Archive for the ‘Dining’ Category

Visiting Krabi โ€“ Day 2

August 27, 2010 - 4:20 pm  Print This No Comments




16.08.2010 – It was dawn and there were no sun rays glimmered into our room but I did noticed the rest were still sleeping soundly, I fumbled my phone next to me only get to know that it was already 7AM in the morning. Our tour transfers will be arriving in an hour time. I quickly gushed out of my bed and head towards the shower to perk up after an enfeeble yesterday. Probably I didn't sleep well the night before. Right. The queues were on and we had a short breakfast before heading the bay and out to the sea.

Phi phi island is beautiful and I can say that 9 out of 10 who had been there were blown away with it's intrinsic archipelago and underwater life. The sad thing was most of the reef next to these islands died off, that left a few remnants behind – dead corals, faded colors and into oblivion. I am not a marine ecologist but the snorkeling site that I was in had dull underwater life that corals were spotted dead or lifeless and these will have a huge impact on marine biology which is linked to global warming. What makes me upset was the RUBBISH DUMPED INTO THE SEA. These people had not consent of what environmental concerns are, blemishing not only tourist attractions but to the ecology cycle as well. Fortunately, swarms colorful fish can still be spotted at the open sea but not much within the archipelago. Same goes to Bali if I recalled correctly back in 2008.

At about 8am, we were then transferred to Ao Nang speed boat center where all departures to the open sea were, off the route 4203. It looks like we will be place on entourage in a group of 20+ with a speed boat. Interesting. There seemed to have a few nationalities from the Europe continent and a number of Spanish. There's a Spanish chap whom I recalled to have humor along the ride and made our day. LOLs. The ride too approximately half an hour before we reach our first site, The Viking Cave. cont.

Day Tour cost : 750 Baht

Do enjoy those wonderful subjects captured along my journey. Hope it gives you some inspiration.

Okay, this is our breakfast, nothing new but The famous-O American Breakfast. Fancied with the starry fried egg actually and bottom is ham, with sausage, and omelette. Corn flakes, bread & orange juices were among the common served as well (but not shown above).

Look at those sleepy faces. Couldn't help much with. Shirley, Jeannette & Darren.

Same goes to Soon Hong & Moon

But the fun has just begun. We alighted at the beach 500m away from the river basin.

Looking around, enjoying sceneries.

Captured some plants grew on the trunk

Fishing boat on the move to start their daily activities

A few tourists had some shots with locals before departing.

Okay… let's rock n' roll!

And everyone hopped into the boat.

Our tour guide of the day gave some instructions before we leave.

We dropped by this island (not too sure where and the name of the hotel) but it happened to be a 5 star resort in a private island. The price is about 5,000-10,000 baht per night. We got to meet some local Indian-Thai family with amazing stories told onboard.

some rocky cliffs

From this image, it looks like the tourist were having fun on the water, which in fact not that they were on the sandy shores.

This is the kind of sail that's rare around the vicinity.

Soon Hong with his D90 Gear

This… looks like a camel island LOL!

Ahoy! Set Sail & Away!

This guy is trying to be ego :P

There, we reached The Viking Cave.

We didn't get to explore the Viking Cave since it's governed by local authorities. This had reminded me of the risk of ascending those cranky rock surface to pick birds nest. No safety helmet, webbing, ropes, carabiners – noting but just bamboo sticks. Impressive skills. But one slip on the fall is deadly. Probably these skills were adapted since young. Salute.

We reached Lohsamah Bay, a place where we had our first snorkeling for the day. This is where rubbish spotted and dead corals were present.

Bikini girls were enjoying, obviously.

Too bad, I can't dive into this area with my camera…… longing for a waterproof case that is. We'll not much fish here but there's jelly fish that you should be aware of. A stung can swell your skin and the venom can be fatal especially the pink jellyfish.

Later, we reached Maya Beach, this is where Leonardo Dicarprio filmed 'The Beach'.

Enjoy the rest of the photo @ Maya Beach..

Everyone alight the boat and enjoyed sun basking.

 

And we had a group photo here. Should have brought my gorilla pod along but oh well. Nevermind with that. Hope soon hong don't mind. 

We, then move on to Pileh Bay for sigh seeing – The Lagoon.

This place is beautifully untouched, serene and green.

Also a snorkeling site too but I ain't see any fish swimming around.

The water is turquoise in color and pretty shallow at certain point.

Nice Nice? Feels like coming here again. seriously.

