1simpleplan

Penang Bridge International Marathon 2011 - My 1st Full Marathon

2012-01-26T11:49:00.002+08:00

Last year is the busiest year of my life and I accomplished many things. One of the most remarkable thing I've done is to complete a Full Marathon run and till to-day, I'm still resting trying to recover my body after almost 2 months from the event. However, I never regretted the experience as I know, finally I'm in the top 1% of the 7 billions world population to have ever complete a full marathon within qualifying time! Yes, I completed the 42km run within the 7 hours qualifying time, so grateful. It's not all glory, read on for the details and how I struggle to complete the astonishing distance.

This is me with my trusted gear taken before leaving the hotel to embark the important milestone in my life. A00781, that's tag that I've been aiming to wear since I started running back 2 years ago. Finally. I'm in my most healthy body ever since college and unfortunately my body weight didn't drop but instead I replaced those fats with muscles as I felt stronger and stronger everyday I train.

As my little baby is with us during this run, my wife cannot fetch me over to the event and give me support, so she stay in the hotel with our baby. Therefore I didn't bring a camera and only snap some photos with my iPhone. Bear with me on the bad quality of the photos, enjoy =)

The Penang Bridge International Marathon 2011 as my choice for my 1st full marathon event for some reason. First of all, most of the ground in this marathon is flat (the entire penang bridge), which will allow me to concentrate my run with good pace and breathing. Secondly, this marathon is held in the midnight, where I can avoid the hot weather in Malaysia, which will definitely exhaust me. I've done 21km in 2010, and target to complete the 42km now.

As I'm alone, so first thing I need to do is to store my luggage, which mainly consist of towel, dry shirt, dry socks, some cream for muscle and pain killer. I reach there early and luckily the line is empty. It's not fun when I'm back though.

The event is held just right beside the Queensbay Mall.

A strong presence of Digi Yellow People in the event, and they got special area with performance not accessible by public, what is that? Show off? I don't understand.

Life saver for runner, thousand of bottles of 100plus, wondering if international runner know what is this, hehe. My favourite!

As the time is ticking, more and more runners gathered around the starting line, stretching themselves and have their photograph taken. Good to have friends that's running, I'm with a friend of mine, but he is late and I didn't manage to meet him till in the middle of the run. All lonely, sob sob.

Some performance and clearing the finishing line for runners, that's where I would want to see again after 42km!

Ok, that's all for the photos and now back to the run. I'm feeling all good before it start and nervous at the same time. It's my first attempt for long distance run, and seriously I'm not sure if I've prepared enough for the 42km run. Months of training, and finally the day has come. Right after the start, I'm feeling all energetic and 42km runners are fast! It's not anything like 10km or 21km runners where there is a mixture of fast and slow runners, but all runners in 42km is in good pace / speed. Therefore I didn't feel much blockage from other runners much and I'm still overtaking some of them. Within just few kms into the run, I'm already trailing behind the 4-hours group. And their speed is comfortable for me, at least in the first few kms. I'm doing around 6mins per km that time. I know that I'm running too fast from my pace.

My plan earlier to run slow and keep my pace has changed and I thought if I can follow the 4-hours group into 15km / 21km, then I'm all set to complete the full marathon within my target of 6 hours as I know I cannot run non-stop for the entire 42km. Bad things do happen and just within 6km into the run, I got a severe diarrhea. I remember my breakfast that I stupidly chosen to order a set of chesse burger from the hotel menu and it's not clean! (I knew about it later because my wife also suffer severe diarrhea!) The pain is so severe and I can't hold it. There are no toilets around as we are running on the highway and portable toilet is no where to be seen. I'm thinking of giving up the run but I've trained so hard! You can guess what I do, and I "settled" it. By the time I continue running, I've lost the 4-hours runner and I think I've fallen behind by quite a big margin. I kept to my pace with faster runners started to overtake me. It's no fun after the incident and it hit my confidence hard. I kept to a slower pace of 7mins per km after that. Lucky that I don't feel diarrhea anymore.

Penang Bridge is so distant away and after feel like hours of running, finally I'm at the junction of the Penang Bridge entrance. I look at my timing, and I've done 9km in 1 hour. It's crazy that I need to run like what I did for another 5 hours and again my confidence level dropped. My body is still able to run but I feel disappointed as it does not turn out as my plan. My body started to feel the fatigue in 15km and every km is seem so distant away. The half way route towards Seberang Prai is worsen by the chemical smell from the factory across and it's really not helping. By the time I reached 18km, my body is already in severe fatigue mode and I've only just reached the end of Penang Bridge. I still have 24km to go. My timing is 2 hours and 10 minutes. That's worse than my normal timing of 21km run and my feet can't take the punishment anymore. I started walking. For the entire 4-5km walk back to the peak of the Penang Bridge, the idea of giving up flash through my mind hundreds time.

As I kept thinking of sitting down and wait for ambulance to pick me up, I just choose to continue walking struggling to give up possibly purely for ego because I know that my body is not capable of finishing the run. For no reason, I'm still walking. As more and more people is overtaking me, I try to start running again to follow their pace, but I can't even do slow pace. I'm then doing 10mins per km, dragging down to 11mins per km sometimes. I drink too much water and I feel the weight but yet I'm feeling thirsty, hoping for more water stations. My muscle cramped multiple times along the penang bridge and I rely on by borrowing muscle cream from other runners. Another mistake that I've done, didn't bring any muscle pain relief cream. Luckily other runners are helpful.

The weather is excellent and luckily there is no rain. If it does rain, I think I would have given up. I remember reading the internet to continue push your self by targetting the next lamp post, bullshit. It doesn't work for me and it's making the matter worse as I can't even run over a few lamp post. My struggle continue to push through until I reach 28km exiting the Penang Bridge with timing just 10 minutes short of 4 hours. I still have 14km to go and my target timing crushed. Somehow after the penang bridge, my confidence is back and since I'm already near the 30km mark, I swear to complete the run no matter what! However, my body is not able to comply. The muscle recovered a little after some rest but the feet started to feel the punishment of 30km. Imagine you walked the shopping mall until your feet pain and you still need to walk for few more hours. It's almost that only more pain and worse. The pain is into the bones. With my new target, I push my body with pain on the feet to do 9mins per km.

After few kms, even if my breathing and muscles allow, the pain in the feet will still stop me from running and from there, I struggle between walk and run doing pace of above 12mins per km, hoping to complete the run within the qualifying time. No matter what I do, I'm still slower than a quick walker that only walk to complete the run, somehow he will overtake me whenever I rest / walk. Eventually I lost him as well from my suffer of pain. We are suppose to reach the end of the road at 34km mark and turn back to the finishing line but it's taking forever to see that turning point. It's only a mere 4-5km but feels like forever. We started running in 2am and 7 hours target is 9am. The sun started to shine as I struggle on the road and it helped to boost my speed a little as I'm worried that I couldn't even finish the run within qualifying time.

After a long struggle, finally I'm at the turn-around point marked 34km! The pain is so severe but I'm still smiling as my iPhone show 5 hours. It means that I got another 2 hours to complete the remaining 8km. I collapse on every water stations and the ice pack on my muscle is the only that I'm looking forward to. Lack of cold drinks as it's approaching the end of the event is killing me. My stomach is fill with water but I need something cold. Now I understand why people splash water onto the head, it feels damn good, only for 2 seconds though. By 38km, my iPhone battery is dead and the timing is 6 hours. I started to panic and the idea of giving up is not an option anymore.

I find all the strength I can to push forward but still the pain in the feet bone is still killing me. I endure the pain and run whenever I can as I know I'm short of time to qualify for the 7 hours. There are elder women around giving me encouragement to finish it and one by one they overtake me until I lost sight of them. It's a real encouragement as that if they can do it, it's a must that I complete it as well! No matter what I do, I still cannot follow their slow pace. Reaching the final 2km is a real killing. Thousands of fun run people is blocking the entire road and my eyes started to lose focus. I ocassionally nearly crash into them and the heat from the morning sun is not helping either. As I take the final corner into the last stretch of the finishing line, I nearly cry. The pain is forgotten and as I run towards the finishing line, the adrenalin and emotion takes over. I'm so grateful that my persistent manage to bring me to achieve this lifetime target.

Determination and persistant is what help me to complete the run, as I'm seriously not trained and prepared for a full marathon run. I walked almost half of the marathon but still glad that I able to complete it. I didn't check my completion time as I collapse after that. What's worse is that the organiser is almost packed up and the massage center is closed down. I drag myself towards the massage tent, take off my shoes and lie on floor full of dirts and sands for almost an hour. I'm in severe pain, fatigue and thirst at the same time. My body is burning and I can't even stand up. It's until they are planning to closed down the tent only I'm forced to push myself up to the luggage tent to collect my belongings. I felt like vomitting walking below the morning sun and the walk to the hotel bus waiting area that's 200m away seems so distant! With bus arrived, I recovered a little but forced to stand as it's fully packed. Upon reaching hotel, then I'm truely relief. That's when I started to appreciate the victory of conquering the full marathon. My wife is still suffering diarrhea and I slept for the entire day. Pity her to fall sick but still take care of our baby but my body just couldn't do anything to help.

This is the Run Keeper apps that I used to track my run till 38.66km before battery depleted.
And my result? Here it goes.

Online certificate from PBIM, and I'm ranked 874th out of 1190 full marathon runners.

21km Checkpoint: 2 hrs 47 mins 00.47 secs
33km Checkpoint: 5 hrs 00 mins 51.06 secs

My first 42.195km result : 6 hrs 51 mins 10.81 secs
Just 9 mins short from the 7 hours qualifying time and I can gladly say that I'm a Full Marathon Finisher =)

From what I learned of this full marathon, I summarised it here hope can help others and remind myself for future event.

1. Trained your body to run / walk minimum 30km in single shot to qualify for full marathon. Running full distance is not about strength, but you need to condition your body to able to take the long distance punishment. Strength is only helpful to achieve better timing, not completing it.

2. Bring lubricants and muscle pain relief cream, and don't hesitate to borrow others.

3. Don't over drink water in the starting of the run, it will burden your body. Just sip enough to keep yourself fresh and hdyrated. Half cup is normally good enough.

4. Eat healthy food a day before the run and eat light and easy to digest food before the run. Food like energy bar, banana and bread is good. Never eat heavy food in days of Marathon.

5. Invest in good running gear and bring necessary to keep you focus.

6. Don't give up no matter what your body / mind think. You are more capable than you think of, continue to push yourself out of your comfort zone. Determination is what helped me to complete the run.

7. For overweight runner, invest in a good pair of shoe and knee guard. Take continuous supplement for your joints 3 months before and after the run. Don't stop eating supplements and vitamins.

8. Take care of your body after the run, your antibody dropped signigicantly after the exhaustive run and keep to your diet. I fall sick for multiple times over the last 2 months, which it barely happen even once in a year when I'm healthy.

Thank you =)

Fiat Coupe 20VT+

2012-01-08T23:18:00.000+08:00

I've changed my ride again, and this time is less than 3 years since my ownership of Alfa Romeo. It's not that the Alfa Romeo is not performing up to my expectaction, it's a fantastic car and I totally agree with Jeremy Clarkson that you are not a true petrolhead until you've owned an Alfa Romeo. However, life needs to move on, so with my eager thirst for more power, I took the plunge to jump into the power of turbo despite warning from my family and friends.

My next choice of upgrade, the Fiat Coupe 20VT+. My choice of car seems to be always circle around the brand that's not liked by Malaysian, but there is a good reason for it. My old ride Alfa Romeo 147 2.0 Selespeed Twinspark is churning out 150bhp and 181Nm and I need something better than it. For a mere mortal like me with a limited budget, going turbo seems to be the only way. Further with continuous poison from the Italia Auto Club that I frequented, it's easy to be converted to love the big brother of Alfa Romeo brand, the Fiat.

Fiat Coupe is introduced in 1993 and Fiat decided to stop the production for this car in 2000. It's a hit when the car is launched way back in 1993 with its distinctive body design by Chris Bangle and interior design by Pininfarina design house. The design is so futuristic that even till today, it still stands tall by the side of million dollar machine without feeling out of place. If you look hard enough, the new BMW designed by Chris Bangle still resemble some of the signature curve design from the Fiat Coupe. It's from the same father afterall.

My Fiat Coupe is the 20VT+ version meaning the heart of the car is a 1,998cc Inline 5-cylinder Turbo engine churning out an incredible 220bhp @ 5750rpm and peak torque of 310Nm @ 2500rpm. Due to the 5-cylinder design of the engine, there are 20 valves (4 valves on each cylinder), which explained the name given to the model. With the set-up, the Fiat Coupe 20VT+ is capable of reaching the 100km/h mark in 6.5seconds and has a top speed of 250km/h. The figure might not be so impressive but imagine this car is produced more than 10 years ago. A quick comparison to favourite of all people, the Golf GTI do 6.9seconds, of course only if I can shick as quick as the racer =) The turbo boost to 1.2bar in peak and tapered down to 0.5bar in higher rpm to protect the engine. Still got lots of potential to explore =P

In it's glory time, it's one of the fastest front wheel drive car in the world, and Michael Schumacher is rumoured to be the 1st owner of the Fiat Coupe 20VT Limited Edition. One of the highlight and feature of this car is the special Viscodrive Limited Slip Differential for the front wheel to solve the understeer issue with powerful FWD car, and it's very effective even till today. The Fiat Coupe is highly addictive for someone like me who has never tasted the power of turbo and when the kick start in 3,000rpm, it's really damn fun! Throw it into a corner and pedal to floor when exiting, you will feel the strong pull with its Viscodrive working hard. Fun of turbo, nothing come close to the adrenaline rush as the turbo gauge needle swing.

The turboed engine is coupled to a 6 speed manual gearbox (yes, real man drive stick, hehe) and the sixth speed is merely for better fuel consumption in high speed cruising as 250km/h is achieved in fifth gear anyway. The clutch is surprisingly soft enough for daily drive and that's the main point why I dare to buy a manual box in the middle of KL. Yes, I'm very desperate. For this kind of power, Fiat Coupe comes complete equipped with Brembo brake sets with 4 pot caliper and 2 pot caliper for front and rear respectively. The braking power is good but more is always welcome. For a car this heavy, engine braking is a must to stop effectively.

On handling wise, this stock Fiat Coupe rolls like a boat. It's really bad, I meant the comment might not be fair as I'm comparing it to my Alfa Romeo, which the suspension is also upgraded. Fiat Coupe is not built to attack corner and looking at the shape also will know that's it's designed for hard acceleration and high speed run only. However, nothing cannot solved by modification, and with help from the IA forum, I've already know what to do with it for big improvements in handling department. The ride is comfortable for current time, better than my Alfa Romeo but I suppose that will soon change.

My Fiat Coupe is 20VT+ version which is the highest specification (I love highest specification cars, hehe) and it come complete with Recaro leather seat, sun roof, push start button (yes, Fiat do have this in 1993!!) and a complete set of bodykit. Those kits given in 1993 can still put those modern Japanese cars to shame. All italian cars put japanese to shame, and now korean join the wagon to shoo the japanese.

20VT+ badge that's only available for 20VT+ model. This is how you identify one.

Overall View

For people to actually own a 2-door coupe, it takes a very deep commitment as it's not a practical choice, further it emits a negative thoughts to surrounding family and friends that you are not a practical and a selfish person. Deep in everyone's heart, there is a desire, which is to be able to break the rules and enjoy life. If you are willing to confront your deepest desire, then you should really consider a Coupe. People will judge you but also will also envy you that you are living your dream while they can only see you from far away.

Fiat Coupe being in the same league of above, will be the same. It's not a daily A to B drive anymore, but commitment in yourself to enjoy your life and embrace the changes. It's not a comfortable car, and it's a manual shift stick, which most people don't like nowadays. I dynoed a stock coupe and it give out a good 202 hp on wheels, and glad that finally I become a man. (remember a quote somewhere saying a real man must drive a car that's 200hp and above) The power is just nice and once you are in this range, it's a different game altogether. There are no more street running as not many people can come near, leaving only choice to play with car clubs / track.

