shop located near the Argyll Road (New World Park).

Attached is some of the goodies on the menu:

There's also a food menu. I've tried the Wan Than Mee before. Trust me, it's good!

There's also a drink menu for those who wants to just quench their thirst:

Thong sui is served under 5 minutes:

Yummy! After eating it, you will be....

...grinning with delight!

Our sincerest appreciation to one of the finest thong sui shop in Penang.

Prices are very affordable.

Field Report: Make a guess

2008-11-24T21:20:00.013+08:00

It was an important day fo the year. Someone would have been very dissappointed if the day just passed without anyone noticed it. Having this said, I planned to bring him to a place where none of us ever been there before.

Guess where? Hint: The flag

Looking out from the windows of the lower ground

The wooden windows and the floor give a country side feeling

The dim yellow light hanging on the wall soften the atmosphere. I'm sure it is definitely feel better to be here when night time falls

This is the lower ground restaurant where we chose. Looks good?

Does it ring a bell as where it is? No? read on.

Wooden roof with dim yellow light and soft music

Daisy flower on top of each table is the perfect match to the settings of the room

Here comes the salad of the set lunch which Johnny ordered. Cucumber and tomato cubes top with cheese and mint leaves

Crispy bread which serves with the set lunch too

Here comes my meal. Grilled fish never taste so good to me ^^

A set lunch with pork, chicken, mashed potato and Broccoli

Herm... This dessert is best. Imagine, for people who do not like pumpkin dessert nor dishes like us, just can't stop fighting each other to get the last bite (It tasted like pudding with pumpkin and chocolate sauce)

A cup of black coffee at the end of the meal sparks up your tongue buds, if you like black coffee

To reach here, we didn't need to take flight nor cruise. You don't need to spend thousands to feel the Bulgaria's atmosphere or taste the Bulgaria's specialties. All you need to do is to take 30 minutes drive to Vintage Bulgaria Restaurant in Tanjung Bungah. The food is delicious and the environment is relaxing. You should expect the price to fall within fine dining range. Try once in a blue moon, pampering yourselves, it is just fine.

Field Report: 32 Mansion

2008-11-21T22:06:00.017+08:00

Being one of the famous restaurant in Penang, 32 Mansion is famous for its delicios food and more over its fabulous interior designs. I had a team dinner last week in this restaurant (shame to say that living in Penang for so many years yet this was my first time visiting this place).

Thanks to my boss, Frank who visited us from San Jose. If it was not his visit, I guess I will be just spending another night at home, after a day of tiring works.

From the outside, the British-like building is painted in Orange color and when the night falls and the lights are on, wow.. it is indeed a breath-taking scene. Wait, this is not the end of it, not until you enter into the building.

There are a few main partitions with different theme designs. I'll show you how they look like.

This is the main lobby. The way it is shaped is the mixture of old British and the modern one.

I like this cystal lights. It reminds me of the "Beauty and the Beast" story (erm.. don't ask me why).

Let me bring you into another partition. Does it look like a formal meeting room? For sure, if all company meetings are held in this unique environment, I guess it will boost up employees efficiency and brain-storming sessions. Ha~

Herm... take a few steps walk, here we are in another partition, where they are a few hanging Tang Lung with a little light bulbs inside, turning the atmosphere into a very relaxing and romantic place.

There are also the pictures of several famous artists (once upon the time) hanging on the wall.

Nonetheless, the menu of the day is displayed on a blackboard for you to make the toughest choice of the day-- erm..what to order? Spagetti? Lamb? Steak or Salmon?

I ordered a Salmon set dinner. A set dinner comes with an appetizer, a mini bread, soup, a main course and a dessert. This is the salad appetizer...

And the pumpkin.... (Opps, this picture is a bit 'artistic')

Yeah~ This is my main course...Salmon! The taste is fantastic. It was so fresh that you will wonder if it was caught from the sea behind the building? (Erm.. better not...)

Here comes the dessert time! Tiramisu~ There are a variety of cakes which you can choose, be it Blueberry cheese cake, chocolate almond, strawberry cheese etc etc. For coffee lover, you can choose to have one too.

Last but not least, let's take a photo as memories. Smile~ Whiskey!

Field report: Mr.Pot

2008-10-21T20:26:00.006+08:00

Hi fellow friends and bloggers,
I guess this place is very familiar to all Penangnites.
With us, we have our pretty blogger, Janice stading just outside Mr.Pot.
Guess what? We are going in there!

