OLD CHARM

Batu Kawa is just a mere 30 minutes drive from Kuching but it still retains its early day’s charm. It used to be only accessible using small boats through the Sarawak River but time has changed it now. After years of isolation, a bridge is built across the river and thus makes it easier for people to commute into the city and forth. Even though time has changed, one thing still remains the same are the old charm of the town it self.

old charm

travel back into time

There are only two main rows of shop and most of it is the wooden shop houses you find in the olden days. A walk through the small town brings back old memories and it feels like you being brought back into time. People there are very laid back and smile to each other when passing by. It’s like the whole town knew each other like a big family. People wake up very early there too which I found out the hard way. Apparently, there is a stall selling very good meat balls noodle. People go there as early as 6.30 am just to have a bowl of the noodle and it finishes by 10.30 am. Since the noodles are so good, I have to drag myself and a few victims up early than usual just to see what the fuss is all about. When we reach there at around 8.00 am, the place was already packed to the max.

busy cooking

The proprietor was busy cooking the noodles and the workers were seen busy serving the hungry guests bowls of noodles. It’s not your typical “kolo mee” that you get in town.

yummy bowl of noodle

a must have morning drinks

Instead, it’s a bowl of noodle garnished with fish balls, meat balls, roasted pork, steam pork, pork rolls and other meat stuff. That’s why they call it “bak ong mee” (meat king noodle). The noodle is springy and the meat garnishing is just perfect to go with the noodles. Just be there early next time if you wanna taste of it.

AQUARIA

Living ocean in the middle of the city. That’s what Aquaria KLCC is all about. It serves as a tourist attraction and also a learning centre for all masses. You get to see all sorts of marine lives and also some animals from the forest and swamp nearby the sea. It takes you through a meaningful and knowledgeable journey from the Malaysian rain forest into the deep sea of the Malaysian waters. You are bound to find fascinating discoveries like the GIANT Arapaima, the deadly but beautiful Lion fish and also the majestic looking stingray.

journey through the world

the atmosphere in Aquaria

little sea turtle

creepy crawlies reptiles and insects

flooded rainforest and the deep sea

the ocean tunnel

There are petting zoos for some of the marine exhibits. The admission is RM 28 for Malaysian adults and RM 22 for children. As for tourist, it cost RM 38 for adults and RM 26 for children. Senior citizen only cost RM 18 which is a real bargain. The place is opened from 11am until 8pm with the last admission at 7pm every day. Next time when you feel like cooling down in the ocean without getting wet, hop into Aquaria KLCC. Beware of SHARKS!

DRAGON-i

One of my favorite Chinese restaurant in Kuala Lumpur is Dragon-i. They got branches in 1-Utama, The Curve, Mid Valley, Sunway Pyramid, Cheras Leisure Mall, Centrepoint and opening soon at the new Pavilion Kuala Lumpur. They genre of Chinese specialty is authentic Shanghainese fare. All their chefs are hand picked from all over China in order to give their customers an exquisite taste of China. They won the Malaysian Tatler's best restaurant 2006.

Each individual outlet has its own identity and layout. The one that I went to is located at The Curve since it’s the nearest to my place.

The open kitchen is located just in front next to the main entrance. Passerby can feast their eye on the chefs’ work of art at their open kitchen before succumbs to the urge of going in to the restaurant. The interior is a mixture of the old and new Chinese deco with red string like curtain as wall divider for more intimate diners and two terracotta warriors guarding the place.

The menu is very pleasing to the eye and makes you want to order everything that’s in it.


Even before the main dish was served, we were already gorging down the stew peanuts that they served as appetizer.


Their specialty, Shanghainese steamed pau (xiao lung pau). You have to be careful with these little fellows as they are piping hot! Just make a little hole on top of the pau and suck the soup out slowly and enjoy the rest of it. It is so good that all the tables have at least one tray of these little pau on their table.


Next stop, deep fried prawn with sesame seed. Minced prawn on top of soft pastry and sprinkle with sesame seed before deep fried. It’s like eating deep fried prawn fingers ala Chinese style.


If stop by a Chinese restaurant, one should try their sweet and sour pork. Dragon-i version is given a new twist by a dash or strawberries and kiwis fruits other than the usual pineapple and tomatoes. It tasted sweet and fruity which makes it a very nice companion for a bowl of hot steamy rice.