Power for turbo car is unlimited and you will fall into abyss if you are not careful with the spending on modification. Good thing is every little thing that you did give a big change to the car as power is easily produce with the help from turbo. However, problem is power on turbo is unlimited and modification to the car for more power is always there, at a good price. Journey finally begin with this car ownership and I'm not looking back! Wish luck ...

Pininfarina design house badge everywhere, lovely =)

Fiat Coupe 20VT+
Standard Specifications

Layout: Front Engine Front Drive (FF)
Engine: In-Line 5, Transverse, Turbocharged
Valve Train: 20-Valves DOHC Variable Intake Valve Timing
Engine Block / Cylinder Head: Aluminium
Supercharging: Turbocharger Garrett TB28 @ 1.2bar
Timing Belt: Belt Driven
Displacement: 1,998cc
- Bore: 82.00mm
- Stroke: 75.65mm
Power: 161.8kW (220bhp) @ 5,750rpm
Torque: 310Nm (31.61kgm) @ 2,500rpm
Compression Ratio: 8.5:1
Redline: 6,800rpm
Power to displacement: 80.98kW (110.11bhp) per liter
Power to weight: 123.51kW (167.94bhp) per tonne
Torque to weight: 236.64Nm (24.13kgm) per tonne
Clutch Type: Torque Converter
Fuel System: Indirect Injection

Steering: Rack & Pinion, Power Assisted
Front Suspension: Independent MacPherson Struts, Lower Wishbones anchored to Auxiliary Crossbeam, Offset Coil Springs, Anti Roll Bar
Rear Suspension: Independent Trailling Arms mounted on Auxiliary Subframe, Coil Springs, Anti Roll Bar
Front Disc: Brembo Cross Drilled 305mm Discs (12")
Rear Disc: Brembo Cross Drilled 251mm Discs (10")
Front Rim & Tire: 16x7J 205/50R16 Offset+40mm
Rear Rim & Tire: 16x7J 205/50R16 Offset+40mm
Spare Rim & Tire: 16x4J 125x80R16
Weight Distribution (front/rear): 65 / 35

Wheelbase: 2,540mm
Front Track: 1,491mm
Rear Track: 1,468mm
Length: 4,250mm
Width: 1,768mm
Height: 1,340mm
Steering Turns Lock to Lock: 2.9
Min. Turning Radius: 11.4m
Ground Clearance: 160mm
Weight: 1,310kg (2,888lbs)

Transmission: 6-Speed Manual
Gear Ratios: 1st-3.8:1, 2nd-2.235:1, 3rd-1.52:1, 4th-1.156:1, 5th-0.914:1, 6th-0.816:1
Top Speed: 250km/h (155mph)
Acceleration (0-62mph): 6.5seconds
Drag Coefficient: 0.33
Fuel Consumption (city/highway): 8km /L / 14km/L (19mpg / 33mpg)
CO2 Emissions: 241g/km
Fuel Tank: 63 Liters

Others:
ABS, Viscodrive Limited Slip Differential, Sunroof, Recaro Leather Seat, Push Start Button, 4 Airbags (including side airbags), Immobiliser

More photographs for your enjoyment =)

Front view, love the head lights.

Rear view, that's what you will see on the road =P

Side view, front heavy, need a spoiler and bigger rims ...

Curve and shapes with bodykit.

Usable boot space, who say coupe cannot carry stuff?

5-pot turbo in red engine cover, lovely.

View from driver seat, all nicely in place, love the white stripe within the dashboard.

Capable in top speed of 250km/h, some can go higher I heard.

Usable rear seat with safety belts, nice =)

Stock 4-pot Brembo with slotted disc, not enough stopping power, it's never enough.

A little mod that I did upon ownership, something essential for a turbo car =)

Being 20VT+ edition, red stiches is everywhere ...

More red stiches ...

Solution for Stucked with Low Resolution Screen in Windows Vista / Windows 7

2012-01-05T14:49:00.000+08:00

This is a record for myself and also whoever that face the same problem, a solution that I've been searching for almost 3 years and finally I cracked it! If you notice my computer gear listed at the right side of the blog, I'm running the following hardware:

Mainboard: ASUS P5K-PL
Graphic Card: XFX GF 9600GT (650MHz) 512MB DDR3 256bit
Monitor: 22" Samsung 2232BW 2ms 3000:1 (Analogue + Digital)

Nothing wrong with the combination and some techie might ask why I use a cheapskate mainboard? Well, it serve the minimum requiremnets that I need and I don't hack the mainboard for more juice, so no different to me. Problem is with the monitor. Samsung 2232BW display is very vivid and sharp but unfortunately that Samsung is only famous in the world of television, and not personal computer. Samsung never update their monitor driver and it's daunting in the world of technology that move in light speed.

I'm running Windows XP when I assembled the unit and I'm still stucked with it for almost 3 years till yesterday, because I couldn't get the monitor to display the optimum 1680x1050 resolution in Windows Vista or Windows 7. Last week I got a bit bored so decided to play with it again trying to complete my long quest to solve the problem. Finally I manage the find the culprit of the whole problem. If you have problem with resolution stucked in low range in Windows Vista or newer, then read on as 99% of the people out there have the same problem.

Ugly stucked at 1024x768 =(

Reveal of culprit, EDID. EDID stands for Extended Display Identification Data that eventually what Windows Vista has been start using that change how the communication between the monitor and Windows works. For those people that stucked with lousy-no-update monitor manufacturer (like Samsung), they are most likely to have this problem. With the old driver, it doesn't transmit EDID information to Windows and it get treated as an old monitor that's running 1024x768. There is no way to change it, no matter what you do to the graphic card or mainboard driver, as Windows cannot talk to the monitor. There are two solutions.

1. Modify the connection on the monitor to break the EDID communication between Monitor & Windows. It's hardware modification and I don't have the plan to damage any of my expensive stuff.

2. Hack the EDID and give a fake communication to Windows. It works by manually writting the EDID information on the monitor driver to tell the Windows what we want the Windows to recognise.

I'm doing no.2 solution here, as I prefer soft solution rather than breaking hardware. You will need 2 programs, first is Phoenix and second is MonInfo. Both link is available as highlighted, so download it. Install the latest driver for your monitor and run the Phoenix. In Phoenix, click registry toolbar and select your monitor driver. If your monitor driver doesnt show up then you are using wrong driver, try other driver and start over. Once recognised, then click on the pencil toolbar for changes to the information. Go to standard timings tab and change the Timing ID #1 to your monitor optimum resolution.

Example for mine of 1680x1050 @ 60Hz, I set H.Active pixels to 1680, 60Hz refresh rate and 16:10 aspect ratio.

Disabled the rest of the Timing ID if you wish to avoid confusion and dont touch the rest. Press file and save the EDID. Then run the MonInfo and open the EDID file that you just saved. If MonInfo doesn't recognise the EDID file then you are doing something wrong. Re-do everything to be sure. Once opened, go to file and click create INF and save it. Go to your computer hardware control panel and choose to update the monitor driver manually and choose this file. Once installed, restart the computer and you should see the new resolution is available for you to choose. Kau tim!

My beautiful 1680x1050@60Hz running Windows 7.

The above solved my problem with VGA cable, and I havent' try the digital HDMI cable yet. If your HDMI cable doesnt work with this, then stick to VGA cable. Better than none. Cheers!

PS: for those that's adventurous, this method can be use to hack the display, but do at own risk ok. As it might "smoke" your monitor, hehe ...

Things Done to My New Ride

2011-12-20T08:43:00.002+08:00

I'm sure you know that I've gotten myself a new ride, and it's been all busy with the new commitment. Can't write much, time is never enough. Let the pictures do the talking.

First thing to do, a good check up and major service to ensure the car is in tip-top condition. Finally I moved to fully synthetic oil, yeah, I'm cheapskate that I feed my old ride with semi-syn only =P

Time to tear it apart, not really la. Just installing alarm system for the car. It's an old ride, came with immobiliser but not alarm, weird right?

Finally, tinting at Cool World. Previous owner couldn't convince the JPJ to keep the tint up, so no choice but to put it back at my own cost. This is the first time my ride show up fully in my blog, say hi =)

Famosa Chicken Rice Ball @ Jonker Street, Melaka

2011-12-07T09:10:00.001+08:00

Had a chance to visit Melaka so decided to drop by for a good lunch. Most of the city in Malaysia have their own local special food, and for Melaka, there are plenty of choice. One of the famous food that's only available in Melaka is the Chicken Rice Ball. Funny thing that I don't see copycat for this dish in other part of Malaysia.

The famous traditional Famosa Chicken Rice Ball Restaurant in Melaka. They have 3 branches around the city, and there are 2 branches along the Jonker street while the remaining one located in Jalan Bendahara. Are they genuine traditional restaurant, that I dont know. Have to ask the local people.

The famous busy Jonker Street in Melaka, it's actually named as Jalan Hang Jebat. I don't understand why the authority want to allow cars to use this road. Just block it off and make it like Petaling Street in Kuala Lumpur, much better. Dangerous to have cars moving around in such a narrow street with lots of pedestrian.

Famosa Chicken Rice Ball Restaurant just located beside the Jonker Street and with it's red building with yellow signboard, it's hard to miss it. We went to this branch instead as it has more space and easier to find table.

Entrance of the Famosa Chickren Rice Ball Restaurant. Please up, and a lady will direct you to your table, like fine dining eh? Hehe. They not only serve chicken rice but other chinese dishes as well. If you want chinese dishes, there are lots of place to eat that. So let's stick to the rice ball.

Chef in action, actually cut the chicken only, all pre-prepared already.

Full house, and luckily there have another shop beside for more tables. Don't worry, it's a quick lunch, just wait for a while and you will get your table. Good thing that they are organised with coordinator to arrange table for the customers.

Second part of the shop with more tables. The waitress work very fast, so no worries. Only complain is that the floor is dirty with chicken bones and stuff. It's a little crowded so I'm not sure how they suppose to sweep / mop the floor. Just don't look down, no problem.

My mum picked up some local delights from the stalls in Jonker Street for us. Kuih Muih, Melaka's specialty as well.

First to come is the highlight of the day, Chicken Rice Ball priced at RM0.50 each. It's actually normal rice that's used in chicken rice dish, but made into round shape. A simple research online will reveal that there is a reason for such funny shape. Here go the story. In old times, people purposely shaped the rice into round shape to retain the warmness of the rice within the ball and also for conveniency to carry it to work. Hey, that's very thoughtful and practical as well. Love every bit of it, but a bit pricy for RM0.50 each. For a normal guy like me, I will wallop 4-5 balls anytime. that's RM2.00 to RM2.50 rice for myself. Acceptable though, not a problem. Small price to pay for a special food.

Bean Sprout for RM7.00 and it's normal only. There is no way bean sprout outside of Ipoh to be able to compete with them as Ipoh has the best water and condition to grow the best bean sprout. Purely raw material quality, can't blame them. Treating them as just some greens to go with the food.

For a full family, we ordered Half Roast and Half Steamed Chicklen for a total of RM32.00. The chicken is good but not great. Normal quality in my opinion. Still got long way to go to compare to Ipoh Chicken. It's called the Chicken Rice Ball restaurant, so we stick to the name. Didn't try out other dish, but if you fancy a complete lunch / dinner, they do have set lunch menu. Check out their website below.

Overall, the only highlight is the rice ball, which is the specialty. It's not wonderfully nice to eat, but something special. All other dishes are normal and not that great. No reason to eat Chicken Rice Ball other than having something special and unique while in Melaka. I personally don't fancy the food but I will still come back whenever I'm in Melaka, just another way to remind myself that I'm in Melaka and what's the reason that you don't see this dish in other part of Malaysia, probably because no one will bother to eat? I don't know, just a question to ponder with. However, if you are in Melaka, try it out. If not you wouldn't know what to answer when people ask if you try their rice ball =)

Famosa Chicken Rice Ball Restaurant
No. 28-30 Jalan Hang Kasturi
Off Jonker Street
75200 Melaka
Tel: +606 286 0121
Fax: +606 282 4595
Website: http://www.chickenriceball.com/
Opening Time: 8.00am till 9.00pm (Monday - Thursday) or 10.00pm (Friday - Sunday)
Location Coordinate: N2 11.733 E102 14.859

Photography: Jalan Jalan Port Dickson

2011-12-06T09:15:00.001+08:00

Golden Palm Tree Resort, looks very nice, but the sea view is bad ...

Avillion Port Dickson, seaside benches, beautiful.

Looks like fake, but real flower around the water chalet.

Weird plant, possible waiting for blossom.

Animal farm in Avillion, male & female peacock, amazing how they evolved.

Sunset view in Avillion, romantic place.

Spices for the dinner in Avillion.

Best Claypot Yee Mee @ Keay Teow Mee Stall, Ipoh

2011-12-06T07:56:00.001+08:00

I've been always a big lover to Yee Mee, and the story all started from this place where my parents used to bring us for a good supper occassionally. Claypot Yee Mee here is so good that it's the only thing I will order no matter what my parents said. Let's check out the best Claypot Yee Mee in Ipoh.

Now the name is a bit funny, Keay Teow Mee stall, it has been there since I'm little boy, like as long as I can remember. So don't expect people can spell very well last time. This stall is located just right along the famous Tong Sui Kai next to the Sam Tet School, some kind of Wai Sek Kai in other places. The shop looks exactly the same as when I'm a little kid, nothing changed, talk about tradition.

Last time, an old man used to prepare the food, but now supposingly the family take over. Multiple stove for claypot yee mee with stacks of eggs and bowls, exactly how I remember it looks like.

Now this is the Claypot Yee Mee that I've been talking about. It's yummilicious that I will come back here just for a pot of this, and I can wallop this even after a supper. This pot of yee mee has a very special smell, and my family used to make jokes that it smell like dead rats. Weird that they think it smell funny, but in fact, it's so tasty that even the smell fill the entire open stall space. I went back the other day just to snap this photograph, and somehow it does not taste as good as last time. Probably because change of the chef, but it's still very good. The recipe is still the same, strong soup taste and special Yee Mee they are using. The smell is still very strong and I still love this place. It might not be the best Claypot Yee Mee anymore for you guys out there, but I will still vote this place as the best Claypot Yee Mee, talk about 30 years churning out the same food non stop.

This stall is also famous for a Ipoh cuisine, that most of my KL friends have no idea what is it. It's call Hor Hee Fun. Try it out next time, so far I only know it's available in Ipoh, no other place serve it =P

If your stomach still have space, don't miss out the stall beside Keay Teow Mee stall. It served very delicious wrapped braised chicken and braised tofu. It's very very delicious but not that healthy, you should know looking at the oil in the photo. But it's very nice, do try it out!

Road side stall and hawkers, don't expect tip-top cleanliness, but if you miss out Tong Sui Kai in Ipoh, you have never been to Ipoh actually. It's part of the traditional food culture in Ipoh, and they have been here for many many years. Again, road side stalls, price also reasonable, so don't worry. There are even Wan Tan Mee that's selling for RM1.60, so go enjoy yourself =)

Keay Teow Mee
Ipoh Tong Sui Kai (or known as Titiwangsa Roadside Hawker Stalls)
Location Coordinate: N4 35.723 E101 05.235

My New Toy

2011-11-15T07:54:00.001+08:00

I got my driving license since 17 and I've been driving for more than a decade but yet yesterday I realise that I don't really know how to drive. For those that know me, I'm getting a new toy for myself and it's a really a scary toy. I need to learn all over again, talk about taming the beast, so right.

Malaysia Property Market Crisis

2011-11-03T10:07:00.001+08:00

With the gloomy world economic outlook all around, everyone is in doubt on what's going to happen in future. As global economic crisis affects everyone, including myself, I studied and found some information to share.