It looks a bit gloomy on this Saturday morning due to the cloudy weather.
Good for a nostalgic mood or simply to reflect on why the heck am I eating breakfast at 8a.m. on a Saturday morning. Oh ya, because I need to attend an investment talk.

With the lamp turned on, the interior looks much better!

With a wall mounted LCD TV, I guess this is a good place to catch your EPL.

We started off with this strange bubbly liquid which tasted like plum, with tomato and kiam kiam. Ordered by Janice, she's penalized as that's a yucks for me!

Johnny took a penalty! Did he scores?

Yes! Cucumber blended with honey drink came to save the day! It's sweet and cooling.

Team Johnny's first goal brought to you by: Cucumber blended with honey!

Our kiasu lass simply have to mix both cocktail. Damn, musn't lose to her so I tried defending....

...but to no avail. Team Janice scored equalizer with super mixed red and green cocktail.

Johnny - 1 , Janice - 1

Blogged even with dinner served. Err... I mean breakfast. Oopsie!

Leaving the toast bread combo feeling lonely was a no no for our Janice, so...

...she started warming them up with some soya sauce. Smiling gleefully as she sprinkled the pepper, I couldn't help noticing the cucumber slice stuck between her teeth courtesy of the cocktail. Sweat!

After our friendly neighbourhood toast bread did a 16 points jump into the half-boiled eggs (no longer a perfect 10 diving competition thanks to the recent olmypics committee), it was devoured mercilessly by....JANZILLA!!!

Half time score: Johnny - 1 , Janice - 2

Well, in the meantime, my nasi lemak arrived with some curry spread over the cucumber. Mum mum mia! It tasto like tho riso with chikono and anchovio and finisho witho eggo and papadamo.

Simply, delicio!

Equalizing nasi lemak: Johnny - 2, Janice -2

Kiasuism sets in again as Janice's order of grilled chicken chop fried rice smoothered with honey came in to give the away team an extra lead over the equalizer. Damn!
Full time: Johnny - 2, Janice - 3

We'll like to extend our thanks to Mr.Pot for our wonderful breakfast although it costs slightly over RM35.

Friend's referral: Beng Kim's favourite food stall

2008-10-06T21:50:00.005+08:00

Hi again fruitful bloggers and faithful readers!
This just came in from one of our faithful readers.

The porridge you saw is located at near the Perak Road fire station.
Looks yummy isn't it? Well, try out and let us know!

This is the all famous Chulia Street curry mee. You just gotta try it yourself as we hadn't try it yet. Feel free to leave your comments once you are done!

Meanwhile, this is Padang Brown's lor bak! Non-halal!

This lor mee can only be found in the morning at Kimberly Street.

This one is taken near the Bukit Kayu Hitam and it cost only RM30 for four people. Nyam nyam!

This are several home cooked food but our fellow reader forgot where it is. Sigh! Looks like those dishes we eat at wedding right? Make us can't wait to go wedding again huh?

Thanks so much for the recommendation, Beng Khim. If you guys have any queries regarding these great food stall, kindly forward your questions to simon_bklok@hotmail.com . Thanks!

Field report: The new Taiwanese restaurant @ Gurney Plaza

2008-10-05T21:51:00.011+08:00

Several Saturday's ago which I can't remember when (I think it's 1th October 2008), we went to Gurney Plaza with Janice's cousin. Janice was dying to try the new Taiwanese food, which, I've of course, tried a few weeks earlier. We went to the basement of Gurney plaza and were pleasantly and thankfully happy that her cousin had queued up for 20 minutes to get us a table.

The entrance look so welcoming!

Here's the set of herbal chicken with spagetti which I ordered...Affordable at RM14.90 per set.

Note the yummy mango pudding. Too bad the portion is so small!

This is the chicken chop set which Janice ordered. We find it nothing special. Honestly, Kocha Taiwanese food fared better here.

For the first time in my life, I get to try the duck's tongue shown on the left side and wash it down with chen chu lai cha.

Here's a zoom in look of my herbal chicken. I wanted to order the other type of soya sauce chicken but too bad they are not available anymore :( Anyway, this dish turned out quite good!

The chen chu lai cha is thicker. I ordered the milk tea (teh tarik lah)

All in all, this is a value place to eat if you ended up in Gurney wondering what's for dinner. It's slightly cheaper than Kocha Taiwanese food but apart from the mango pudding and drink, we think that this restaurant is just average. No offense to anyone though!