After all the meat, we finally have our vegetables to balance out for a wholesome meal. French bean fried with minced pork and mushroom was the order of the day. Crunchy French bean goes well with the lightly salted minced pork and mushroom. After all the hearty delicious dishes, a cool glass of ice lemon tea is what it takes to complete a very satisfying meal. Burp!! Pardon me!

KEY HIONG

Whenever I go to Kuala Lumpur, I have to have my share of ‘dim sum’ or else it won’t be complete. My friends brought me to this ‘dim sum’ shop at Taman Megah, PJ called Key Hiong. It’s just opposite a market in the commercial area of Taman Megah.

Key Hiong at Taman Megah, PJ

You can easily recognize it by the large crowd sitting out side the premise and also the early morning human gathering outside waiting for their turn to have their morning ‘yam cha’. It doesn’t look impressive as it is just a normal looking coffee shop except it’s filled up with people each day. You have to be brave enough to compete with other hungry mouth to grab a table. They have so many varieties of ‘dim sum’ that you just can’t have it all with one visit.

pick what you like from the tray

We managed to try most of it as we were a bunch of very hungry souls. They will serve you piping hot ‘dim sum’ by carrying them in a large tray and walking around from table to table. You just pick what you like and they will serve it to you all freshly made from the kitchen.

where all 'dim sum' were born

The whole scenario is just like those you see on Hong Kong movie. “cha siew pau! cha siew pau!” “ha kau! ha kau!” “lo mai kai! lo mai kai!” Anyone?

from this little to....

...this much

RESOLUTION

We are into the 1st half of the 1st month of the brand new year. I bet that a lot of us had either broken or even haven’t started their New Year resolution yet. Why do we make the resolution in the first place? I guess it’s to remind us of the things that we wanted to do and yet didn’t do it every time. It’s also a reminder for us to work harder just like a little word of encouragement. What ever it is, it seems that we can’t keep our New Year resolution every time. So when my friends asked me what’s my New Year resolution is, my answer is very simple: my New Year resolution is not to have any resolution. Why have a resolution and you can’t keep it?

CHRISTMAS JOLLY

Christmas spirit is everywhere you turn in Kuala Lumpur this year. Our neighboring city Singapore is more elaborate in this matter for the past few years, but things are catching up here as people and businesses here started to realize the commercial and entertainment value of putting up grand and elaborate Christmas decoration. There are sweet Christmases and there are blue Christmases. Whatever theme it is, we certainly can look forward to a more festive and joyous year to come.

KIM GARY

The first thing I do when I reach my friend’s place in Kuala Lumpur is to fill up my stomach. My tummy was having a protest against me because I haven’t feed him since lunch. After putting down my entire luggage and freshen up, we all hop into his baby beamer and head towards the nearest place to eat which is The Curve. There are just too many eating outlets there spreading all over its two courtyards. You can choose from American fare till Thai food, fine dining or fast food, the list just goes on. We finally settled down with some fast food after walking up and down the food sanctuary.

busy and perky

Kim Gary have branches spread all around Kuala Lumpur. What they serve are typical food you can find in a Hong Kong style “cha chang teng” which translate to tea restaurant in plain English. It’s seems pretty well accepted by the local young crowds as it’s a place to have proper food and a chat. The ambience is very busy and perky with the way they decorated the place with lots of color and well placed lighting. The chairs and tables are placed closed to each other as what you can find in a typical Hong Kong coffee shop. I think they do that to maximize the space usage of the premise. The glass wall surrounding the place is decorated with plants and dried leaves reminiscence of a garden if you looking from outside.

SPM exam in progress

You order the food by ticking on the appropriate box on the piece of form that they give you. It’s like taking an SPM exam all over again. Hmmm…. What is the answer??? A, B or D??? They have pictures of the food to guide you through the process of selecting your food so you can wipe off the sweat on your forehead. Phew!!!

dumplings, baked cheese rice and pork chop rice

We ordered their famous baked pork rice with cheese, fried pork chop vegetable rice, roasted honey spare ribs rice and minced pork and vegetable dumplings in hot plate. As for drinks, we had mango and coconut milk, lychee with aloe vera and ice red bean. The mango and coconut milk is very creamy and rich, excellent for those who love milk shake while the lychee with aloe vera is refreshing enough to cool down the heat. Their version of ice red bean is similar to our local version of ice kacang except that they use only red bean and milk.