US Financial Crisis Explained

Spanish Housing Bubbles

Global Financial Crisis Explained

The information is all around the internet and everyone is still repeating the same mistake. The way I look at it, Malaysia is also very close to what's happening in the world. With the salary level frozen, housing price increase exponentially and inflation is everywhere. Money is getting more and more worthless everyday and people are not happy. Fast cash manipulation from the market is not sustainable, and will eventually lead to collapse.

With the housing price increasing in such a manner, everyone thought it's a gold mine and invested in it hoping for a good flip, similar phenomenal like stocks crisis in 1997 when even roadside beggar also invested in stocks. But salary didn't increase, where the money come from? Of course the bank, and to qualify for a house loan with a small salary, the bank decrease the lending rate to BLR-2.4% to attract home buyer / investor and allow 40 years mortgage! When in history it happened before?

If everyone is genuine home buyer then it should be sustainable, but investor intended to flip is the majority. They borrow beyond their limit gambling to flip the property. Been successful so far, so they follow same strategy and buy with eyes closed. When the bank reached their limit and stop borrowing, the demand for housing will decrease as no one is buying anymore, the housing price stagnant or maybe decrease. Investor couldn't sell the property nor afford the loan, so they burnt and default the loan by declaring bankcrupt. Bank tighten up the criterias and chain reaction will bring down the entire property market. Property market collapse will eventually bring down the entire economy as people and bank have no money. It will lead to economy crisis and fall into recession.

I only wish people will come to their senses and earn money the traditional way. Earn an honest salary and be an investor, not gambler. If want to be gambler betting on property, might as well go bet in casino. Faster results. Wish luck.

Goldview Hakka Food Restaurant @ Taman Paramount

2011-11-01T19:51:00.002+08:00

Trying hard to push all my overdue food blog out so that it's share with all of you =) sorry.

This time let's go to the Taman Paramount for some really good hakka food. As the name suggest, Goldview Hakka Food Restaurant, serving a true authentic hakka cuisine. It's a little misleading sometimes as this restaurant also serve dimsum in the morning. Hakka food only available in lunch and dinner time only. So don't be surprice to see them selling dimsum if you are there early.

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Entrance of the Goldview Hakka Food Restaurant. The chinese name indicated their specialty in hakka food and also spicy soup, which is one of the signature dish in hakka food for this restaurant.

Clean and nice interior with typical chinese practical decor for a good lunch or dining experience. The place is run by a couple and the wife is the lady in purple while husband is the main chef in the kitchen. I'm not sure if they are both hakka, but they are churning out good foods.

The signboard on the wall indicate all the famous hakka dish available in the restaurant and these are only the recommended dishes. There are also a full menu if you have something else in mind. Stick to the list and I'm sure it's very nice.

First to come is the simplest form of steamed eggs, Three Yolks Steamed Eggs that's priced at RM6.00. It's not one of the nicest steamed eggs you will find, but it somehow looks very alike with what my mum used to cook for us. The dish served here is meant to be closer to what you mum cook, and that's something I like very much. If I would want some fine chinese restaurant dining, then I won't bother to visit this place. It gives me a very warm feeling towards the dishes in this place, very home alike. Not the smoothest steamed eggs but very nice.

A small plate of Yuen Choy that's priced at RM6.00. Just some greens to compliment the lunch, nothing special, but it's all nice, nothing to complain about.

And finally, the Hua Tiao (Rice Wine) Claypot Chicken that's priced at RM16.00. The taste is so strong and it taste so good with a good portion of rice wine for the tastebud. The chicken is mostly part of drumstick or thigh that's smooth and going nicely with the claypot. It's a must order for me in this restaurant, love the chicken and the taste.

With rice & some drinks, the bill come up to a total of RM33.70 for the three of us. Limited patrons so limited food to order, but in fact I've dine here a lot of times, only didn't bring my camera. There are times that I eat in this restaurant twice a week, and yes, it's that nice that will draw me back. Is it truely hakka cuisine? I'm not very sure, but if you are going for good food, you won't be disappoint. Ask the lady boss to recommend, all the foods are basically very good, no problem. Try their spicy soup if you can, it's very nice.

Goldview Hakka Food Restaurant

26, Jalan 20/16A

Taman Paramount

Petaling Jaya
46300 Selangor

Tel: 03-8076 8766

Opening Time: 11.30am - 2.30pm, 5.30pm - 9.30pm (Closed on Tuesday)

Location Coordinate: N3 06.439 E101 37.479

LYJ Restaurant, Poon Choi @ Sungai Buloh

2011-11-01T08:22:00.001+08:00

My life is so busy nowadays with so many things coming up at the same time. It's a blessing to there are many things to look forward to everyday. Exhaustive but it's happy thing.

Today I'm going to post up a long due food post on a very special restaurant called LYJ Restaurant. LYJ a short form of the restaurant name in chinse, called Lee Yong Jee, I think. The owner of the place is Mr. Lee, so I think it must be a family bussinesss. It's located is the middle of the Sungai Buloh Industrial place and you will be surprise with what they can offer.

LYJ Restaurant got around 4-5 shop lots along the road and parking is very difficult. Just find a roadside slot and rest your car keeping finger cross hoping no one scratch it. No choice, there is no alternative.

The interior of the restaurant, a very chinese style decorated place and the Tang Lung is there because I went there on Chinese New Year. Yes, this post is almost 8 months delayed. Sorry, but I can assure you it's worth the wait.

A good friend of mine actually a big fan of this restaurant and since it's a Chinese New Year celebration, he suggested to eat in this restaurant, ordering the signature dish that's award winning. I raised both hands to support his suggestion immediately! Let's see.

First to come is of course the Yu Sheng for prosperity in Chinese tradition. If you are following my blog, you will notice that this is the 2nd Yu Sheng for Year 2011, and it's the same group of friends! We are all cows =)

As we are munching our way on the Yu Sheng, the waitress served multiple type of sauces for the upcoming surprise. Yummy.

A good plate of vegetables to compliment the upcoming heavy meal. Notice the raw vegetables in the background? It's meant for wrapping for the upcoming dish, read on.

And finally the award winning dish is revealed. LYJ is very famous for a single dish, that's Poon Choi. It's a traditional dish origin from Hong Kong that consists of lots of food within the same pot. A quick check on the Wikipedia show that it's also known as Big Bowl Feast, that's funny name =) But you get the meaning.

A good view of the pot and this is only the top part of the pot. The whole pot is filled with ingredients ranging from Abalones, Prawns, Scallops, Duck, Chicken, Pork, Sea Cucumber, Fish, Lamb, Beef, Fish Maw, Crab, Mushroom, Fishballs, Squids, Pigskin, Beancurd, Eggs and many more!! I coudlnt even finish the list, crazy pot and yes as I said, we are cows!

The pot is so big and I have to turn the table to show you the other half of the pot to revealed what else you can expect. LYJ is so famous for this Poon Choi and if you want to have it, you will need to call them to make a booking at least a day in advance. This pot alone I think can easily feed 15 people and with the add-on of scallops & abalones, the pot is over RM500. Expensive? Its meant for 15 people, and I salute you if you can finish it even with 15 people. Considering the stuff they are putting in, I think the price is ok.

A zoom in view of the big prawn and abalones. It's crazy delicious.

And of course my favourite of all times, fish maw. I think I walloped every single piece of fish maw in the entire pot! Yea, I love fish maw that much. I can eat nonstop.

This is a little gross, but there are still so many foods at the bottom of the pot, so I need to snap another one to show you guys what's else down there. We basically couldnt finish it with a strong team of 8 persons. Yea, thinking we are cows, we are crazy enough to only bring 8 persons for a 15 persons Poon Choi!

Now here are some proof of the award winning dish that's so famous in LYJ. If you notice some figure in the photograh, the chef in LYJ is actually the champion in this dish in Hong Kong with some renowed figure photograph on the wall. I think some people will think the Poon Choi here is nothing special, but then my saying is always this, find me a better one. I'm always open for good food =)

Usual closing, good food no need much review. You just have to try it to understand why it's a award winning dish. I love it and I think it deserves the gold medal. If you ask me, I think this is by far the best Poon Choi I've ever eaten. There are lots of Poon Choi out there, but it's not as complex and not as good as this. There are also lots of other good food in LYJ, I will post it up later. Now I'm hungry, got to call my friends for another round maybe.

LYJ Restaurant
PT 11, Jalan Perkhidmatan
Kampung Baru
47000 Sungai Buloh
Selangor Darul Ehsan
Tel: 03 6140 2678, 019-350 8621 (Paul Lee)
Opening Time: 11.30am to 2.30pm, 6.00pm to 10pm. Closed on Monday nights and during CNY.
Location Coordinate: N3 11.709 E101 34.188

More Running Gears for Marathon

2011-10-11T22:23:00.000+08:00

With the marathon event pushing nearer at 39 days and counting down, I do the final preparation. Training is always on-going and last weekend I manage to pick up some running gears for myself. Check it out.

2XU Men's Elite Run Top

This shirt is one of the casual running shirt from 2XU, a famous brand for extreme sports. For the expensive price tag, of course there are bunch of technologies that they are showcasing like below:
SMD COOL - With the added comfort of a jersey finish and high UV performance, SMD Cool comes with all the benefits of the SMD family of fabrics.
SMD SILVER - Engineered with the latest generation nano-silver particles embedded
into the yarn for permanent anti-bacterial, thermo-regulation properties.
SMD MESH - Advanced SMD MESH knit construction for increased airflow and
lightweight for optimal moisture transfer.
SMD 3D MESH - Added to the benefits of the SMD fabric is the use of a 3D mesh structure,
allowing ultimate airflow, moisture management and stops cling to the body.

I tried it out yesterday for a short run and indeed it's very good. People will ask why not I buy the compression shirt? With my body shape, it won't look good! Simple answer, so something loose is more suitable for me. The shirt is very well ventilated and absorb / disperse the sweat very effective. My main purpose for this shirt is to keep my body temperature right, and it did just that. For runners, they will always complain either they are too cold or too hot. This piece of shirt here will solve the problem and you won't feel the sweat even if the whole shirt is wet. That good, but is it necessary? I've ran 2x10km and 2x21km, I think it's important. The sleeveless singlet that's provided by the organiser is in good quality, but it's a singlet. It does not cover my body properly and the heat dispersion is not as good and I felt cold sometimes. Not something I would want to wear for a 6 hours run, so this shirt that hug my body well is what I would want to wear for long endurance run.

Tunebelt Sport Armband for Smartphone

My plan earlier is to find a waist pouch and put everything into it, but coudn't find any bigger waist pouch, so grab this one instead. It's designed for running and the material is built in neoprene with cushion to protect the device and also to disperse sweat quickly. It fits most major smartphones nicely and with its elastic form, the phone is hold tight without any movement, as if it's part of your body. I tried it yesterday and the sweat from my arm didn't manage to reach the iPhone. However, it's not weatherproof though, so I plan to wrap my iPhone with plastic bag before keeping it there. Although iPhone is quite light, but the weight adds-up when I hit 7-8km.

Injinji Performance Midweight / Mini-Crew Toesock

Injinji is a US renowed brand in providing high performance toesocks and their design is patented. This pair of Injinji is engineered with patented AIS technology from Injinji and constructed of 60% Coolmax, 35% Nylon and 5% Lycra. Midweight is designed for padded interface with any running shoes, and also feature honeycomb design for breathability. The main purpose is to reduce chaffing and blister, which is common for all long distance runners. It is light weight and very good in moisture control to give best comfort to long distance running.

Hold Tube Waist Pouch (Snow Camo)

Hold Tube Waist Pouch is built in microfiber material of 83% polyester and 17% polyurethane. The whole pouch is stretchable and it can fit a lot of small items, up to size of smartphone. The waist pouch itself is very thin and all items stored within is wrapped within its microfiber material that will prevent movement. Length adjustable to suit waist size and I tried it up, it's indeed very good. I kept my iPhone and keys within the pouch and I dont feel it there at all, except the additional weight of course. It does not bounce around and it hold the items within very well. Its microfiber material also disperse sweat pretty efficient. My earlier plan is to get a bigger pouch so I can fit everything in, but this seems to be a good buy, that's why I get the additional armband for my iPhone. This pouch is meant for my medication & power gel =)

Register for New Baby!

2011-10-04T14:38:00.001+08:00

Since the arrival of our lovely baby Cedric, everyday is a new challenge and I'm going through new experience again today. Upon birthing of a new baby, parents are given 14 days to register their baby, or else a penalty fine of RM5 will be impose. Quite cheap, but why wait? It's something new and always the question is, how?!

For new parents, I'm here to help. Hoping by documenting the experience, I will be able to remind myself to be grateful of the gift of life and at the same time able to help you all out there. In Malaysia, basically you will need to go to Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara for registration. For branches around the state, please refer to this website.

Before you go over to the JPN, here are some documents that you need to prepare:
1. Marriage Certificate (original & photostat copy)
2. Declaration Letter from Hospital with Doctor's verification (you should receive this when you discharge)
3. MyKad for both parents and a photostat copy of the MyKad
4. Finally, fill up the form JPN.LM01 (you should get this from Hospital when you discharge)

Most of the JPN office open from 8.00am till 5.00pm, so when you got there, take a queue number and wait for your turn. Once you are called, submit all the documents above and you will be issue another number while they process your documents. Voila, then you will be call again within minutes to collect the birth certificate. At the same time, you will be notify to collect the MyKid card after a month duration. That's pretty efficient and a good praise all around for government body, thumbs up.

A big size birth certificate comparing to old times like mine. Why need so big??
It's not that hard to be a daddy afterall, right?

No, it's not that simple, when things like below picture happened =P

My cute little devil + angel. Cute adorable but also bullying us at the same time, phew.

All about Calories

2011-10-02T21:34:00.000+08:00

New year resolution, lots of people prepare it. 99% included losing weight as one of their must-achieve near year resolution, but not many able to do it, that's why they keep putting it back and snowballing the percentage to 99%, amazing. Shame that I'm also contribute to the statistics.

Why people fail to lose weight? Reason is very simple. Consider this.
1kg of fat that you are carrying is equivalent to 7,700 calories.

It doesn't mean anything if you don't know what you are eating. Just to quote an example, I ran 8.24km yesterday within 56 minutes and I burned 612 calories. That's almost 1 hour of running workout and I need 10 hours to burn 1kg of fat in my body! That's scary if you ask me.

Burning it is damn hard, but gaining it is simple as ABC. A large fries from McDonald got 500 calories! That's 50 minutes of running. How to lose weight? Too bad our body is so efficient. Good news is, the more you know about your enemy, the easier it is to fight them. It's all about numbers, so let's go and kick the calories' ass.

Your body is what you eat minus what you work out for. You eat more than you work, weight gain. You eat less than you work, reduce weight. Simple philosophy. First step is to know how much you are allow to eat so can find a strategy to fight it.
How to calculate how much calories you need daily?
Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 x weight in kg) + (5 x height in cm) - (6.8 x age in years)
Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 x weight in kg) + (1.8 x height in cm) - (4.7 x age in years)

Sedentary (little or no exercise) - your AMR = BMR x 1.2

Lightly active (light exercise/work 1-3 days per week) - your AMR = BMR x 1.375

Moderately active (moderate exercise/work 3-5 days per week) - your AMR = BMR x 1.55

Very active (hard exercise/work 6-7 days a week) - your AMR = BMR x 1.725

Extra active (very hard exercise/work 6-7 days a week) - your AMR = BMR x 1.9

For myself, my BMR calculation as following:

BMR = 66 + 1,260.4 + 895 - 197.2 = 2,024.20 calories
AMR = 2,024.20 x 1.2 = 2,429 calories

My dream ideal weight is 75kg and I'm currently 92kg. I need to lost 17kg, that's 130,900 calories. Scary number but let's break it down. I plan to lose 2kg each month and achieve my dream weight within 8.5 months.