Field report: Hawker's store @ Macallum street

2008-10-05T21:34:00.007+08:00

Penang, as we know, is a haven for great hawkers food.

We went to Macallum on a Sunday night and Janice ordered bak kut teh while I ordered Hokkien Mee. There are quite a variety of hawkers here.

The food is cheap and good!

If you don't trust me, look at that smiling face below. :P

Bah kut teh @ RM6.80 only complete with eu char kueh, a pot of meatballs, mushrooms, bak kut, herbal soup and vegetables and a warm bowl of steamed rice!

Alternatively, try the hokkien mee @ RM2.20. Very rarely, we can find such competitive price with great taste and lots of prawns. You just have to try it!

Field report: New Town Kopitiam

2008-10-05T21:10:00.009+08:00

I'll like to open your mind to something wonderful yet hidden.

Open your mind, coz, this is unimaginable.

Right about 5km into Jalan Siram off Jalan Raja Uda, there's a cafe called New Town Kopitiam.

Yes! You heard that right, New Town, not Old Town. The design is about the same but is definitely absolutely fantastic.

I've found this fantastic place by accident when I went auditing around this area and was searching for place to eat.

There's even Wifi if you want to hangout and surf the net.

For Old Town lovers, hold your horses, I definitely recommend you try and compare this place out for yourself. It's just absolutely wonderful.
The man tou is so fresh and crispy.
WARNING: Order it once and you'll be hooked for life!

For pasta lover, try the spaghetti. Utmost satisfaction guaranteed!

If you guys need direction there, just shoot me an e-mail at johnny_chng@hotmail.com.

The price is half fight with Old Town but once you tasted the food, the competition is almost over. You'll fall head over heel with this marvellous place. Au revoir!

Field report: Mum's Kitchen

2008-10-05T20:43:00.011+08:00

On the September 20th, 2008 on a beautiful Saturday, we decided to pay our good buddy, Top Lim a visit. He’s currently having a family business at the Alila block near TAR College.

The restaurant is called Mum’s Kitchen.

This is how it looks like:

The waitress is pretty too:

We ordered a few dishes like the Thai Tonyam with boneless chicken stuff with meat. We also ordered mixed vege as mum reminded us to eat our greeneries.

To quench our thirst, we ordered Thab Tim Grob (a must eat in all Thai restaurants)

The pumpkin pie was complimentary (Thanks, Top!)

The setting is definitely very romantic and suitable for those who wants peace.

All in all, the tomyam is definitely sour and fragrant enough for our savouring stomach. Give it a try today. The price is also reasonable and the taukeh is definitely a handsome man (hint! hint!)

J & J in Taiping and Ipoh

2008-09-09T16:45:00.008+08:00

Light from heaven

It was on a lazy Sunday morning, 24th August 2008 2.31p.m. to be exact. Janice raised me a question, “Shall we go on a holiday this Merdeka?” With an excited ‘Yes!’ I utter, “Where shall we go?” What a natural question to ask, deserving an Oscar award for that… thank my mother and grandmother stuff.

We shortlisted several places; some within Malaysia and some that could put Neil Armstrong to shame. “Tahiti! Phuket! Singapore! Timbuktu!” “Timbuktu?” Sweat! Okay, back to the future…errr… I mean topic. As I reached for the handphone in my pocket, I noticed that I’ve a few coins. Hold your pony! Or is it hold your horses? Nevermind. I don’t mean to go destination with a toss of a coin because if it landed on the Bank Negara side (old 50 cents coin, you unpatriotic scum!), I don’t wanna go there.

What I mean to say is that I’m dead broke. I’ve only about RM2XX.YY left in my bank book (forgive my way of putting figures, note to self: don’t apply accounting stuff in blog). Anyhow, keeping a long blog short, we decided to challenge Destinasi Bajet™. If he can do it with RM300, we can do it less than that. Penang lang boleh!

So that’s how we came to conclusion of our Taiping trip. We decided to utilise the Merdeka weekend due to the perfect timing but too bad perfect weather doesn’t come as a package. Sigh! On the 30th August, we started our journey from the Penang ferry terminal at 9a.m and stopped at the famous Raja Uda Curry Mee stall for breakfast. I bet we could have eaten an elephant despite of it being listed as endangered. Anyhow, after feeling our stomach, we continued our journey through the North-South expressway. We decided to exit through Kamunting so that Janice can learn more geography.