Alright, moving to Phi Phi Don for lunch. The time we walked in, it almost looks like you're walking into a restaurant offering free food. There were no sequence, no queues, no records of any kind – you just walk in and eat. These were pretty standard buffet served, Thai Seafood Soup, plain rice, vegetables, fish fillet, fried chicken, spaghetti, and that's all. However, you are able to order some other foods but you have to pay for that else, eat all you can.

Along Phi Phi Don haven.

This small town are full of souvenirs and sea activities to look for, diving were among the popular ones operated by caucasians.

Later, we head to Hin Klarng for open sea snorkeling. This is where those sheer underwater sea life were spotted. Watch out for my video coming soon. After half an hour later, we head to Bamboo Island (above).

Bikini girls were present again. Oh yeah, feels like I am in Bondi Beach at certain times except for the landscape.

There goes another!

Nice place to hang out but I don't quite like the sand there. There were lots of coral remnants on the beach and doesn't feel comfortable walking along the beach, really.

There goes the last one. At about 4PM+, we head back to Ao Nang beach and took some rest in the hotel before having a stroll down Ao Nang town, and for dinner!

We dropped by Bernie's Place by taking tuk tuk.. It cost about 20 Baht per person from our place. From the above, it's all you can eat buffet @ only 250 Baht. affordable yet perfecto but most of it were fried / bbq which is not really healthy.

Spaghetti not up to expectation but still fine with it. There's the mash potatoes on the right.

Grilled chicken. Surprisingly it tasted tender and juicy but other claimed that it was too hard and dry. Well, lucky me! There's this BBQ potatoes & satay stick @ rear.

Pork chop & Weisswurst (german hotdog). Taste awesome. Just lack of something.. ah.. mushroom sauce.

Fries & toast

My fav. Pasta & Veggies

Thai Tom Yam Kung. The meat used here was fish but not chicken.

Last but not least, Ice-Cream (self-service)
This, I bloated and couldn't really move around.
I almost threw out due to those heavy food consumed but SATISFIED!!!!!

Hope you enjoyed Day 2. Do Stay tune with my video coming your way. Won't disappoint you!





A Korean Week

August 1, 2010 - 11:45 pm  Print This No Comments




Yesterday, I had the chance to meet 2 humble Korean moms who are part housewife part home chef & teacher. They resided in Singapore for quite some times and I was assigned on a field trip with another friend from Mulltiply for food tasting on lunch and dinner. Didn't eat much on the first session though but I do have plenty of it during dinner. Those mouth watering dish were awesome I tell you! Korean dish are definitely healthy and palatable! Haha.

Due to copyright concerns, I cannot publish all featured dish but whalla, I do have some side dishes on the shots. Oh, the morning session had plenty of it and had my full lunch @ Bakezin instead :P

This is my Aglio Olio with ham & bacon! Oh, those chili padi were flaming spicy!

Guess what? It's oily though! Didn't quite like it but olive was used which gave me a relieve.

Dinner time @ a Korean mom's house. She cooked Kimchi Chicken Soup. First time I had this and it's really strange, brings back memories of Tom Yam & Asam culinary. Not too bad!

This is a type preserved leaf that's only available in Korea, not sure what it's named, and behind it was another type of minty preserved leaf followed by squid (non-fermented) haha.

There, the popular Korean Kim-Chi.





Pu Tian Restaurant

July 22, 2010 - 4:07 pm  Print This No Comments




21.07.2010 – A stranger that I knew online for more than a year had visited Singapore for leisure. His name is LG, carried NOKIA & SAMSUNG phone, but didn't see his SONY ERICSSON along, utterly not a fan of APPLE. LOL!

Okay, the meowgite had a short visit to Singapore and his schedule was pretty tight and gotta rush back to Sentosa to catch his last bus back to JB @ 10.30pm so this dinner was meant for him and surprisingly, to my amazement, a lot of netizens from Multiply social network turned out; 19 of us including me, separated into 2 tables.

Woot! What a huge gathering with strangers I say and only knew a few of them in the group before this, the rest are just sheer new faces first time seen on the spot and again, I had problem remembering those names. Forgive my rusty RAM! Definitely need a hot swap! This time we're heading to a Heng Hua Restaurant named Pu Tian (่ކ็”ฐๅ…ดๅŒ–่œ้ฆ†). First try on the dishes and concluded it doesn't pleased my stomach (too much Teochew dishes I supposed!) much but some dish are still acceptable as appetizer.

Ah, didn't really chat much with LG bro but glad 3 Kuchingites were present though which includes Gomus. Whilst, enjoy all photos below.