In a month, lose 2kg = 15,400 calories
In a week, need to reduce 3,850 calories

With my AMR of 2,429calories, say I control my eating at 2,000 calories, I reduce 429 calories each day. Within a week, I lose 3,003 calories. I need to burn another 847 calories and that's approximately 1 hour & 30 minutes running, easily achievable! Problem is, how I control my eating to 2,000 calories per day??

Marvel of internet, check out the Cekodek. Special Malaysian portal for food calories counter. Nasi lemak, roti canai, teh tarik, fast food, and all kind of stuff. There are lots of function there and be a conscious eater from today onwards. That's what I plan to do.

With a game plan lay properly here, I will probably know what to do. Strategy is to minimize breakfast by drinking oat & bread, a proper lunch and a controlled dinner without carbs. and of course, occasional good lunch / dinner to continue to write food blog for you guys. Wish me luck =)

PS: another strategy recommended is by eating at your ideal weight calories. For my case, 2,196 calories but problem is, there is no timeline for me to track. So I prefer my way, your choice =)

Highway Cafe, Ayer Keroh R&R @ NS Highway (South Bound)

2011-09-28T09:17:00.001+08:00

I'm a frequent traveller, and it all started during my college time. I will travel back to hometown every 2 weeks driving 250km each way. After started working, I also travel a lot for the job. Current job required me to travel often to Johor and the 4 hours drive is tiring. I always looks for fun things to do along my life so it wont be so boring and I notice this special cafe along the NS Highway that has exceptional amount of customers, so I check them out.

Stall No.10: Highway Cafe that's always packed with people from all over Malaysia.

Highway Cafe is located in the Ayer Keroh rest stop on North-South Highway in south bound towards Johor direction. The cafe is basically operated by a Hainanese old couple and they have been there for as long as I remember. What's the special thing about this cafe?

An ultimate breakfast set for road traveller. The famous half boiled eggs with kaya butter toast bread. I always order a big cup of Milo to go with it and it's been heavenly like. Look at their cup, looks like my home's one, and that's exactly how they run their show.

A close up on the highlight of the day, half boiled eggs with the kaya butter toast bread. The most important on half boiled eggs are the timing and the quality of eggs used. I've been eating here for many times and there is no single time that their quality deteriorate. The right time of submerging the eggs into the hot water, with the egg yolks slightly cooked but still watery to allow you to mix it with the whites. It's the quality of control, and it taste just so good everytime I eat it. Take note of their egg yolks is very yellowish, indicating kampung eggs, comparing to those mamak that's pale in colour. It's one of the best half boiled eggs I've ever eaten.

While on the kaya butter toast bread, they don't use charcoal but an very old toasting machine, like mini oven. Look at the photo, the kaya-butter-bread is all mixed up together and formed a layer in the middle of the bread. Toasted bread with crunchy texture while soft kaya-butter-bread layer in the middle, it's another heaven like experience. It's a little dry though if you eat it alone. And of course I have my solution. Read on for the best method to eat it down here.

Mix the half boiled eggs and add in necessary soy sauce & pepper. Dip the kaya-butter-toast bread into the half boiled eggs.

Voila, A good mixture of salty half boiled eggs with crunch sweet toast bread. Try it out and I can assure you that you will want more. Coupled it with a good cup of your favourite hot drink, it's an experience that I can never forget, especially in the dawn when my eyes still half closed.

This is my faovurite spot and this is my view when I'm enjoying the incredible breakfast. So relaxing, that's life =)

No worries on parking, therea are lots of illegal parking in front of the stairs and just find a sweet spot and park your car. Dont go into the petrol station, they will chase you out =P

After a good breakfast, I hit the road again in a refresh mind, ready to conquer another 250km journey.
More information on this cafe.

Highway Cafe
Ayer Keroh R&R
North-South Highway, South Bound
Location Coordinate: N2 23.726 E102 13.406

Android Dominates the World Market Share

2011-09-28T08:44:00.000+08:00

With the announcement from Apple for the possible new release of the iPhone 5 on 4th October, my friends are asking me if they should get the iPhone 5 or the Android device, which is basically the famous Samsung Galaxy S2. With their mind of Apple domination in the smartphone market, I feel responsible to educate them that Android has already surpassed Apple iOS market share since last year and at current time, Android has almost double the amount of users in the world in comparison to Apple iOS users. Possible Malaysia might have more iPhone users as everyone seems to be using iPhone, I'm not sure, but statistics in the world show otherwise.

The chart above is copied from PC World, Android OS dominated 50% of the world wide market share of smartphone and the report is dated 16 April 2011.

However, of course not every Android users are using Samsung Galaxy S2 but the reason for big domination is very simple. Android device is cheaper to own and there are lots of varieties to suit people needs. While iPhone manage to gain 25% market share with just a single device, and that's very impressive. Question to which one to buy, it's all to preference in my opinion. If you want open source operating system, customisation, and freedom, nothing beats Android. iPhone benefits from better built, controlled system with intergrated hardware & software to give best experience.

No brainer, as I'm sure everyone would like to try both. So my advice is, go buy the iPhone and change to Android later. Or if you own either one, switch so you know the best of both worlds. As a current iPhone 4 user, I will be 100% changing to Android for my next gear, as I'm getting very boring with the iOS system now. People don't call it as Jailbreak for no reason. It's interesting to see how Windows Mobile 7 fare in coming time.

Instant Heart Rate - another amazing apps

2011-09-14T08:10:00.001+08:00

My friend introduce me with this amazing apps developed by Azumio Inc. and it's truly incredible. It tells how fast technology can move and what it can do in your life. Azumio developed 3 apps and it's all meant to access your health condition. Let's see.

Instant Heart Rate
By using the flash lights and the camera located just next to each other, the apps start the flash lights and all you need to do is place your finger over the camera with the flash light lighting it up. It measure colour changes in the finger when everytime fresh blood is being pump into it and monitor your heart rate. Hold for 10 seconds and you will get your average heart beats in minute.

Heart rate monitor in your own pocket, and that's without any add-on hardware! Technology never fails to awe me and that's why I love it. Now I can track my heart bpm when I go for running.

Fun thing, Azumio also got Stress Check and Stress Doctor, both are using the same tech up there, but using variation if your bpm to monitor your stress. I tried and my stress level is 30-40%. My wife play with it too and hers is 95% because of the baby. =P

Check out their website here.

Full Marathon in Penang Bridge International Marathon 2011

2011-08-29T18:27:00.000+08:00

It's been a while since I completed my last half marathon run in the Energizer Night Race 2011. It's not that I've quit running altogether but I just do not have enough time to put everything in words. In fact, I've been continue training for my life aim which is to complete the full marathon by this year. With my average result in Energizer Night Race 2011, I'm struggling with my mind if I'm ready for a full 42km marathon run by end of Year 2011.

The tussle in mind went on for a long time after the Energizer Night Race and finally I took the plunge and register myself in the Penang Bridge International Marathon 2011 for a full 42km event! I'm excited but also nervous wondering on my irrational decision. Anyway the registration is done and I will just have to cope with my life schedule and plan up to train my body to endure the pain to reach there. It's not a choice anymore.

10km is a good start for the mass public, it's not too short but long enough to push your body out of your comfort zone but it's achievable at the same time. With a normal jog at the park is good enough to ensure you to complete the run, not a problem. Most recommended for recreational runner to keep themselves healthy and be part of the running group. Qualifying time is 1 hour 30 minutes

21km is long distance run, punishing every aspect of your body. You will reach the limit of your body threshold after breaking the 10km distance and you will feel the pain throughout your whole body upon 15km. You will struggle to even lift your legs and you will force to stop if you don't plan your running strategy properly. It's one of the extreme event you can join to punish your body to extreme and have difficulty walking on the next day if you are not prepare. I personally think 21km is even more challenging than conquering the KK mountain. Qualifying time is 3 hours 30 minutes.

42km is the ultimate marathon event that it's said to be only achievable by extreme sport person. Actual distance is 42.195km and there are less than 1% of the world population that has completed a full marathon. It's so extreme that it's said to challenge the human threshold from total collapse if you are not prepare. It's explained that there is "the wall" of human threshold, determine by the glycogen that's hold by the body for immediate burning to produce power for muscle and movement. The estimated storage is meant for 30km of running and once a runner body hit "the wall", human body will collapse and hit dramatic fatigue. When that happened, you will need to take a long rest for the glycogen to replenish itself before you can move again. I've not done it before, so I'm not sure how it works. Qualifying time of a full marathon is 7 hours and I'm aiming to complete it within 6 hours.

The life achievement of a full marathon is so tempting to me so that I can join the 1% elite of the world. It meant so much for me as it's also my dedication to my new born to bring him up in the best way I can.

An overview of the route that I'm going to run. There is no clear indication but you can guess the distance

My Training

I'm 82 days away from the full marathon event and I'm still training. My philosophy that as long as you can run non-stop for 1/3 of the marathon distance, you should be alright to join the event. 10km meant 3km non-stop. 21km meant 7km non-stop. It has been serving me quite well so far. 42km meant 14km non-stop. I'm not able to run 10km non-stop and I'm pushing myself to achieve the 14km mark. In addition to that, I'm also drawing up a plan for myself as following:

1. to be able to run minimum 14km non-stop
2. to achieve minimum 42km in a week combined running distance
3. to be able to run 10km in less than an hour

With the above, I believe it's the minimum that I must achieve by October 2011 or else I will withdraw from the event. Hope all to support me and give me the strength to achieve my life dream.

For those that's going, find the download link here for the guide book on the event. In contained lots of essential information such as event information, routing, pacer colour, water station, and etc. However, latest copy is on 2010, not sure if it's the same for 2011. I will check again and update when it's available.

Waze - Best Apps voted by Me!

2011-08-18T21:10:00.000+08:00

Since I started using iPhone, I've been enjoying the availability of best apps for the iOS operating system. It has been great experience but it never fails to amaze me on all the idea that you can get with ever improving technology. I recently came across this wonderful apps named Waze, that provide free GPS turn-by-turn and live traffic information. It's free!

Waze is an apps that's developed by Waze Mobile, but how it works? It make use of mobile connection & GPS signal that's readily available to feed information to the online server. When a user register with Waze, you can contribute by running the Waze in background while driving around. The information is then feed into the server to generate a map of an area. With more and more people, a full complete map is easily generated to function as GPS map that the apps provide turn-by-turn direction. Importantly, the apps also track your movement speed and determine if the traffic in your route is free or jammed. 1st real-time information for small country like Malaysia, such a wonderful idea! I've been using it for a few days and it's accurate and works very well. Hope more are willing to contribute and make this apps success. I'm sure it will benefit everyone.

Waze is currently available in Android, iOS, Blackberry OS, Symbian, and Windows Mobile platform. Sharing the Waze apps here with all readers and hope everyone become a contributor to this best apps that I'm more than willing to vote.

For more information, check out their website of following:
http://www.waze.com/

First Baby, Cedric Lim!

2011-08-13T10:00:00.000+08:00

After a long 9 month, finally our first baby boy Cedric joined the family on 29th July 2011. My wife is estimated due on 25th July 2011 but Cedric is so naughty and decided to continue stay in the comfort of mother's womb despite our "persuasion". We are worry that he might grow a little too big to go through natural birth if we wait any longer, so we agreed to the Gynae's suggestion for induction by another 4 days. Cedric is a very big size baby and he weighed 3.94kg and 53cm in length when he first see the world. Here is Cedric saying hello to the world =)

The first photo of Cedric and he is comfortably wrapped and placed under the warmer to keep his body temperature up.

The journey and experience itself is so incredible and I'm sharing it with you here for the memory of our joy.

With no contraction sign upon reaching the estimated due date by the gynae, we grew a little worry as the baby is estimated to be over 3.5kg and he is growing in enormous size everyday. We prefer natural birth and Caesaran is to be avoided if possible. Meet-up with gynae is set-up on the weekend, just 2 days before the due date and gynae suggested for induction by 29th July 2011. The concern got us to book up the labour room for the process and we waited patiently over the next few days hoping for a natural contraction to come. By 28th July, there is still no contraction and her cervix is still not soften, so gynae arranged for her to be warded by 27th July for medication to help ripen the cervix.

Hospital of choice, Sunway Medical Center. Decision driven by the Gynae that we wanted, Dr. Jason Lim.

Arrived in 8.00pm waiting for registration. We passed on the doctor letter and they got everything cover from there. The registration information and process is all pre-arranged and hassle free. Part of the advantage of private hospital, I suppose?

Choice of room and rates. Unfortunately they are so busy this week that all single room and twin bedded room are all not available. The nurse said we are lucky to get a bed to lay down, that busy. We got her the four-bedded room, and the bad thing is I couldn't stay around by her side after midnight, she is so scared.

After the registration, a nurse brought us to the 2nd floor into the ward room.

First thing to do is to fill the remaining information for our baby. The filled form will be use later for baby's registration, but you can always leave the baby name out until you are ready to register him with the government. Four-bedded room does not have any TV but everything else is the same, only 4 bed in the size of 2x single room. Much cheaper, only complain is I can stay by her side over the night.

She is then tag with a handband and there are two remaining band that's reserved for the baby after born to avoid mixing up. We checked on all the particular on the handband.

She is then given a robe as her dress for her entire stay in the ward. V somemore, still haven't start medication, that's why can smile =)

Question then arise in my head that what you will need to bring to the Hospital? Thanks to my wife with her detailed planning, she has a list that I'm sharing with you here.

1. A set of clothing during discharge, long loose dress, shirt and a jacket with hood is essential.
2. Breast pump set, if you planning for breast feeding. No need bottle, as nursery will have it.
3. Handphone & charger set.
4. Entertainment needs, such as laptop, iPad, music player, magazine. Mostly only use before labour. So don't over bring, as you won't be bother to do all those after labour =P
5. Contact lens container & solution, but it's not recommended to wear contact lens. Change out to spectacle and leave the contact lens at home. She reasoned that she need to see things clearly if not she will panic.
6. Some bread, instant milo / horlick.
7. Few pair of socks.
8. A full set of baby clothing and baby wrap for discharge.

Forget about martenity pads, disposable panties, infant formula, diapers, water, cup, tupperware, tooth brush, tooth paste, and etc. Those are all provided in Sunway Medical Center, but you might want to check if you are going somewhere else. She brought a whole luggage and barely use anything. But to kill of your nervous feeling, it might help to know everything is in the bag if you ever need it. That's what she do, doing 150% of everything to make sure all is right. It's the most painful moment she will need to go through anyway, so I happily carry anything she want for her. For husband, just bring your camera / videocam and be by her side.

She is then wrapped with devices to measure the baby's movement & heart rate, essential to monitor during the process of induction.

The normal range of heart rate shall be within range of 130+ per minute and it's normal to plus minus a little especially when there is a contraction. Her cervix opening is measured 1cm when warded, and she is then given medication of the 1st dose of Prostaglandin hormone by insertion of medication drug (Cervidil) to her cervix to help soften it and also provide mild stimulate to contraction. Immediately she feel the mild contraction after a while and it lasted 6 hours until she is check again by the nurse. The cervix is then measured 1.5cm and by gynae's instruction, 2nd dose of Prostaglandin hormone is provided to continue the medication, and that lasted for another 5 hours before active labour. That's 11 hours of mild contraction, if you notice! It's a little painful but enough to disturb her sleep. She is exhausted by morning, while I patiently waited at the waiting room and took a short nap in the car.

By next morning 8.30am, the nurse did another check and the cervix is dilated 2cm only. As per the plan, we are then transfer to the labour room for further active induction.

Here is an overview of the labour room in Sunway Medical Center, very well equipped and it's not that scary also. As we will be spending the rest of our time here until delivery, and they are so considerate to even install a TV for us to kill some time. The gynae arrived early and my wife go for her last trip to toilet. She is not allow to eat too many things as that will complicate the matter, if in case she will need to go for Caesarean operation later on. Reason being she will be go through anaesthesia that will risk her for food to be left un-process in her stomach and also possible of food back flowing into lung as she lost control over her muscle during the process. Same pre-caution to be taken if you are going for Caesaran process.

