Family Trip ~ Back To Nature

I have just notice the place I mention in my last post is actually spelled Sitiawan, but it is pronounce as Setiawan. The main objective of this this trip is to find nice food and taste them all!! I guess I will start to introduce nice food to you guys as well in this blog with a rating so you guys can go try it yourselves.

Ok before the food, let me show you some of the greens and blues first, there are really a few scenery on the way there for city folks like us who are always in the concrete jungle.

Where can you see these goats and cows beside the road in KL?

Scenery on the way~

Italy got Leaning tower of Pisa, Malaysia got Leaning tower of Teluk Intan!

This is Teluk Batik.

Views from the apartment I've stayed.

Paddy field. Nows its all still green, I heard that if all of it is brown it will be a lot prettier.

Do you know what is this? Its not an incomplete building, its a swallow house where people cultivate swallow for bird's nest.

Ok now the food:

My first drink on the trip - Coffee iced blended. Had this in Sg Besar near the MCA Office. It was just ok nothing special. Rating 5/10.

Had this in Kg Cina:

Steamed fresh clamp - This dish is really nice, the clamps are so fresh that all they need to add is just a little rice wine, the clamps are big and the soup is just nice. Rating 9/10.

Chinese red wine noodle - This is something special that I think they only have it there. The noodle they use are call "mee sua" which are commonly available there. Its not the normal "mee sua" that we can eat it KL, its texture really goes well with the soup. Rating 8/10.

Deep fried fish. Forgot what is the name of the fish already xD I had this before quite a few times in fact, so it's nothing really special. Maybe this restaurant is not good in frying stuffs, somehow I feel this dish is somewhat incomplete. Rating 6/10.

Toddy. See the glass beside the coconut? Thats toddy. Its something like coconut wine aka Bacardi Coconut (name by me xD) which is made of coconut water. You may request for a fresh toddy which has milder taste and a smoother texture or an old one which is more thick and stronger. Some even mix it with Guinness Stout. Personally I prefer the thicker one. Rating 8/10.

What I had for breakfast:

Mee Rebus : I feel this is also just ok... The only difference from the KL mee rebus is they add quite alot of prawn paste in it so it taste more sweet. Rating 5/10.

Nasi Lemak Ikan: This is really something special which is only available there. Instead of peanut and egg, they use fish for thier nasi lemak. Most of the restaurants or stalls have this in the morning. Find packets without a marker on it for fish nasi lemak or find those with a line on it for ikan bilis nasi lemak. Rating 8/10.

Actually there are still a few dish, but before I manage to take a picture of it my family have already dig in xD I also need to especially go buy one packet of the Nasi Lemak Ikan back home to take a picture of it because the one in the restaurant have all entered my family stomach.

Lunch - This stall is near the market which serves loh mee that is different from the one in KL.

ABC - Shaved ice with gula melaka, it was common that you can find it anywhere. Rating 5/10.

Loh Mee - The taste was just only passable, actually it really disappointed me. The soup was not as nice as I expected it to be, but the noodles are really nice to chew. Rating 6/10.

Egg Swallow(蛋燕) - This is what the locals call this bowl of noodle, it may look like an ordinary kuey tiao soup, but the noodle is not kuey tiao, its texture is very springy and nice to chew. Its something like "mien kan(面根)" if anyone have ever eaten that before should know hows the texture is. Rating 7/10.

Late Lunch before going back, its in Sg Besar also the restaurant is call 海群 .

Gong Pia - These pastry is quite famous in Sitiawan, it comes in two flavors which are char siew and onion. Its is quite chewy(too chewy for me like eating chewing gum) and tough, maybe because I got this in the market not from the famous shop because the shop was close for Deepavali. Rating 6/10.

Steamed fresh clamp - Another fresh clamp dish, to me this dish is not as nice as the last one. They have add too much rice wine which has cover the taste of the clamps. Rating 6/10.

Steamed fresh prawns - This dish is very nice!! The prawns are so fresh and sweet, the texture of the meat is so smooth and bouncy. Without adding much seasonings, they manage to bring out the taste by just adding a little soy sauce and eggs to steam. This is one of the dish i recommend. Rating 10/10.

Fried sotong - This dish is also not bad, the oil taste fresh when u start chewing the squid. Not like some restaurant where you can feel that the oil has a little smell. Rating 9/10.