We reached Taiping at 11.00a.m. A familiar sight greeted us. The Taiping Jail! Tada! Please clap for us. Please? (Small clap heard) Thanks! We decided to push our luck as it is clear my amnesia is affecting my memory of this beautiful, pleasant, magnificent, fantastic, marvellous……….(please fill in the blanks in less than 20 words) place. We decided to take a left turn and lo and behold, the Taiping museum burst into it’s glory. Errr… this seems more like a description of renaissance.

Oklah. Let me spare you of my gibbrarish typing as you are using your lunch break to read my blog. Thanks for the support first. We went into Taiping Museum but part of the section was closed for repair. We took several snapshots of the train and planes. Feeling the heat, we decided to enter the museum. The section opened to public was the bones and preserved animals. The skeleton of the elephant head is naturally the biggest of them all.

After the Taiping museum, we moved on to find our ‘hotel’. It was nearly lunch time. We seek assistance from the townspeople of Taiping and found out to our delight, they are helpful. I wish those Hong Kong people can see this. Disclaimer: This is not what I say but basically an opinion from a victim that experienced such a situation. God bless her. The Samaritan guided us to the hotel which was about 500 metres from where we were. Whew, talk about a place easy to find. Our ‘hotel’ is actually something like YMCA, providing us with a basic shelter from the sun, the wind, the rain, the moon, the noise, the pollution…you know what I mean. You’ll never guess in a million years how much it costed us? Guess? RM25 per night only. Show me a place in Penang where you will get this type of rate and I’ll show you a durian tree. We checked in after walking 6 flights of steps and panting like a poodle.

After a refreshing bath, our first destination was Ipoh considering the fact that the attraction like Night Safari only opens at dusk. We adjourned to the highway at 1.30p.m. Let me ask you a question; do we learn how to read a map in Geography? Fumbling through the map like a man fumbling through his newspaper when he’s taking a dump, yours truly try to ascertain the direction just like Indiana Jones trying to decipher the relics in the Kingdom of Skull, only that it is just a piece of 50cm x 50cm of clearly printed and labelled map. Lolz! .

We reached Ipoh after half an hour of geography lessons. Oh ya, just a bonus note to my dear reader. The toll has been shifted about 100 metres to the front and the old one is not being used anymore. If you’ll like to enter Ipoh from the north, do turn immediately after the toll booth. We missed the north toll and entered through the south toll into a massive traffic jam. Throngs of cars lined up to bring their masters to spend their hard earned money at the Jusco. We, of course, were stuck for quite sometime and I continued my lessons with Janice on how to read the map and method of referring to the legend. I bet Ms.Wong will be darn proud of me.

On the way

We went straight to Ipoh Parade. Although it had been couple of years since I’ve came here, my photographic memory immediately started to upload to my 2MB of cache for near future uses. Arriving at our intended destination without a sweat, (actually, I was sweating a lot due to the hot weather) we searched for a car park and the spiral brought us up 7 levels just like Gurney plaza. No offense but we found out that the people of Ipoh have a very funny way of parking their cars. They tend to park head in first, then reverse, then park again, then reverse (repeat this sentence for seven times and you’ll get what I mean). Anyhow, we managed to find a parking spot at the rooftop.

We went to fill up our growling tummy at the food court. We ordered the Yeong tau hu that is packaged together with chee chiong fun and also some ‘thong sui’ namely the Ai yu bing and the sea coconut dessert. Sampling the local delicacy, however, was a bitter disappointment. My grandma can cook better dishes than that. The time left us with not much choice but to gobble up and make a move. We decide to bowl first conforming to my typical habit; to bowl and watch a movie wherever I go. I managed a 128! Yeah! What a game! Janice did quite well too. Hint! Hint!

After some tactical planning and opportunity cost calculation, we decided to adjourn with a movie as the time is about 5p.m. and we’ll hit the road by 7p.m. Janice selected the sequel to Money No Enough. I’m not going to review this movie here though. Check out our movie session for more details. After the movie ended, we went for a walk around the complex and found that it is a haven for ladies’ shoes and sandals. Janice bought one and she’s happy till today. If you don’t believe me, go ask her.