The gynae arrive at 9.45am and inspected her immediately. Within seconds, the gynae performed the Amniotomy (water breaking) and small volume of water gushes out without my wife realising it. Gynae inspected the water and noticed the baby had pass-motion when in the womb but gynae assure that the contamination is minimum and the baby would still be able to go through normal birth. My wife is then hook up with salt water that's mixed with Oxytocin hormone (Pitocin) that will help in contraction. The initial injection rate is 6ml/hour and it's' so effective that my wife went into active labour immediately by 10.00am.

The contraction is then much more intense and lasted longer comparing to her last night experience. I'm sure the contraction is so painful that I can see it from her eyes. She need to divert her mind so I took the opportunity to get my breakfast. When I returned, she is complaining on severe pain on her back, that she couldn't hold anymore. I help her to massage the back and it's a slight relief to the pain (I hope). I massage her for 2 hours and by 12.00pm, the nurse checked and confirmed the dilation is only 4cm! 2 hours for 2cm dilation and 6cm more to go, she nearly fainted. Finally considering everything, we decided for her to take up Epidural to reduce the pain.

After we informed the nurse, within minutes the Aanesthesiologist arrived with medication. He is so professional to introduce himself, explain the procedure, method and medication he is going to use. How epidural works, possible side effects and everything you need to know on epidural. After he confirmed we fully understand the procedure, then off he start. My wife sit up and he do his insertion of the catheter to the spinal cord. Then it's my turn to nearly fainted for holding my position to support my wife and looking at the procedure. It's not that scary, but more to nervous feeling hoping everything goes right. It's spinal cord we are talking here! Anyway the procedure went smoothly and within minutes she is hook up with the medication. It's so effective that it kill the pain immediately! It's so good to see my wife relief of the pain she is going through.

The right side machine is the epidural medication running in at 8.0ml/hour while the left side machine control the injection of the oxytocin hormone with saltwater. As when the epidural is up, the nurse doubled the injection of the oxytocin to 12ml/hour. The clock show 12.00pm. With the epidural running, she is relief but do still feel the contraction coming in more often. I took the opportunity to rest while she try to hold it through. The whole process speed up considerately after that and the injection is then increase to 24ml/hour and finally the opening is almost 9cm by 2.00pm. That's quick and painless, thanks to epidural!

Midwife arrived and gynae did a final check then we start the final part of active labour. For those that's going through the natural birth path, read this section. The gynae will not be in the delivery room and only midwife is going to help you. Unfortunately the midwife we got that day is not very helpful as she don't teach my wife properly on the correct method to push. Of course my wife wouldn't know how to do it, how could she? If you push the wrong way, then there is no way the baby is coming out. The idea is to push the baby out more than he return back to his position due to muscle movement, or so call three out two in process. So at least the baby is moving inch by inch.

I summarise the method and important pointers that I garther with advice from the midwife, gynae and my wife's experience. It might sounds easy but it's extremely difficult to follow. Hope it helps.
- wait for contraction and you should push only together with the contraction.
- inhale a deep breath and push as you exhale out slowly.
- push the holder with your legs and pull the handle with your hands to help the pushing force.
- never ever hold your buttock muscle and it must be in relax form.
- push with muscle from stomach, just like coughing.
- when let go of the push, exhale the remaining oxygen slowly to avoid the baby from going back in too much.
- regroup your breathing and repeat again as much as you can in a single contraction.
- never waste energy when there is no contraction.

The contraction is so painful that I can see from my wife's eyes and her body is all trembling in each contraction even with help from epidural. After a hard labour of 20 minutes and wrong pushing method, my wife is exhausted. We then decided to call for gynae to help and he arrived within minutes. Immediately he corrected the pushing method and prepare the vacuum extraction. The active labour can last as long as you want, but the concern is always on the baby's health condition. The heart rate of the baby shouldn't drop below 110 and the baby will need oxygen not too long after water bag is broken, or else any longer then the gynae will have to find solution to either perform Caesarean or other method to protect the baby.

With the gynae's help and my wife determination, our baby is finally born and the experience of seeing the baby when he is coming out is incredible. If you have not done it, then you are missing the best thing in the world. The baby's texture, colour of the skin, expression, powerless limbs, first cry, how the midwife clean him up. What you see in the photo above is all the way after the whole process is over. You only can experience the birth of a baby when you are in the delivery room, even my wife didn't see it I think =)

The whole labour lasted almost 17 hours and we rejoice with our Cedric baby born in healthy condition.

My wife resting while the baby is busy exploring the new world surrounding him. Two of the most important person in my life.

After a good rest, took the opportunity to snap a family photo. Young family =) She is exhausted and I didn't sleep for almost 48 hours and the baby is busy exploring the world.

Another close-up shot of Cedric Lim. With all daddy & mummy love.

Daorae Korean BBQ Restaurant @ Sri Petaling

2011-07-25T21:50:00.001+08:00

My wife is already in her Week 39 and she is asking to have something special for the dinner to celebrate the smoothness of the baby development so far. Have to do it now or else she wouldn't be able to savour these kind of food for a month after she give birth, so off we go. It's been forever since we ate Korean food and with our favourite restaurant opening up in Sri Petaling, there is no reason to find other shops to kill our craving. Our all-time favourite, the Daorae Korean BBQ.

Daorae Korean BBQ have been actively expanding since last few years ago and till to-date, they have 11 branches all around Malaysia, including Penang, Melaka, and Ipoh. I've tried out the Mont Kiara and Puchong Bandar Puteri branch, and hope they will manage to keep up the good quality in these expansion.

The Daorae Korean BBQ occupying the first floor of three shoplot just right above the Toyota Showroom in Bandar Baru Sri Petaling.

We are a little late that day reaching the restaurant by 7.30pm and it's already packed! Look at the people that swarming the front area, but fortunately they are all seated very quickly. Lots of space.

However, as she will have difficulty to sit on the floor, so we waited at the waiting area for a proper table. It's a long 30minutes wait, I think. She pick up some magazine and I snapped away.

Individual room available if you prefer some privacy, but it's always full, mind you.

Nice green decoration at the front of the entrance, green and flow of water, good Feng Shui?

The usual messy slipper area for Korean BBQ restaurant. Some slippers belong to the waitress, so don't count.

After a long wait, finally we got our table. Clean and simple table with the all famous Korean style top smoke suction vent. The waitress sweep the table with anti-bacterial solution, that's good. But bad point is he sweep the remaining to the floor, like hawker stall.

On the menu, there are lots of choices, but it's almost the same category. Grilled meat (beef, pork, chicken, lamb), soup based, pancake, noodles and rice. That's all. If you fancy a full fledged korean dining experience, then you must order minimum 2 grilled meat as then they will serve the charcoal to grilled the meat and also free flow of korean side dishes including kimchi. That's minimum order for a pot of charcoal. If you have more diners, then no problem. But if you are just like us, two persons, follow our suggestion then.

As when we are seated, two empty cups with a bottle of tea is provided. Hey, that's a good idea, not wasting time in asking the waitress to refill the tea. The tea served is all good and there is a little rice taste in it, not sure if it's just me. We walloped the entire bottle.

The top smoke suction vent on every table. I'm not sure what's the blue handle for as you can actually push and pull the suction head by itself, maybe counterweight? Hmm...

A pot of charcoal they will be putting into the center area for cooking. Healthy way of cooking, and the smell and warmness from the pot is very nice.

3 types of sauce that's provided for the grilled meat and also a small plate of garlic. You will see as I walloped every plate. Fromt bottom to top, sweet soy sauce, ssamjang (fermented bean paste & pepper) sauce, and gireumjang (sesame oil & salt) sauce.

We ordered 2 grilled meat and the side dishes is served first. A total of 8 type of side dishes but I think there are more varieties, I just don't know how many more is available. Side dishes and kimchi is part of the Korean BBQ experience, and if you don't order the 2 grilled meat, you will be missing all these, kind of dumb if you ask me. So for two persons or small diner group, this is a must order to get all the side dishes. Just call the waitress for refill when you finish it. Our experience is a little bad as the waitress responded a little slow, mainly because the place is full and they are busy. We got what we wanted anyway.

Then come our order choice of soup. They normally serve you their daily soup but it's not good in my opinion, so we order the Dweng-Jang-Jjigae priced at RM19.00. It's a miso based seafood pot that's served with rice. We asked for less spicy and it's just nice for both of us. You will get flower-crab, tofu, potato, cucumber and some flavour ingredients with it. Best eaten hot, so don't wait. The idea of Korean food is to keep yourself busy with all the variety of foods on the table. Point of note that we pick-up in Korea is that never lift the rice bowl off the table, as they said that's how beggar eat. Leave the rice bowl on the table and pick it up with your chopstick. It's all part of the experience.

Then come our first choice of grilled meat, the Pork Special priced at RM35.00. It's chosen pork part and some of the meat is crazily fat, heavenly sinful. The pork special is basically plain pork with marinate, to taste the actual taste of the pork.

An usual sight in Daorae that they have plenty of waitress / chef to help you cook the grilled meat. They will help you to control the charcoal fire, flip the meat, and serve it when it's ready. Sometimes I love it half-cooked, so I eat also before he finish cooking. A little disturbance, but it's always nice to have your food to be cook in front of your eyes.

Pork Special that's almost done, nice texture and smell.

Once it's fully cooked, the waitress will then serve it on a plate and move on to our next order. The pork is good and the fatty part is crazy delicious. The meat is also very tender and the raw meat is so tasty in my opinion.

Make sure you get a plate of these super fresh lettuce, it's essential food for grilled meat. The lettuce are free-flow, so don't save on it. Just give a call to the waitress for refill.

How to eat? Dip the grilled meat into the sesame oil & salt sauce and place on top of the lettuce. Add on the sweet soy sauce and fermented bean paste & pepper onto the grilled meat. Adjust the quantity of the sauce according to your liking.

Then wrapped it like this. Then throw the whole thing into your mouth, it's very delicious. Good taste, healthy food with lots of green, incredible. For someone like me that don't love vegetables, it's incredible how they manage to make me pick up the lettuce pieces non-stop. You will tend to get your hands a little wet don't worry, it's just water, if you know how to wrap properly.

They also serve the grilled spring onion, a good add-on ingredients to the grilled meat wrapping experience. It's a little sour, not sure what they added though, but it's nice. Just that a little too much might kill off the taste of the grilled meat.

Next to come is the Gal-Bi-Sal priced at RM58.00. It's prime beef piece marinated with Daorae special sauce. If you are trying it, make sure you get them to serve the non-marinated first, or else it will be a little tasteless. This prime beef is super delicious and if you love medium cooked steak, then you must tell the waitress to stop cooking once it's medium done. The taste is incredible delicious, very very nice. To taste the beef taste alone, eat it without any wrapping, it's crazily nice as well.

Another wrap of prime grilled beef with spring onion. It's so nice that I couldn't help to snap another photo.

My wife looking all satisfy on her craving of Korean Food over her pregnancy. It's part of our celebration to have our 1st baby to develop properly throughout the 39 weeks. Can't wait to have him join the family soon. Sometimes I wonder if it's because the food my wife eating is too delicious, so he dont want to come out? Just a thought =P

Finally, a free piece of watermelon and a free glass of lemon barley as dessert. If you are not getting it, make sure you ask for it. The watermelon is very sweet and the lemon barley is very nice. They might be sometimes just too busy to forget, but remind them. It's worth it to close up your dinner.

The whole dinner cost us a sum of RM123.20 including 10% service charge. I'm a little surprise that such a big restaurant is not subject to government tax. Anyway definitely a plus point for my wallet and I strongly recommend this place for anyone that's craving for Korean Cuisine. It's by far the best korean restaurant that I've eaten so far and I've been their loyal follower since then. The price justify the food easily and it's brainless to write anything else, just try it out and tell me.

Daorae Korean BBQ Restaurant
21, 1st Floor
Jalan Radin Anum
Bandar Baru Sri Petaling
57000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-9057 3617
Location Coordinate: N3 04.187 E101 41.438

Present you a list of the branches around Malaysia, counted 11 by 24th July 2011.

Breakfast at Kum Heong Restaurant @ PJ New Town

2011-07-24T23:06:00.001+08:00

Beautiful Sunday morning and my best friend travelled down from Ipoh to KL so we arranged for a meet-up. Manage to grab our another best friend for a good breakfast in PJ New Town. My friend decided for a meet up with good food din Kum Heong restaurant and the variety of food here is plenty! Let's take a look.

Morning buzz, and if you are late waker, you don't know what you are missing out there. Swarmed by people in the early hour and must be food a good reason.

A good cup of tea, my favourite, however a little disappointed with the quality though. Nothing beat a good tea / coffee in Ipoh, but this will be alright to fill the morning.

A good place for roti bakar and it's very good as they are using charcoal! Who else use charcoal nowadays?

The toast is crazy delciious but eat it up quick, it's not that nice when it's cold though.

A small plate of Roasted Pork in the morning, not for the weak hearted! Crunchy skins & salty meat, all good.

Good portion of Popiah, fresh ingredients, a good plate.

Char Kuey Teow, somehow it taste so much better when it's shared! Love every bit of it, only hoping for the prawn to be a little bigger =)

Super big plate of Wan Tan Mee and the mee is super long as well. The owner should have cut the meet to ease up the consumers, kind of good experience. Just that the plate is too big, we couldn't finish it!

Highlight of the morning, Fish & Clams Porridge, very nice pot. Seriously, order this if you are around, very nice porridge in my opinion.

With all those foods above, my friend is crazy enough to get a box of these! Hey, it's a light morning breakfast! A little too much, and he got to bring it all back to Ipoh for his own pleasure...

Now that's my best friend, Aun Heng with his lovely wife. That's his usual face expression when he eat too much, never fail to amaze me.

He just got hold of his new toy, the Sony NEX-5 with 18-50mm lens. Played with it a while, and the quality of photos is incredibly good! I'm going to get him to give me some nice photos to share here, very good quality pro-compact. Nice to have him picking up photography as well, he definitely has very creative eyes & ideas.

This is my another best friend, Chee Wai. He is currently obsessed with his car, CTR. Crazy driver, and he just recorded 3 mins in Sepang Track in his 1st attempt.

A good morning breakie with two of my best friends, chatting life away. That's life in my opinion, loving it.

1simpleplan is 2 year old

2011-07-17T00:27:00.000+08:00

Last week marked the 2nd anniversary of this blog and it's another interesting year for me. I've done so much with blogging and it's truly inspirational to encourage me to do more everyday and live my life to fullest so I can continue updating this blog, even if there is only 1 person that read it. As explained earlier, I'm not expecting people to read my post, but it has been serving the purpose very well, which is to keep myself living the life that's given to me!

13th July 2010 till 12th July 2011 Life Journey Mosaic

Last year is truly inspirational and there are so many things happened. My lovely wife is conceived in November 2010 and we are expecting our first child anytime this month. Couldn't be happier, and so excited to have someone to call me daddy soon =) I also continue my aim to complete a marathon so I further pushed my limit and completed two half-marathon this year! Never thought I can do it, thanks to the support of my family & friends. My interest in cars & photography continues and I joined up more meet-up run with other car enthusiast and also I took the opportunity to upgrade my lens so I can get better photos for my family and you. With the family expanding and new chapter of life, I upgraded my wife's car and we are enjoying every moments of parenting for current time. I included a new category of parenting, hoping to give guidance to other parents from what we've learned in our journey, it's a true commitment in lifetime.

13th July 2010 till 12th July 2011 Food Journey Mosaic

Thank you everyone for continuing supporting my blog, and I promise to keep it updated as much as I'm able. I'm getting caught up with my new role in the family and company, but fortunately it's part of the discovery the better of myself. Cheers!