Click photo to zoom

Stir fried kailan with bean curd skin.
They should blend some enokitake in it.

 

Pu Tian Sweet & Sour Pork with Lychee.
Probably I ate this often and didn't impress me much. lol.

Deep fried duck with yam.
Okay, this yam taste alright but I couldn't gnaw on any duck chunks?

Deep fried chicken with garlic.
Taste like any other chicken. It's kinda unique to chew with the leaf I say.

Steamed prawn with minced garlic.
Tasteless but garlic with prawn is fine for me.

Fruit platter.

Tony 

Albert 

YT 

Gomus 

Phang 

Alger 

Harnes 

Vinci 

LOL! He loves that camera!

Table 2 with the girls. Didn't get a close up shot for each and every of them. Dunno who is who.

Group photo





Visiting Down Under โ€“ Day 3 + Day 4 + Day 5

June 23, 2010 - 11:20 am  Print This No Comments




Previously @ Down Under

25.12.2009 (Day 3), Sydney  - It was Christmas, I took a flight back to Brisbane via Jetblue. The flights were packed and reached within an hour 25 mins. Cab was expensive but luckily I booked the airtrain online (CBD Transferin advance since there's a 10% discount. As I walked out from the arrival hall, I glared on a 17" monitor with 'Joseph Teo' on it and chuckled. haha! Man… it looks like I am the one and only to book ticket online. The reservations were prioritize. lols!

The airtrain I sat on was equivalent to our KLIA's ERL, at least it's less noisier and cleaner than normal train. The moment I alighted at CBD Central Station… MAN! It was so deserted! Not even MacD was in business. Summer Christmas down under is all about family reunions or probably there's something hip @ Sydney that I don't know of, definitely not Brisbane! Lawrence was supposed to join his aunties & uncles till evening but was disturbed by this alien traveler who need a lift – and off we go to D-Hao's home for some Christmas reunion (refer video) dinner. Some new faces to me but glad to know that most of them were from Malaysia. What surprised me was the presence of Sarawak Laksa brought over by Shiela. haha… nom nom nom!!! Been craving that for long! Of course, everyone was enjoying themselves, after that it was time for WII Sessions & poker as well. :) Gawd… I gambled till 4am in the morning… How crazy could this be but it was pretty addictive to play along with those guys. lols. Should I just compile a short video session during poker? oh yes.. check below!

P / S : Click image to zoom

Weather's gloomy on Christmas Day and  taken this @ the bridge, on the way to airtrain.

Inside Aerotrain. It's clean but the seats are not that comfortable. Not too bad!

CBD of Brisbane. This is Anzac Square

Central Station… Aiks… so deserted!

Memorial to men who service NS out of the country, check here.

 

Video Session

Enjoy the video! Click here if you cannot view the above!


26.12.2009 – Boxing Day! Yay!!! It's a whole day of shopping all for us. And this Lawrence got the "bak gua" on his wiper. -.-; I don't understand the parking system in Brisbane! It was so confusing alright.

Queenstreet mall is located at the heart of the city. Surprising crowds here and yeah looks like everyone is on shopping spree. Personally, I had 3 bags with me, some guess jeans, random local brands, some souvenirs and that's it. You hardly had any time for meals since everyone is busy looking for a fit out, you follow suit as well. Ans yeah, the boxing day lasted only within 24 hours. Grab it while stocks last!

The aboriginal and his long pipe! The sound goes…. Bon~~~~~

Some chit chat, some with bags, some counting wallet and that's what people do!

la la la la la la~~~~

Inside one of the mall and saw this huge ferrero rocher christmas tree. I wonder if the choc is real hmmm

There…. Charles Chaplin was shock! haha! The busker was trying some tricks for his audeince. lol

The shopping spree lasted for hours, from noon till evening! Had Hungry Jacks (or what we called Burger King here)  for dinner…

Later, we had a stroll at South Bank Parklands. This is Brisbane Skyline taken there.

One of the footbridge along Brisbane river. Thanks to Lawrence for this shot. Credit to him. I would not have found this image identical without his guidance. :D It looked marvelous. 

Wheel of Brisbane! Playing Aperture here!