After fulfilling her fantasy in the mall of a thousand women shoes, we headed straight for Ngah choy kai. The time was about 8.15p.m. then. It wasn’t very hard to find the place from Ipoh Parade. Just head left when you see Syuen hotel in the opposite direction of the mall. If you are lost, just ask around. We ordered a plate of ‘white chicken’ for two. As we were eating, a lottery ticket seller came around and attempted to sell us the tickets in an aggressive manner. Although we refused and shook our head like we’ve just taken Ecstasy, he shoved the tickets straight into my chest considering mine matches that of Michael Phelps. “How lude!” (try pronouncing it like Jar Jar Binks in the Phantom Menace) I’ve made an important discovery but not amounting to Nobel prize, of course. Ordering chicken during night time in Ipoh can be fun.

We went to buy some Ipoh titbits after that. After that, we wanted to go to the night market but it started raining. With a heavy heart and a heavier stomach, we decided to call it a night and return to our cozy room. The journey took longer than expected as it is harder to spot locations at night. Somehow, we managed to reach our room at 10.30p.m. What a marvellous day! Zzz!!!!!

“Rise and shine!” That was the first sentence uttered at Janice on the 31st August, 2008 before a disgruntled figure rose up and replied “Urrgghhhh!” Not wanting to waste the day away, we freshen ourselves and by 7a.m, we were on our way to a garden quite near Lake Garden. We strolled up towards the top of the hill and waiting for us at the end of the road is the mansion of the pegawai daerah Taiping.

We continued to the multi racial cemetery which was quite interesting as they have a section for Indian fighters, one for the Muslim counterpart and the majority of the Christian. Next, we proceeded to the base of Bukit Larut and snap some photos. A couple was kind enough to lend us a hand with the camera. We had our breakfast there. Two plates of nasi lemak and drinks cost us RM8.20.Quite a decent price, I’ll say. After that, we drove to Lake Garden and parked our car at a nearby parking lot.

The first thing that caught our attention was a monkon. (monkey + baboon=monkon, tiger + lion = tigon) It has the physical of a monkey yet the @$$ is red and bald like a baboon. They must be multi racial too, I think. Anyway, we took some photos of the surrounding. The lake bicycle was tempting but due to the heat, we decided to forego it this time.

Leaving lake garden, we went to the outskirt of the town and discovered by accident that there are lots of luxury houses in Taiping. We ‘voyeured’ the place and took some photographs. Due to the privacy of the residents involved, we have decided not to publish the photos here. Photos are available only by special request and please prepare RM5 per pic. After the ‘Taman Jesselton’ of Taiping, we went to a unique church beside Masjid Hanafi Taiping. The architecture uniqueness can only be described by this picture.

Entering the city again, we took a snap shot of an old resthouse converted to hotel in Taiping. We also took several pictures of the landmark in Taiping like the St.George school opposite Kelab Rekreasi Cina for your viewing pleasure. After that, we headed to a historical spot known as stesen keretapi Taiping. This is the place where the Ghee Hin clan and Hai San clan transport their tin ore to Kuala Sepetang.

We went back to our room to check out and then passed by Avena Pastry café on our way to lunch at the nearby market. Janice ordered a plate of Char Koay Teow (RM2.50), and I ate tonyam maggi (RM3) with big prawns doing the backstroke on my soup. She had Ang Tau kar whilst I satisfied my sensory urges with a bowl of ice-kacang. The food here is cheap but definitely no match for Penang food.

Selamat Jalan

We head on to Ipoh again and passed through the selamat jalan sign. Bye bye Taiping! See you again soon with my loyal blog readers. Back to the topic, we went straight to the Sam Poh Tong cave. I felt my car door being opened after I’ve barely turned off my engines after parking. An elderly woman attempted to sell us ‘peng aun chai’ to feed the terrapins. She was also very aggressive, refusing to barge until we buy the kangkung from her for RM1. A pond greeted us as we entered the area. We took some snapshots of the place. The stalactite formation was cool! I wished my home have this decoration. Entering the chamber of the caves, there was a cool gust of wind from the other side.

Upon exiting the place, we found a hidden forbidden temple. Tada! Heh heh, sounds like another Indiana Jones plot leh! There was also a very beautiful fountain and a turtle sanctuary. We took more snapshots and bid our farewell to the crawling citizens. Before we left the place, we bought some sugarcane juice. As we gulped it down, the coolness laced our throat with an unheavenly sweetness. Ahhhh, sugarcane had never tasted so good!

We proceeded to Nan Tian Tong. As Janice was in a high mood, she made me climb the stairs that I haven’t the faintest idea where it will lead too. It was already 4.30p.m. and was about to be closed to visitor but she insisted, cracking her kangkung stick, daring me to look back. Heaving my 86.7kg of hydrogenated fat, we began to make our way up. As more and more flights of steps became visible, our spirits weakened and knees trembled. We walked for about 150 steps before deciding to step down, not as a prime minister but rather, to descent.