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Fresh Unique Seafood 23 Restaurant @ PJ

2011-07-15T08:44:00.001+08:00

This is long overdue post and it's dated back to Chinese New Year 2011, yea, almost 6 months ago. A good friend of mine came back from his long work in Dubai and our group of friends manage to get hold of him to treat us a good dinner since he got good USD allowance! He is always so good and generous and we picked Fresh Unique Seafood 23 in PJ for the food feast!

The main entrance of the Fresh Unique Seafood 23 Restaurant located in Petaling Jaya. If you want to opt for jockey parking, just stop by the entrance and the jockey will take over. It's only RM5 but if you want to save some money, there is a large underground parking that will cost you RM2 with direct access to the restaurant.

The usual seafood restaurant set-up, a good display of their live seafood available for the day. It's just not decorative in my opinion as you can actually choose which one you fancy to eat that night. Similar arrangement in other seafood restaurant but variety is a little lacking comparing to the other newer opening.

Of course we are eyeing all around for lobster ...

Geoduck ... the funniest looking seafood in my opinion. Why it looks like that?

and Alaska Spider Crab!

A snapshot of the dining area that's a little run down, been so many years anyhow, still comfortable though.

Since the dinner falls near to the Chinese New Year, it's just a tradition for us to order the Yu Sheng or Malaysian called them Lou Shang. It's the same but Yu Sheng is the correct terms which is direct translation from Chinese, meaning Increase in Abudance. While Lou Shang means Prosperity Toss. It's common now that people use raw salmon in Yu Sheng like above.

This is how a plate of Yu Sheng looks like, I'm sure all Malaysians are familiar but for the rest, it's a sign of prosperity and good luck for Chinese to eat this during Chinese New Years. Every year, I can easily have 5-7 times of this dish, just because I eat with other friends and it's a must have every table. It's quite nice, but not deliciously tasty though. Keeping up with tradition, why not. You will notice people hunting for the salmon because it's small and limited! Haha...

While waiting for food, posing for camera shooting.

First to come is the Boiled Prawn also known as Pak Cheok Har. As long as they serve boiled prawn, there is normally no problem with it. As it's not seasoned for you to taste exactly how the prawn should taste. Importantly the prawn must be fresh, which it is. Easy way to identify that is to see if the prawn meat will stick to the shell or not. If it's sticky and hard to remove the shell, then it's not fresh. The prawn meat will also tend to be a little softer as well. QC check down then dip it into chili sauce and put it into your mouth, very nice ...

Some greens on the table, believe me or not, I never touch anything on this plate! Not it looks or taste funny, but for those that know me, I'm not really into vegetables. Maybe because there are just too much food on the table for me to ignore it completely! =)

We have the Clam (Lala) in Superior Soup. It's one of my favourite as somehow the soup always manage to capture the lala taste very nicely, so I walloped three bowls here. The clam is also fresh and the size is also just nice, not too small.

We have this Scallop with Chinese Vermicelli and Garlic. It's a little weird combination, but just put everything together and put it into your mouth. The taste is enriching and the scallop is just so delicious. I love this dish, only complain is each of us only get one. I want more, but shy to ask =P

Eating in seafood restaurant, of course we couldn't miss the Crab, and we ordered the Salted Egg Crab. Basically it's cooked with Salted Duck Egg, a chinese delicacy. The taste is delicious but only downside it's not that healthy I think. The crab is fresh as it's alive before cook, and the size is just in good portion for a good savour of the crab meat taste.

Too much seafood is a little crazy, so added up some red meat for my craving. We have the Deer Meat in Ginger and Spring Onion. No funny taste and soft tasty deer meat is very good. It's not overly cooked or overly seasoned, just nice.

Finally a fish to complete the meal. Planning to eat a little healthy and a little different variety, we got ourselves the Grilled Fish. Not very sure what fish is it, but the meat is all good with a little salty taste. Having it with the chili sauce provided is delicious.

After we are clearing off the food on the table fast and suddenly my colleague asked, like not enough eh? All of us shouted Alaska Spider Crab and this is what we get! Many thanks to James & Ely!! The size is a little crazy, but we still manage to finish everything! Cows...

As the Alaska Spider Crab is too big, so we decided to split it for two type of cooking style. First to come is the Alaska Spider Crab in Superior Stocks. The superior stocks sauce is good, but a little overkill in my opinion. The crab meat taste has overcome by the sauce and with the sauce simmered into the crab meat, it taste a little fun. The Alaska Spider Crab meat is all good, and it doesn't taste like crab anymore, more like lobster meat.

Next to come is the Alaska Spider Crab in Salt & Pepper. The cooking is a little too dry and again it killed the meat crab taste again. The meat crab is still good but without the taste, I'm a little disappoiinted. However, I think salt & pepper is better than the superior stocks. At least there is no funny taste on the mixture of the superior stocks sauce with the crab meat. I'm putting high expectations here, and the plate serving is good by all means, but I'm just expecting more from Alaska Spider Crab!

The toilet is quite clean and I can't help to bring my camera and take a snap. My friends said I'm crazy, but I'm doing all these for my blog reader, which is you. I'm sure you want to know how the toilet looks like, no?

Here is the cows gang and with all the food above, there are only six of us! From left, Pang, James, Ely, Karen, and Leong. All still can smile after those foods, I'm crazily filled and couldn't walk properly.

The dinner is generously paid by James & Ely, many thanks for the food. Such an enjoyable moments to feast and chat together again, just like old times. Concluding the dining place, it's a good seafood restaurant and I'm sure it's marvellous ten years ago. It's a little run down now but no doubt it still serves very good seafood at a price though. If you are looking for cheaper or better experience, then there are always options out there. Just for a quick bite with colleagues and friends because you don't want to think of where else to eat, it's always a good place to drop by. At least you know the tables are always available for you, that's a big plus point in my opinion. Who in the mind think that you should stand and wait for a table when you paying for the dinner??

Fresh Unique Seafood 23 Restaurant
Lot 9B-3, Jalan Kemajuan, Section 13,
46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Tel: +603. 7960 2088
Mobile: +6016. 210 4266
Opening Time: 11.45am to 2.30pm / 6pm to 10.30pm
Location Coordinate: N3 06.865 E101 38.552
Website: http://www.unique-seafood.com.my/

Chong Yen Steamed Fish Head @ Chan Sow Lin

2011-07-10T17:00:00.001+08:00

It has been a while since I bring food blog onto the table and this time around, I'm going to introduce the all time favourite and famous, the Chan Sow Lin Steamed Fish Head. For those that don't know, there are many Chan Sow Lin Fish Head in the area as all are riding on the success of the brand built. It's just the same that Klang is famous for Bak Kut Teh, Ipoh for Tau Geh Chicken, Penang for Laksa & Char Kuey Teow, and Chan Sow Lin located within KL is famous for their Steamed Fish Head.

Reputation is built over time and it must have recognition of good majority before it's accepted. The fact is, most of the restaurant around Chan Sow Lin does serve good Steamed Fish Head, therefore the brand. As with everyone else, we wil tend to have our favourite and so-call "Original" Chan Sow Lin Steamed Fish Head, fact is, we also don't know which one is the original. But we think this is the best in the group. So let's check out the Chong Yen Chan Sow Ling Steamed Fish Head!

Chong Yen Chan Sow Lin Steamed Fish Head Restaurant is originally located in Jalan 3, Off Chan Sow Ling and recently they have just moved over to their new premise inside the Jalan 4 since December 2010. For those that are not familiar with Chan Sow Lin, stick to my GPS coordinate. It does not looks like when you driving in, but don't worry. I verify my coordinate before posting it here.

Once you reached, this is the shop you should be looking at. Yellow industrial shoplot with a small banner. It's not hard to spot the shop once you reach the location, it will be hard to direct if you don't know the place. That's the price to pay to find the best Steamed Fish Head =)

As when we arrived in the Saturday afternoon, the place is fully packed. High ceiling, good floor space and very good air flow in the shop. It's much more comfortable comparing to their old shop, not to mention much more hygenic. The bad comments earlier is all diminished with their new shop. Nice!

We have the whole family this time, so good thing is I can introduce more food for you guys. First to come is the Stewed Chicken Feet. Lots don't like to eat chicken feet as they think it's dirty, anyway its the contact point to the floor all the time. But I think there are more bacteria in the meat itself, considering the amount of germs living within. Anyway the stewed chicken feet is good, fulfilling the main criteria that enough time must be allocated to stewed it to ensure softness of the chicken feet.

Then always some green on the table, Boiled Choy Sum Vegetables with Oyster Sauce. All good, nothing to complain about.

The simple steamed Tofu dish, again just a simple healthy dish that we are putting in to balance back our hefty lunch!

A truly chinese dish of Braised Pork with Preserved Vegetable. It's very delicous and I seriously cannot find any dish that's served here that's not nice.

Steamed Fish Maw and Fish Stomach with Soy Bean Sauce. Fish Maw is my favourite and fish stomach is all good. Fish maw is soft and springy while the fish stomach is all new experience. The fish maw goes very well with the soy bean suace while the fish stomach is basically quite tasteless but the springy texture with the soy bean is quite a fun to chew on. Try it out, my must order.

And then come the highlight of the day, Steamed Fish Head. The portion is serve based on the numbers of patrons and we got a medium fish head size. Normal price shall range from RM18-40, depending on size. For steamed fish that's not fresh, there is no hiding as the taste cannot be cover by anything else. The muddy taste is no where to be found and the fish meat is very good. The steamed ginger and garlic sauce that come with the fish head is also good and compliment well.

Moving on, the Cheong Cheng Steamed Fish Head, that's steamed with a good amount of soy bean sauce. As the photograph shown above, the sauce is very addictive that will clear off your rice without your realising it. The fish has the same quality of no muddy taste and good fresh texture. Only comment is the soy bean sauce is a little too salty in my opinion, but that's their idea of soy bean sauce anyway. If you don't like it to be too salty, then you should just stick to the normal ginger and garlic steamed fish head.

For good food, as usual you wouldn't see me writing too much to describe how good is the food because there is no way I can find the right word for it. Whenever you see that in my blog, no need to hesitate. Just find a day and go test it out. I might be wrong, but the rest of the patrons there cannot be wrong. I personally think the steamed fish head that's serve here is if not the best, then it must be one of the best! Definitely better than the Ah Wang Steamed Fish Head that I posted earlier. It's different as Ah Wang is good for conveniency to my house, but Chong Yen serve the best Steamed Fish Head and that's my vote for the best. End of Story.

Oh, before that, my always important information for every food post, how much it cost? As I didn't write the price tag for each food, meaning I didn't pay for it. For this place, allocate around RM15-20 for each person and it should be more than enough. Price mentioned is of course for sensible portion depending on your patrons size. Happy food hunting!

Chong Yen Steamed Fish Head @ Chan Sow Lin
No. 22-24, Jalan 2/89C
Off Jalan Chan Sow Lin 4
55200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 012-231 8129
Location Coordinate: N3 07.092 E101 42.813

Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II LD IF

2011-07-05T22:02:00.000+08:00

I've been living my childhood dream of owning the dSLR for almost 2 years and as I move deeper into photography, the more I learn about the limitations of the equipment. That's why I've been researching and always longing for a new lens to replace my standard stock kit lens of AF-S DX Nikkor 18-105mm f3.5-5.6G ED VR that came together wtih the D90. The ultimate dream lens of Nikon user is always the incredible AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 G ED, which is priced at RM6,688 but unfortunately it's out of my reach.

After a long research and consideration, finally I grab the cheaper option of Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II LD IF for a price of RM1,550 that's always in my wish list. I always tell people that the main reason for using a Nikon dSLR is only because of the range of incredible Nikkor lens that's available. If you are not planning to use Nikon lens, then no need to buy Nikon dSLR. I'm ashame to admit that I just join the group of people that I complain about.

My other enthusiast friends suggest me to move on with a cheaper option rather than waiting forever saving for the dream lens. As although the cheaper lens is not as superior as dream lens, it is still by any measure a much better lens than my kit lens. With my intention to move myself into professional level, I made this decision.

Here is my new un-box Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II LD IF lens. This lens is special made for DX camera and the 17-50mm range is effective 24-70mm after conversion.

The main reason I made this decision is because I've already decided that I love photography and I plan to upgrade to full frame in future. This 17-50mm lens will allow me to familiarise myself to the 24-70mm range in full frame camera. The superior quality of f/2.8 will also allow me to fulfill my current desire for my wish bokeh effect that will improve my photography quality tremendously. It will be one of my important step towards my plan of turning professional.

Opening up the box, the content is very generous. A good manual booklet, lens itself, lens front & rear cap, and lens hood. Basically everything you need for a lens is inside, except the pouch which I dont need.

Signature of the Tamron higher end lens model, a gold colour band around the barrel. Let's do a quick review of the physical built of the lens.

The cap provided is very good, better than Nikon in my opinion. It's center pinch design is very practical and useful. The focus ring is located too near to the front and with the hood reverse installed, it will block the control. This lens does not support full time overwrite on focus during autofocus setting, so it's not a big deal. The zoom ring is nicely rubberised and the built quality is very good. 17mm lock button is provided and printing of focus distance is available as well. The only complain would be the focus ring will turn when its focusing Annoying. The weight is only 430gram and it balance up very nicely with the D90 body. It's definitely lighter than the kit lens.

Moving on the quality and functional of the lens, there are a few regular complains moving around on the web. Let's look at what's the problem.

Being a third party manufacturer with a cheaper price tag, problems are unavoidable but is it serious?
1. Focus hunting issue. I personally have no problem with the focusing in bright area but once you move into darker object, the focus hunting is very real. As the focus ring will rotate during focusing, you will notice the focus ring will move forward and backward 1-2 times and it will adjust alittle again after you think it's done. It all happened in miliseconds, but it's enough to frustrate the professional. For that price, I can live with it by just waiting for the focus to settle down before clicking it.
2. High buzz sound during focusing. Tamron does not have a silent motor technology like Canon, Nikon or Sigma, so the high buzz motor sound during focusing makes you look like amateur in an event. It does not bother me though and the focusing speed is acceptable in my opinion.
3. Motor failure. Consulting many people and I think the problem relies on the turning focus ring during focusing. As the motor is an amateur design, any thing that stop the motor during it's focusing will actually daamge it. I do agree that it will damage the motor if your finger is place on the focus ring during focusing but it shoud not limited to only Tamron lens. Do that to any lens including Nikon, I'm sure the motor will protest as well. Question is only how soon.

Other than the 3 problems above, I think this Tamron lens left only advantages. Super sharp lens, minimal distortion, neutral colour, resistant to flare, light weight, and of course, the cheap price tag.

For whoever that's upgrading and have a limited budget, get this lens. For whoever considering to get a dSLR, buy only the body and get this lens as well. You will not regret it. I'm so happy now with its performance. The quality is killing me and I'm starting to explore the possibility with this new lens all over again. It's so exciting. Some shots taken with the new Tamron for your viewing pleasure.

Before closing, for those that have the budget, go get the Nikkor lens. I tested both, and the price do justify the difference. It's the matter of affordability, you will get what you pay for. However, the Tamron is a above class lens for that price tag.

Sunset view from my home.

Striking colour on sunset, I failed to capture the beauty of the nature.

Focus on the hand, and the bokeh on the laichi is crazy. Power of f/2.8.

Focusin on the M, again the bokeh power of f/2.8 is crazy.

Crazy bokeh again, exactly what I'm looking for. Beautiful.

Why You Shouldn't Buy A Hybrid Car!

2011-07-01T08:15:00.017+08:00

Since my friend and other people are considering hybrid, so I might as well share my simple calculations and research that I've done last time. It's a hip thing for hybrid as you are doing your part for the environment, but at what cost? Let's first look at the cost savings, which everyone is talking about.

For the smallest model in the range in Malaysia now, we have the Honda Insight and a comparable model should be Honda City, so let's see.

Honda Insight = RM99,800.00
Estimated Fuel Consumption = 20km/l

Honda City = RM90,480.00
Estimated Fuel Consumption = 13km/l

Based on a 20,000km range per year,
Honda Insight = 1,000 liters x RM1.90 = RM1,900.00 petrol price per year
Honda City = 1,538 liters x RM1.90 = RM2,922.20 petrol price per year.