the three stooges: mango coconut, lychee aloe vera and ice red bean

The food finally arrived and we tuck into it like we haven’t had any food for weeks. My baked pork rice with cheese is very fragrant from the melted cheese on top of the pan fried pork chop. A dish that you either hate it or love it because one can only have so much cheese and after that, you be put off by it. It’s fine to me since I love cheese a lot. The rest of the food….. well… I don’t really know since my friends are having it. They told me it’s very typical of Hong Kong style food if you get what I meant. So, if you want simple food that is fast, head down to Kim Gary next time near your place. If not for the food, you can go there for people looking. I bet you can find a lot of youngster trying to look like their favourite Hong Kong celebrities.

LCCT

After half an hour delay and a changed of gate from one end to the other end of the airport, we finally arrived at the Low Cost Carrier Terminal at Kuala Lumpur around 8.30 p.m. It was a pleasant flight if not for the crying baby on board of the plane. I really don’t know why the parent didn’t even bother to calm the baby down and keep on going sleeping. To make matter worse, they are just 1 row in front of me. Luckily for me, my ear was rescued from the noise pollution by my trusty Sony Ericsson 850Wi Walkman Handphone. We had to walk through the wet tarmac to the terminal since it just rained awhile ago. The terminal is just located at the back of Kuala Lumpur International Airport next to the cargo terminal. It might sounds near but in fact it was much further than KLIA since you have to drive all the way round KLIA to reach the LCCT.

LCCT

The LCCT looks like a warehouse from inside and out. Keeping to the bare essential, it does come with all the necessary stuff an airport should have except for the luxuries and glamour that other airport had. It was wide and airy just like a warehouse, with high ceiling and bright lights. Just nice for those who wanted a non hassle traveling. Even though the airport is now currently monopolized by Air Asia only, it was filled with travelers going in and out of the terminal. I guess people nowadays want a hassle free travel and not forgetting cheap also.

basic outlets at LCCT

We bought our taxi coupon from the counter to Damansara Perdana and it cost RM70.00 for one way trip. Reasonable considering it took almost an hour to reach there. Luckily our taxi driver was very friendly and makes the drive there less tiring and boring. Thumbs up for those good taxi driver at the airport!

KUCHING INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Kuching International Airport was at its peak when I was there to catch my flight to Kuala Lumpur. The whole building came to life with buzz of activities going around here and there. It was not the usual calm and serene scene that the place had on normal days. It was a new bright airport by the way. Even though it was called an international airport, it lacks the arrival and departure of international flights. I wonder why the government didn’t take any action towards this situation. Anyway, back to my trip. The queue for check in counter was unusually long even though Air Asia had open up so many counters. To make matter worse, a middle aged lady and her family keep the queue behind her waiting for her to check in her luggage and retrieve it back when she changed her mind after they had basically sent her stuff half way through the conveyor belt. Really can’t understand why she did that after seeing the long queue behind her. After all the hassle, we managed to check in and happily on our way exploring the new airport. It was bright and nice compared to the old one.

spacious and bright

ocean in the middle of the airport

It even has more shops for travelers to browse through while waiting for their flights. There’s even a KFC and Coffee Bean there to my amazement. I even saw two rainbows while waiting for my flight. I think it’s a blessing for my trip. Hehehe!

somewhere over the rainbow.....

my plane... well, not mine actually, just hitching a ride

there's goes my luggage

HAPPY 2007!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you out there. Just came back from my long retreat even though I don’t feel a bit refresh or rejuvenated. I think it’s because I’ve been occupied all my time while I was on my holiday. Didn’t have a chance to really kick back and relax since there’s too many things to do. Shopping, movies, eating, “Yum Cha” with friends etc etc. That’s what you do when you visit your old friends and familiar places. Really had a good time and really open up my mind because there’s too much new stuff and experiences. I took a great deal of photos along my journey and will post it up once I got it ready and sorted out. For now, I just want to wish you all:

FANTASTIC JANUARY
LOVABLE FEBRUARY
MARVELOUS MARCH
LUCKIEST APRIL
ENJOYABLE MAY
SUCCESFUL JUNE
WONDERFUL JULY
INDEPENDENT AUGUST
MEMORABLE SEPTEMBER
TASTIEST OCTOBER
BEAUTIFUL NOVEMBER
HAPPIEST DECEMBER

HAVE A VICTORIOUS 2007 YEAR!