Satisfied with our achievement towards the cause of this trip, we went to a row of pomelo shops. There are many pretty girls standing in front to greet us towards their shop. Reminds me of the betel nut girl in Taiwan. Janice insisted on the shop with the most decent looking girl. Too bad!We bought 3 pomelo and walked some distance towards a nearby shop selling Ipoh’s specialty biscuit.

Too bad, no pomelo girl in the picture

Finally, we hit the accelerator and went straight back to Penang and reach at 7.30p.m. What an interesting journey kept to a minimum budget.

参观观后感：
太平是一个宁静的小镇。天气有点古怪，时而晴朗，时而下雨，细细的雨丝飘散在空中，感觉雨点轻抚着脸庞，空气还挺凉爽的呢！即使空中顶了个大太阳，不要感到奇怪，在同一个时空里，你会感觉到脸上的湿润和渐渐沾湿了的衣裳。雨神的降临非能是凡人所能预料？

这里的人很热情，对我们这外地人也毫不吝惜他们的援手。在我们“不小心”迷路，找不到去旅店的路时，碰巧的我们遇到了刚好停泊在路旁的一家人。我们的救星-一位和蔼可亲的老太太熟知太平的每个小地方，不辞劳苦的领着她的儿子驾着车子带领我们到达了意见不很显眼的会馆/旅馆。多亏有她，不然我们可要在城内多兜几个圈了！此行让我们体会到太平是个人情味浓厚的地方！

嗯，这几天内，我们拜访了好几个值得一提的地方，而其中一个就是Bukit Larut。对我来说，这地方是新奇的（我从没来过这里），对他来说，算是跨别几年后重回旧地。我们沿着小小的柏油路，慢慢的走向山的斜坡。远处就已看见山顶白雾弥漫，像层薄纱轻披在绿油油的山顶上。路途中不乏人潮，但却不见人声吵杂，反之人人都很有默契的闭上嘴巴，细细的品尝片刻的宁静。

我们的下一个目的地就是太平闻名的“太平湖”了。它有如其名，太平又宁静。我摇下了车窗，让早晨的阳光洒进车内，让冷风吹醒还有点糊涂的脑袋。一路上，坐在车里的我，眼看着出来晨运的年少老幼漫步在湖边，两旁的风景不停的随着车速向后倒退，就像有人在操控着遥控器倒带。湖旁的老树低垂着枝桠碰触着湖面，把湖泊点缀成一幅很中式的风景画。阳光透过厚厚的绿叶洒在身上，整个人顿时精神了起来。湖边漂浮着三三两两的浮萍，与绿色的湖水相映成趣。湖水犹如一面明镜，反映着天空的倒影。天空一片浮云，水中一朵云彩，犹如双生姐妹。。。

有别于太平，怡保是个很热闹的城市。因为时间紧凑，我们没能拜访很多地方，只是去了趟Ipoh Parade,洗清洁保龄球场里的水沟和看了一场让我止不住眼泪的电影（钱不够用2，强力推荐！）。难得来到怡保，我们当然没有错过怡保芽菜鸡啦！晚餐时分的“安记”，人潮很多，吃人的嘴软，我们只好勉强挨着空肚子，尽管五脏腑已大唱“空城计”！等了好一阵子，美食终于送上来了，yummy~

来到了怡保，绝少不了去参观闻名的三宝洞。我对它其实只剩下残留的印象，我最后一次到那里应该是中学旅行吧？旧地重回的惊喜是，洞外有天，在洞的另一个出口坐落了一间犹如“紫荆城”的庙宇，红色的瓦片，白色的墙壁，庙外种了一棵棵绿色的小树，让“紫荆城”看起来很是堂皇，四周围绕着绿油油的山脉或山洞的岩石。。。

离开了三宝洞等，拐个弯，我们就到了一整排的土产店，出乎我们预料的是他们的商业阵容！何解？那前排的店屋几乎每一间都用同一种手法-美人计也！每一间店前都会有一、两个十七、八岁，身穿短裙、小背心、靴子的小女生摆着美美的post猛招客人。一旦有车子停下，她们就会一窝蜂的涌向前，七嘴八舌的推销着本店代表作-柚子、香饼等土产。那种架势让我联想到台湾的“美女政策”，让我叹为观止！