Savings of RM1,022.20 per year. It's well known that hybrid runs on battery and whoever use handphone will know battery doesn't last. The last report from Autocar magazine earlier indicated the price for a new battery is almost RM7,000 and you should be changing it by the 4th or 5th year. Let's take 5 year for battery change out. Savings of RM1,022.20 x 5 years = RM5,111 savings and it's not even enough to pay for the battery! Now that sounds a little stupid, not to mention depreciation of the hybrid car as who will want to buy an old battery hybrid? Unless for a bargain as the next owner will need to take the RM7,000 into his calculations as well. Depreciation will suffer, savings is non, then why buy hybrid? Because you want to pretend to do environment a favour.

People will argue that hybrid will do less harm to the environment as it dispose off less carbon monoxide, but do you know how much harm it does by manufacturing the battery?? Either way, you are destroying the earth. Want to save the earth? Do it like the western style, cycle to work!

Insight is a bad example for Malaysia petrol price, let's take the crown of the hybrid, Toyota Prius and compare it against the Toyota Altis.

Toyota Prius = RM139,900
Estimated Fuel Consumption = 31km/l

Toyota Altis = RM112,900
Estimated Fuel Consumption = 10km/l

Based on 20,000km range per year,
Toyota Prius = 645 liters x RM1.90 = RM1,225.50
Toyota Altis = 2,000 liters x RM1.90 = RM3,800.00
Substantial savings of RMRM2,574.50!

However, Prius battery is quoted RM12,000 and how many years you will need for the savings to breakeven? 4 years. Whoever driven the Toyota Prius will know that the features provided is not as much different to a mid-range Toyota Altis, so for the additional price tag of RM27,000, now that will take a long long time to recover. So call hybrid car, I don't get the logic on cost savings actually, anyone mind enlighten me?

Worse, if you do a search online, you will see why Prius is bad for environment. Not particularly only Prius, but all hybrid cars. Top Gear tested the Prius agaisnt BMW M3 and M3 recorded a better mileage than Prius in their test circuit. It's all about how you drive. Then Prius battery contained nickel where the emission will cause acid rain that's damaging to all living things out there. Prius nickel is mined from Canada and it's send to Europe for refinement and then send to China for production into nickel foam and then only send to Japan for assembly. The process alone is more damaging that what you individual can do with a car! There is also another comparison made for Prius and Hummer, reported that Prius life expectancy of 100,000 miles is more environmentally damaging and expensive than a Hummer life expectancy of 300,000 miles.

We are in the information age, verify what I wrote online and don't listen to me blindly.

For other country that have more expensive petrol price, then fuel savings might play a bigger role, but not in Malaysia. As the fuel prices go up, and the battery price go down, cost savings is inevitable but definitely not for now and not within few years span in my opinion.

But if you are talking about helping the environment, I'm going to slap you in the face next time.
To me, I will just wait for the better technology before committing myself. Solar sounds good, anyone?
For greener place, here is what you can do now!

1. Change all your bulbs to energy-savings bulb. It's more expensive, but it really help.
2. Cut down on all eletricity usage and set your air-condition temperature a degree higher and on the fan, it does make substantial difference.
3. Cut down on plastic bag and recycle everything you can.
4. When buying next heavy eletricity appliance like air-condition, refrigerator, choose 5-star green rated appliance and claim RM200 from the government.
5. Switch of all switches when not using, it does draw electricity.
6. Live like your grandfather, throw your kids to the playground and stop them from playing iPad or PS3.
7. Stop printing emails and unnecessary things, save the trees.
8. Walk or cycle to work if you can, no one will be greener than you!
9. Plant some plants in your house, if every household have some plants, it will help substantially.
10. There are many more than buying a hybrid, let's show some action.

A Blessing

2011-06-29T08:23:00.000+08:00

Something happened last year, and I'm overwhelmed.

Sorry to inform so late, but just prefer to give some space to myself and my wife to prepare everything for the perfect moment. This is one of the reason why I'm so busy this year, and it's truly a blessing, we are so happy.

Knew that few of my friends also have the good news, congrats as well and I will try to share on what to prepare and budget to estimate shortly. Can't wait to see him, yes, it's a him =)

Compression Shorts for Running

2011-06-26T22:30:00.000+08:00

I've been told on the benefits of a real compression shorts for sports and since I'm serious into running, I've been eyeing on it. The price tag is holding me back though, a normal compression shorts for a good brand will cost easily over a hundred ringgit, that's expensive.

Of the benefits, here I list out some for reference.

1. keep muscles warm to prevent muscle strain and fatigue
2. ventilated fabrics are designed to wick sweat away to prevent chaffing and rashes
3. well compressed fittings that help in athelete performance
4. all round tightness apparel that help to reduce friction
5. it also help in keeping male genital in place during sports and help to prevent exposure of female ahtleletes

All the benefits are very good in a marathon run and I need everything I can lay my hands on. After a good search, I finally decided on Adidas apparel. Here is what I get.

Adidas Response Running Short Tights

FORMOTION™ Ergonomic cut for optimized linear running motion
CLIMACOOL® provides heat and moisture management through ventilation
Mesh inserts for improved ventilation
miCoach compatible
Reflective detail
zipper pocket(s) 100% Polyester

I tried out a few and found that Adidas gives me the best support and style. I got my pair from Studio R again and it's priced at RM120.00. I tried it out on my Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2011 for 10km leisure run, and I love every bit of it!

It keeps my lower body part warm and energetic. The compression feeling is giving a good support to my thigh muscle and I'm feeling all good. It's very well ventilated as well, it dry almost immediately and I don't feel the weight. There is this small zip pocket that's very useful, I kept my iPhone there and it stays, does not move around, all good fit without any movement. It's one of my essential gear towards my goal of full marathon end of this year. More things I need, keep it up together with me.

Honda Civic 1.8S-L

2011-06-20T21:42:00.001+08:00

After a long viewing of various cars ranging from RM70k to RM130k, finally I decided on Honda Civic 1.8S-L for my wife. I'm avid Honda supporter earlier becase my dad own at least 3 generations of Honda Accord when I'm still a kid. However that changed once I get a taste of Alfa Romeo in its raw power and handling. Anyhow, Honda still hold a very special place in my heart.

The Honda emblem is only getting bigger and bigger, I'm loving it.

This Honda Civic is the 8th Generation and facelifted version. If you track Honda's development recently, you will notice they revise the generation almost every 4 years and facelift it every 2 years within its lifespan. My new Honda Civic 1.8S-L is codenamed FD1. 1st generation is launched since 1973. The first 8th generation is launched in 2006 and till today of 2011, it's still selling. Although the 9th generation is launched in US and other market, but I heard it will not be launch in Malaysia this year, due to the Tsunami matters.

The highlight of a car is always at the heart & soul of the machine, the engine. This Civic is powered by the newly developed Straight-4 1,799cc SOHC i-VTEC, codenamed R18A, giving out 140bhp and 174Nm. Honda is always famous for its VTEC tecnology being able to push the Natural Aspirated (NA) Engine to give out over 200bhp from its crown VTEC tecnology. In this case, the i-VTEC is tuned for both fuel efficiency and performance. Since it's a SOHC (single overhead camshaft), the VTEC indicated is just a mild tuning on the camshaft shifting when it hit higher rpm.

For those that have more technical knowledge, you will know engine perform on a curve line when you will hit the peak torque or power then it will dip drop. How long can the torque or power stay on the higher area of the chart is a challenge and the most efficienct range is normally within 3,000rpm. Wider power band is always good but it's hard to achieve. With your petrol engine capable of highest rpm of 7,000 rpm, where this 3,000 rpm can fit? If you throw the 3,000 rpm at the lower and starting from 1,500rpm or 2,000 rpm, then you will run out of breath or lost power after 5,000rpm making your 5,000rpm to 7,000rpm useless. But if you put the 3,000 rpm starting from 4,000rpm, you will lost out power in low rev. It's not perfect and VTEC solve the problem.

As the name suggest, the intake & exhaust valve control is done by a single overhead camshaft but VTEC technology utilise 2 sets of cam lobes on the single camshaft. For a mild / low-end VTEC control, the cam lobes variation is only for intake. During normal driving that use low pedal movement, the opening is small as it's linked to the pedal. Small movement in pedal resulted in small opening and it will cause back pressure to losses of petrol & air flow. Inefficiency. The 1st set of cam lobes allow the intake valve to be open wider in normal drive for better inflow to increase power & efficiency.

While if you pedal hard, the 1st set of cam lobes opening will be too big, therefore the intelligent system will activate the servo to change the cam lobes to the 2nd set for normal flow which again increase the power and efficiency. i-VTEC means the new generation of VTEC where the servo control is included so that when it's not necessary, VTEC will not be activated. If you want to feel the VTEC activation, pedal hard and you should feel a surge of power in the range 3,500-4,000rpm. That's why VTEC engine will have two peaks in their power curve.

Honda technology does not stop there and additional features that's incorporated is the variation of intake manifold. In further exploiting the advantage of the low & high rpm power difference, manifold plays an important role as well. Same concept applies that longer intake manifold will help in low rpm power while shorter intake manifold will help in high rpm power. Reasoning being flow of air will have a peak resonance points where it will create a high differential power that pushes air into the engine with correct length of intake manifold. For low rpm power, longer intake manifold is use to turn the air resonance frequency to lower range, while shorted intake manifold is use to turn the air resonance frequency to high range. Both will help in air intake control to the engine and help in increasing the power & efficiency. It's the same principle as the VTEC but different area of application.

If you notice, all manipulation of power for the R18A is purely on the intake. Intake manifold and intake camshaft. There is nothing done on the exhaust to extract the power more efficiently and if you would like that to happen, that's where the Honda Civic 2.0 K20A VTEC+VTC engine come in with it's DOHC (double overhead camshaft) design to help in the exhaust throttling as well. That's not for me, so I'm not touching it here. Point to note is that if you own a Honda Civic 1.8, don't modify the intake manifold or air filter without knowing what you are doing as it will defeat the purpose of Honda engineering on the engine control.

Other improvement highlights of the engine is such as friction reduction from molybdenum disulfide coating on pistons, ion plating on piston rings, and plateau honing. Every friction reduce will contribute to a more efficiency engine operation.

Moving on the the next important criteria is the handling of the car. Honda Civic 1.8S-L comes standard with its 16" allow rim wrapped by Goodyear Eagle NCT5 205/55R16. The road noise is particularly bad for this tyres and 55 wall is not spectacular in handling as well but for those that opt for the 1.8 model, comfort is their bigger concern other than performance, so it's alright. The ride is alittle crashy sometimes but it also translate to better handling on the road than other cars. Front wheels are suspended by MacPherson Strut while the rear is installed with Independent Double Wishbone, which is all good and explained why the good handling. However, it's still a little on the soft side if you ask me. The target if general public, cannot complain.

The steering is hydraulic powered meaning it draws its power from the engine, therefore reducing the efficiency. 2.0 model is drive-by-wire that's much better but also possible problem in lack of steering feel. Comparing to any local brand, the steering is responsive and good but my opinion is it lacks responses. I'm always compring to my Alfa Romeo, so it might not be a fair comment, and you will really need to feel the best only you know how to compare.

Safety features is aplenty with Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA), All-wheels Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD), Brake Assist (BA), Dual SRS Airbags, Active Headrest, and G-Force Control Technology. Honda Civic 8th Generation is awarded 5 star in Euro NCAP crash rating with details in the specifications below. All these are the reasons of my decision.

Moving to the interior, the famous dual tier meter that's first launch in the 8th generation model. The upper tier that indicate the speed, temperature and fuel is really practical and good. I hardly set my eyes to the lower tier information, only when I start the car to check for any error. The deep dashboard also giving a good sense of space and luxury feeling to the overall experience.

As my Civic is S-L trimmed, I have full leather seats and on-steering control for both cruise control and entertainment. The air-condition system is fully automatic and it's truly powerful. I always leave the control to automatic with set temperature of 25dC and in the middle of the day, I will just reduce it to 24dC and it's sufficient to keep the cabin comfortable. Everything is within reach and all compartment for storage is covered with a sliding plastic door, my wife love it so much.

The entertainment system comes with a single slot CD, MP3 and portable connection to USB or iPod that's connected to 6-speakers with 4 speakers located infront. The sound quality is decent and clarity is good. However due to lack of subwoofer, the bass is a little lacking if you enjoy R&B. As said, for this price range, everything is good and my only complain is the missing multi-information display that tell me the fuel consumption, average speed and etc. How expensive this display can be?? I don't understand, even myvi have it.

One of my favourite features is the flat floor at the rear seat. A small reduce in the hump gives a big sense of space within the cabin. It's remarkable comfortable and luxury for those that's seating at the rear seats.

Overall View

As Malaysian, you are required to service your nation at least once, meaning buy Malaysia's made product. After that and as your financial status improve, you will tend to upgrade and for our standard here, meaning Korean or Japanese product. In the subrange above RM70k, seriously it's quite hard to find a decent car that's of both presentable, good quality and good performance. If you are looking for that, then sorry to tell that you will need to move your budget a little higher to the range of RM120k. As of myself, I find the Honda Civic is of best value for money that I can find. Although the minor defects, I will still basically recommend it to whoever looking for an upgrade. The engine is responsive, handling is good and importantly, it looks really good despite it's already 5 years old in its design. I'm sure that's also the main reason why people buy a Civic. Final point, the fuel consumption is recorded in the range of 10km/liter, in mixture of city & highway drive. Hope it helps!

Honda Civic 1.8SL
Standard Specifications

Layout: Front Engine Front Drive (FF)
Engine: Water-cooled Inline 4-cylinder
Valve Train: 16-Valve SOHC i-VTEC
Engine Code: Honda R18A
Engine Block / Cylinder Head: Aluminum Alloy
Timing Belt: Chain Driven
Displacement: 1,799cc
- Bore: 81.0mm
- Stroke: 87.3mm
Power: 102.9kW (138bhp) @ 6,300rpm
Torque: 174Nm (17.7kgm) @ 4,300rpm
Compression Ratio: 10.5
Redline: 6,800rpm
Power to displacement: 57.20kW (76.70bhp) per liter
Power to weight: 82.98kW (111.30bhp) per tonne
Torque to weight: 140.32Nm (14.27kgm) per tonne
Clutch Type: Torque Converter
Fuel System: Programmed Fuel Injection (PGM-FI)

Steering: Rack & Pinion, Hydraulic Power Assist
Front Suspension: Macpherson Strut
Rear Suspension: Independent Double Wishbone
Front Disc: Ventilated Disc Rotor Dia.261.62mm (10.3inch)
Rear Disc: Solid Disc Rotor Dia.259.08mm (10.2inch)
Front Rim & Tire: 16x6½J 205/55R16
Rear Rim & Tire: 16x6½J 205/55R16
Spare Rim & Tire: 15x4T 135/80R15
Weight Distribution (front/rear): 61 / 39

Wheelbase: 2,700mm
Front Track: 1,500mm
Rear Track: 1,525mm
Length: 4,450mm
Width: 1,755mm
Height: 1,435mm
Steering Turns Lock to Lock: 2.67
Min. Turning Radius: 5.8m
Ground Clearance: 155mm
Weight: 1,240kg (2,733lbs)

Transmission: 5-Speed Auto
Gear Ratios: 2.666:1, 1.534:1, 1.022:1, 0.721:1, 0.525:1 Final Drive 4.44:1 (Reverse 1.957)
Top Speed: 205km/h (127mph)
Acceleration (0-62mph): 10.4seconds
Drag Coefficient: 0.31
Fuel Consumption (city/highway): 10.63km/L / 15.31km/L (25mpg / 36mpg)
CO2 Emissions: 153g/km
Fuel Tank: 50 Liters

Others:
VSA, ABS, EBD, BA, G-Force Control Technology, Dual SRS Airbags, Active Headrest
EuroNCAP crash rating: 5 star (79% adult occupant, 76% child occupant, 67% pedestrian,86% safety assist)

Plan to Upgrade My Wife's Car - Part 2

2011-06-19T18:38:00.001+08:00

I've been always a car enthusiast, and although Malaysia tax makes any car barely affordable by other countries standard, but I still can't help falling in love with it. It's a beauty and marvel of human's engineering. Remember a story that in stone age, people got killed by the lion, while some warrior manage to kill a lion after having a spear on hand. Now with guns, lion are no match to human, but not because of the brute power of the individual. Only because of the intelligence of human being in developing the tools and that make us the supreme species in the world. I felt the same for cars, another tool that makes thing impossible possible.