Din't get to try on those.. I thought it was the same as any other Ferris Wheel.. Oh well…

Read this… yes! Brisbane is so similar to Kaoh Siung. The moment I was there, it sensed the identicalness. Check it out here. After this, we head to D-Hao's home and continue the Poker saga. XD

27.12.2009 – Ah, Sunday! You know, it's really nice to have breakfast with friends but holiday season it's unlikely to get any shops open, except a few – chinese owned. I was acknowledged that there's a bread shop @ The Coles (Mall) owned by one of the Sibu (Sarawak Province) family. I had forgotten the name of the shop. I didn't believe until I tasted those bread. Oh, it feels like home.. lols. Oh, we dropped by this chinese restaurant for breakfast and let's see what we have…

The dim sum is not above par, unlike Hong Kong's, still edible. That Cheong Fun taste like Singapore's, they put thick soy + mustard sauce on it (with sesame)… EW!!!!! The pork porridge taste norm, same goes to the fried noodle. Nai Cha (milk tea) is tasteless. X_X

1.5 hours of drive down south to Sunshine Beach, Goald Coast! And visiting The Movie World Theme Park. Oh, I get the annual pass from D-Hao so it's free! LOL! The securities didn't bother to make any comparison between ID & the entrants, well be it. :) Check out Movie World here. Oh yeah, we got to try a number of 4G rides, it's fun! WEEEEEEEEE! SFW~ It went vertical and then slopes. That's what thrill is all about! Luckily I didn't get cardiac arrest. haha! Still young at heart heh.

The Sweet Escape! NaBeh! Look at that 90 Degree tracks. "Eh Si ar!!! (die literally :P )" This one!

Wow, if Singapore's MRT can bend! LOL Ahahahahahaha! How I wish there's someone capturing our moment during the ride!

Now here goes! Ascend and Descent!

Eeeee… Rabbit Teeth :P I have also! :P

Now this vehicle is so familiar!!!! Yeshhh!

It's Batman! Never knew I still had the chance to shake hand with "Christian Bale" himself! LOL!

Lalat with 2 DC Comic characters, Green Lantern & Flash Man!

Epic! I like this kinda vintage vehicle (with holes on it) LOL!

Scooby Doo Bee Doo, Where are You! Didn't get to try this spooky coaster – oh well!

This picture looks odd, as if am walking into the painted wall!

Ya… am sitting on the picture.. Everyone does that! hahaha!

Did some posing… thanks to Lawrence for the shot!
Eh… I am not narcist….. Posing was just for fun! :P :P :P

The Wildwest Falls Adventure Ride, which I didn't get to try cuz…. you have to get wet!!

The Famous O-Marilyn Monroe heading towards the crowd! She's lovely! :)

Okay I don't want to do this! But those were my fav. characters behind!

Yeap it's Bugs Bunny! But heck this is kids corner… Yieks!!!!!

Oh… Marilyn Monroe with a flying kiss, heading this way!

I tried this 4G ride (Lethal Weapon)! It's definitely heart Pumpin'!

This ship wreck is a showcase! But uh, we're actually in a factory studio!

Looks peachy!! HAHA!

I wouldn't want to stand next to Mr. Tummus if I were you! Look at stick pointed! LAWL!!!!!!

Some statues from the movie… Here's the 3 accompanied along

It's really huge!!
Yes, this is the ship that you're gonna see in 
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010),
still in the progress of filming…

 

Check this out!

Large dragon head!

Okay the fun was over, let's get the hell out of here and check out the following…

Did a little shopping here @ Harbour Town, a short ride away from Movie World..

After that, we head down Gold Coast!! Weeeeee!

Gold Coast town is relaxing!

Spooky stuff sold here!

Residential tower and hotels around town!

Oh yeah hard rock cafe!

Limosine! First time to see in Brisbane. That's Bentley if am not mistaken!

This is Gold Coast. It was pretty windy an sandy mate! I don't the feel there as you get sticky easily…. Eww! Cuz I didn't brought along my swimming trunks and extra cloths. Yeah again, it's windy!

Sandy shores!

The gangs were craving for Japanese food and we ran into the wrong restaurant, glaring at those scrumptious expensive menus. We decided to leave but it's kinda embarrassed that you sat down and leave within a short period of time. But whalla, luck's at out side, and we found another reasonable Japanese restaurants below….

Steamed Gyoza~ Not Bad.. just like the chinese Wo-Tie made!

Agedashi Tofu! Mmmmm Delicious!

Unagi!~~ just like any other!

Okay I have no idea what's this called, there's some chicken and shredded onions.

Tempura Rice!

Soba with Tempura! Not too bad! Cold noodle is interesting as always.

There you go with 3 fun & exciting days down under. Stay tune for more @ Day 6 and 7 (Epilogue)
Hope you enjoyed! :) :) :)









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