Ok so thats all for now. Will update more about food if I go to any trip in the future. And tomorrow will also be my final day as a tour guide so wish me luck. Final picture of Sitiawan - Picture with the fierce goose that will try to peck me when I get close. cheers~ xD

Japanese tour ~ One step closer to Japan

Last few months I registered for a japanese tour guide vacancy just because I thought it would be an interesting experience. But as the day is getting closer, I felt more and more nervous. One day before the tour, I cant sleep the whole night, stayed up to look for common tour guide phrase and revise my japanese as I haven't touch it for half a year. Thinking about communicating with them really scares me because I have almost forgotten everything that I have learned. Finally the time of death have arrived, when they slowly step down the bus greeting and giving a slight bow. I really had difficulties communicating at first, since I didn't know what topic or what to say. But after the brief self introduction of myself, my handphone rang(I forgotten to put it into silent mode) playing my ringtone Flavor of Life which is sung by Utada Hikaru and to my surprise most of them are Utada Hikaru fans. That ring tone really help to break the ice, all kinds of topic started coming into the conversation(especially about japanese songs) , they became more like friends that my clients xD They were not as scary as I expect it to be, I guess japanese are just friendly and well mannered in their nature. They also keep asking me to bring them to eat the "FAMOUS NASI GORENG" of Malaysia, it seems that our nasi goreng is quite famous in Japan, some of them even wanted to take away some to bring back to Japan xD ok enough of the words.. now pictures..

Strawberry ice blended for lunch and nasi goreng tomyam, but to me its not very nice. The mamaks outside are so much better than this shop, but in the rule book I can't bring them out to eat hawkers food.

The girls of my group and the boys which I help to take care for a little while.

Forgotten about the group pics and intro. From left Yui, Hiroka, Maririn, me, Maki, Yuka, Shiho, Kanako.This picture is in Dataran Merdeka.

Group picture in Petronas Twin Tower, my group and Ry Ling's group. Thanks to Ry Ling to go help me go queue for the twin tower tickets in the morning, which I can't go because I have class in the morning.

How the bridge look like for those who have haven't been up there and the view of KL. Its on the 41 and 42 floor of the twin towers, but visitors are only allow on the 41 floor. Its also cold up there really like in Genting.

Its feel really happy to give something. I guess kindness really do pay off. This lovely couple from Australia was so disappointed when they found out that the tickets have finished for that day as that is their last day in Malaysia. So I offered them the two extra tickets that we have, so this was how this picture was taken.

My souvenirs sticker from the twin tower and the snacks they gave me because I replied saying I love Japanese food xD

This tour really was fun and turns out to be a good one, in addition I have made some friends as a bonus. So overall it was really a great experience for me to get to know more about japan, japanese and their culture. And this also helps me to get one step closer to one of my dream which is to go japan some day.

Will post the remaining photos in Facebook. Oh ya I am also going to setiawan on Deepavali, will blog about it when i come back, and to all my indian friends out there Happy Deepavali..

The start of a busy week ~ Birthday Marathon

WARNING THIS IS GOING TO BE A VERY LONG POST!

October is always the busiest month for me. Birthdays, events, school, work, and etc will just pile up and happen at least every 3 days. For example, I had a birthday marathon last week, which started on friday and ended on sunday.

Day 1: Me and my friends went to KLCC to celebrate Vasan birthday and watch The Perfect Getaway. The movie was a little too short for me, so many scenes have been cut, it was suppose to be a 1 hour 40 minutes show, but it ended up 1 hour 30 minutes. After the movie Vasan went home, so our group end up eating subway for dinner.

What I had for dinner: Turkey ham Parmesan Sandwich, with extra of everything!

didn't snap much because using my phone, forgotten to bring my camera. from left steve, brandon, daniel.

Day 2: Now its my turn for the birthday marathon. I was busy whole afternoon preparing dinner for my friends that are coming over. Started cooking around 6, and finally done at 8.

Family and friends.

The food...

After dinner we when to poppy to celebrate and I met some people there. But too bad Brandon feels sick so he left earlier(maybe because of the food I cooked? xD) And the most interesting part is 'someone' got drunk...

My favorite drink~

Before drinking...

After drinking a few raw shots force by Alex.. Results=Tomato red face

Slowly recovering.. group photo.. from clockwise 9 start brandon, woo, win, oscar, alex, me, yip.

People I've met, they share table with us. If not mistaken the guy's name is Lim.

The results after all of it ended:

second one to go down is Alex.. Brandon was the first but he deleted the photo of him vomiting..

Lim dancing with the bucket of ice. xD

The results of controlled drinking. Me, Yip and Woo got back home happily, while *cough* 'someone' needed us to carry him back.

Day 3: Its Winnie and Justin birthday. So Andy, Kah Hui, and Ken had organized a 3in1 birthday party in Red Box for justin, winnie and me(belated). But at the end, Justin didn't turn up, so Brandon also didn't come, Nikko also not free. So in total only 7 of us turn up which are Andy, KH, Ken, Winnie, Thomas, Marcus, and me.

From left Me, KH, and Andy.

At redbox they have some promotion for free drinks or stuffs. All we need to do is to throw the dice and if the skeleton is facing up then we can get the drinks, but I guess we are all unlucky(birthday also so bad luck, or maybe they have rigged the dice)that day. Out of 9 tries, we didn't even get one =.=!

Group photo(clockwise starting from 7):Andy, Ken, KH, Winnie, me, Marcus.

Happy Birthday!! Thomas brought in a cake..

Lastly, KH Blooper.. gone crazy after everything has ended.. xD

In my next post I am gonna post more pictures about my japanese tour(maybe tomorrow), because this post really too long already..