Following up with my earlier post, we only have 1 car shortlisted, which is the Suzuki SX4. With our improving financial stand, I propose to my wife for a stretch in the budget and look at what is offered within the range of RM130,000. As there is where most of the much better B class car is priced, and just for a search, why not. Again, a few cars came into picture, such as the Toyota Altis, Honda Civic, Nissan Sylphy, Mazda 3, Mitsubishi Lancer, Ford Focus, Peugeot 407, even Volkswagen Polo. Tight cabin car such as Mazda 3 and Volkswagen Polo is rejected. Bad depreciation car such as Ford Focus and Peugeot 407 is rejected as well. Mitsubishi Lancer is one of the victim from Proton, and leaving us with only Altis, Civic and Sylphy.

Let's take a closer look of these cars:

Toyota Altis 1.8E (RM112,990)
140bhp and 177Nm coupled with CVT-7speed, MacPherson Strut + Torsion Beam, Ventilated Disc + Solid Disc, Foldable rear seats, Halogen, Amber Head Display, CD+MP3 with 4 speakers, Fabric Seats

Nissan Sylphy 2.0 CVTC Comfort (RM114,880)
133bhp and 195Nm coupled with X-CVT, Independent MaxPherson Strut + Torsion Beam, Ventilated Disc + Drums,

Honda Civic 1.8S-L (RM119,980)
140bhp and 174Nm coupled with Auto-5speed, MacPherson Strut + Independent Double Wishbone, Ventilated Disc + Solid Disc, Non Foldable rest seats, Halogen, Multiplex Meter, CD+MP3+iPod with 6 speakers, Leather Seats

When cars reached this range of pricing, it's already a very good car and as a consumer, we are always just looking for more features for the money that we are spending. First of all, Altis interior is dull crazy and it's so boring. We take lowest model of 1.8 for comparison and it fit all we need. The engine response is alright and as you can see from the numbers, all performance is almost the same and the comfort level from this car is very very good. Good thing about Toyota is everything is within expectactions. When you buy a Toyota, you already know what to expect and that's boring to me. Surprisingly the brakes & handling is quite good.

Moving on to Nissan Sylphy which my wife don't like as it's too big! But I do take a look anyway and it's a surprisingly good deal. The interior is more dull than Altis, imagine that! Cannot believe there are design that's more dull than Altis. The space inside is bigger Camry or Accord! Safety list is also good with a solid bar near radiator to protect from direct crash. The ride is comfortable and the handling is ok but the engine response is a little slow to my liking. Anyway my wife don't like it so it's out of our list.

Finally Honda Civic and there are few trimline choices but we delete the lowest end model as it does not have what we need. We tested the Civic right after the Altis and if you know about both cars, you will know our response. It's heaven and hell. Lucky that the Altis facelifted is alright in its exterior but still the 4-year-old Civic design still beat the Altis back to hell. On interior, I don't even want to mention as it's not comparable. Civic is famous for its 2-tier meter and deep dashboard design which is incredibly nice and challenge directly to those higher class cars. The engine response for 1.8 is good and it basically meet everything we need. Handling is much better than Altis but overall the main point is the Altis dull design turn this Civic to Angel.

Right after we tested the Civic, I made the deposit. Somehow once you hit this price range, the Suzuki SX4 is no longer in the picture. For young couple like us, it's no brainer for Civic. The only concern is the model is already reaching its 4-year-old cycle where new Civic model is expecting to launch in 2011. Anyway it's too good to resist and we need the car as well. So we don't bother to wait for the new model. A word of advice is that if you don't have the budget, don't ever compare to those higher class car.

Honda Civic is always my wife's dream car and I want her to live her dream as well but importantly, I need a better car to protect her and the family when we are travelling. We spent more and more of our time on the road, and I'm not risking it as long as I'm afford to do so.

Plan to Upgrade My Wife's Car - Part 1

2011-06-14T22:33:00.001+08:00

It's been a very busy year for me and that's for a good reason! =)

I've hundred of posts to share but time is never enough for me. Since I started my blog, my life improve substantially and I'm not sure if it's purely good economic drive of the country or I'm lucky or I'm dedicated to live my life fullest in committing to blogging. Either way, never regret I started it and I'm writing as long as I'm able.

Sharing my life this time that after a good six years of service from my wife's first car, the Perodua Myvi, I decided to change out her car and give her a good life for standing beside me all these whiles. With our financial stand, we draw out a budget of RM100,000 for her next car and we started hunting. Criteria is simple of following:

1. Good usable space in sedan body as transporter for our family.
2. Priority on safety system and good crash protection.
3. Good subsale value with minimum depreciation.
4. Problem free as it's for my wife =)

There are lots of choice for that budget range, and after a shortlisting arrangement, I summarised my findings below:

Honda City 1.5E - RM87,982.50 or Toyota Vios 1.5E - RM87,300.00
I group both of these here because it's actually the same car with 118/108bhp and 145/141Nm. The engine response is alright and there is no lagging. Power is sufficient but my favourite features in City of CVT, iDSL engine and Ultra Seats in the older version is all gone. The boot space is crazy big but interior space is not very good. For future expanding family, it's not that suitable, so we look for next ride.

Naza Forte 2.0SX - RM95,120.10
Hitting the town like storm, super value of Forte 2.0SX with 154bhp and 194Nm. A4 paper also cannot fill its feature list and it's incredible for value. The ride is comfortable but 1.6 is pathetic in power. 2.0 is the only way and the new 6-speed sweeten the deal. However, we are worry on the subsale value as all Korean cars sustain heavy depreciation last time, we never know, better be safe than sorry so we look on.

Chevrolet Cruze 1.8 - RM98,767.60
Good value but unfamous car in the soil of Malaysia. It comes with 140bhp and 176Nm. The ride is good, handsome looking as well. But you will seldom see it on the road, because it's not famous, meaning bad subsale value as well. Next.

Ford Fiesta 1.6 Hatchback Sport - RM80,598.50
Hot Hatch and although it doesnt fulfill our requirement of sedan, we still test drive the small car comes with 118bhp and 152Nm. Its mated to dual clutch gearbox and the transmission is seamless! Ride is good with good power and easily reach 160kmh in our test ride. However, the hatchback is really small! Much smaller than City, so it's out, especially the boot space is pathetic. Test car quality built is also disappointing.

Peugeot 308VTi 1.6 - RM97,156.50
A good premium hatch with 120bhp and 160Nm but the power is not as good. Body is heavy and but interior is spacious. Problem is hatchback and Peugeot is not famous for its reliability. As long as it's continental, electrical problem is unavoidable, so we got to pass on this one. Not to mention small boot space. If I'm interested, then I will only consider the turbo version, but it's out of budget.

Proton Inspira 2.0 Premium - RM89,397.10
Its a value for money for sure and at that price, the power is 148bhp and 197Nm. Same quality as the much more expensive sibling, the Lancer, it's a no brainer. Only problem, it's local brand. A friend once said, you buy the car to show off, the brand defeat the whole purpose! I hate to agree, but it's true most of the times. Spending so much on a car, you would want people to recognise it. Main turn off is my wife got enough of local brand, so not even a consideration for her. If you looking for maximum bang for your money, this is your only choice, no need to think further. A big discount of the incredible quality of model, but don't wait later. Heard they will changeout the parts to local source, bad.

Honda Insight Hybrid 1.3 - RM95,320.80
A premium model of City, same platform, same space and eco friendly. I love the idea but the space is a big turn off, it's just a premium model of City with Cruise Control and etc installed. Somemore I'm worried on the battery life, worried on the subsale value as well, as hybrid is new to Malaysia market. With the battery replacement in closing up to RM5,000 after 4-5 years, the cost savings in petrol does not justify the price actually. The air-condition that turn off at traffic light is stupid, yea you can overwrite it, but it's stupid thing to do.

Suzuki SX4 Sport Crossover - RM89,988.00
A hidden gem in my opinion, 101bhp and 140Nm. The ride is high as you can expect in crossover, and it has a very good usable space within. Problem is boot space is not as big but usable still. Rear seats are foldable and it functions like ultraseats in old City. Value for money and it's my choice for current time, as no other come close to it. Power is ok with comfortable ride. Problem might be subsale value later, but swift is bringing the brand up, shouldnt be a problem.

There are lots of choice, but majority couldn't even fulfill my basic requirements. Don't mistaken me, all the cars above are fabulous cars and just look at the volume sold, I'm sure all buyers are educated in choosing the right cars for their family. Just that it doesn't fit my family needs, really that stringent or I'm just picky?

My shortlisted car is only Suzuki SX4 Sport Crossover as I exhausted my list in the budget of RM100,000. What am I going to do? Stay tuned for part 2.

K3K Benta Kaya @ Kuchai Lama

2011-06-08T11:23:00.000+08:00

Kopitiam, an usual spot for local to have a quick bite to fill the hunger, or a good time to meet up with some good friends for a good talk. Since the modernisation of Kopitiam concept lead by Old Town, you will find new Kopitiam all around the corner in KL. This particular new Kopitiam caught my eyes and I thought it's a western cuisine outlet, as the name K3K is a little funny. I'm usually conservative in choosing which restaurant to try out, as there are lots of disappointment out there I've encountered. Paying the money but still torturing my stomach is not something I look forward to.

However, we cleared almost all the Kopitiam in Kuchai Lama area, so we decided to give K3K a try. K3K means Kwai Sam Kei, translated from mandarin, but it's clearly mentioned the shop is originated from Kuala Lipis, Pahang since 1955. It's all marketing gimmick, I think. Anyone from Kuala Lipis mind confirming on that?

Now the name and logo is pathetic on K3K as it's not catchy and will not attract people. But once you step into the restaurant, the kopitiam has a very nice setting and environment, and the menu is also nicely done up. I always love beautiful menu, because that's how people over-order normally =)

The shop front of the K3K Benta Kaya and the usual full road side parking in Kuchai Lama area. I normally hate to eat in a congested area, therefore I only visit Kuchai Lama on occassional basis. Let's go to food.

A flip on the menu, and you will immediately notice it has a similarity on other Kopitiam franchise out there but there is a great additional variety as well. As the name K3K Benta Kaya suggest, they are good and proud in their Kaya. The additional variety is a good twist to the boring Old Town Coffee Shop and I like every part of it. Eye catching is what they can do with their Kaya, you just have to check out the menu. We ordered something normal and I continue with my photography.

A counter set-up outside of the kitchen. The whole kopitiam has a dark brown wood theme and yellow lighting soothing the whole place. Staff are attentive and there are even buttons on each table for you to call them. Tested, response within 5 seconds, nice.

An important criteria of a Kopitiam is to have a comfortable environment that allow people to sit there for a long time and chat their life away. While they are chatting there, they will tend to order things to eat or drinks and that's how they earn money. Privacy without disturbance and soothing environment with comfortable chairs are important. That's exactly what K3K is offering. Although the visibility to be spotted is less comparing to other more establised Kopitiam, but it's good enough with a little privacy.

We ordered a Lemon Honey Shake that's priced at RM5.80 and a Iced Water for RM0.80. Reasonable enough and they refill the water for me without additional charges. The Lemon Honey Shake is good but not spectacular. There are lots of variety and I'm sure you can find something that fancy you.

We decided to order something lighter so we can order more and I choose the Roti Jala Curry Chicken that's priced at RM6.80. The curry chicken is quite similar to the Old Town and the roti jala is good. I love Curry Chicken so I clear everything up before anything else arrive.

Since K3K is so famous with their Kaya so we decided to take up some bread with it's Kaya. This particular bun caught my wife's eyes and it's called Soft Bun K3K Special priced at RM3.80 only. The topping is chocolate, the skin is crunchy, the bun is soft and the Kaya is watery. What does it means? It means it's great! The kaya is truly special and it's not some normal kaya paste that you taste out there. It's a little lighter and watery.

The kaya blend greatly into the soft bun while the crunchy skin gives your teeth something to do. We love every bit of it and again we walloped everything before the 3rd dish arrive. Not sure if the serving is slow or ware eating too fast, hehe.

My wife don't want to be Malaysian that night, so she goes western. She ordered the Almond Sliced Chicken Chop that's priced at RM14.80 and the serving is big! A genourous amount of baked beans, coleslaw, french fries, special sauce and the chicken chop that's covered by almond. I should have put my hand for you to compare the size.

As usual, she munch her way of all side dish while I do my magic in cutting the chicken to appropriate portion for her. Am I a good husband? I do that almost everytime if I'm free! If yes, please tell her. If not, keep to yourself and send me a private email, I will see how I can do better =P

The chicken chop, can you see how big is the serving? All side dishes are great and the chicken is tasty as well. Almond as usual a little tasteless but the sour sauce put the whole experience in the right place. My wife doesn't like the sauce but I dipped everything into the bowl. I hate dry food, so sauce is compulsary. Even if I eat Maryland Chicken Chop, I will top up a gravy for go with it. Delicious plate, thumbs up and I think this is my first Almond Chicken Chop!

The whole dinner cost us a total of RM39.40 inclusive of 10% service charge only. If you go calculate the food price with the bill, it doesn't balance up. Because my wife order a take-away cup of Benta Kaya that's priced at RM3.80. The kaya is nice and since we bought some Gardenia bread, decided to take a cup to go with it. The Kaya is good and you must try out their Kaya with any other things. Other foods are great as well, another good affordable Kopitiam to visit next time, only the parking is killing me.

As when we are leaving around 8pm+ there is a live singing band going on, good music, good environment, what else you are looking for? They have franchise opened everywhere, check out their website!

K3K Benta Kaya
No.1 Jalan Kuchai Maju 8
Off Jalan Kuchai Lama
58200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-7980 5333
Location Coordinate: N3 05.375 E101 41.190
Website: http://k3kbentakaya.blogspot.com/

IA Ulu Yam Run

2011-06-03T20:59:00.000+08:00

Set the alarm to 6.15am and doze off. Alarm rings next morning, drag the body out of bed and pick up the car key. The day still dark and with eyes half close, start the engine and drive to Batu Caves to meet up in empty stomach. On the way, will tend to rev the bella a little to test the engine and suspension if it's ready for a good run. That's a typical car enthusiast like me will do when there is a run arranged.

We went for Ulu Yam run last weekend and a good run once in a while is always great to remind myself of the purpose of life. Enjoyment in driving an Alfa Romeo and feeling its engine roar and incredible handling in the middle of the corner is an experience I will never forget. It's my 4th run in Ulu Yam since my possession of the italian beast and I hope I will be able to continue doing it as long as I'm able to.

Beautiful Fiat Coupe leading the pack. The italian flag that's sculptured along the bodyline is killing me.

As you can see, we are running into a little late with the sun rising up already when we leave. It's a small group and good that there are other drivers joining us. I counted 8 cars that day and we have x2 Fiat Coupes, x1 Alfa 147, x1 Alfa 156, x2 Mini Cooper S, x1 Volkswagen Passat and x1 Mitsubishi Lancer. It doesn't matter where they come from or what car they are driving, but once we got together, it's natural.

For those that don't know the Ulu Yam route, here is a little map for your reference.

The route is measured 44.7km from the foothill of Ulu Yam and ended the run in Awana Cable Car Cafe. For an usual start of 7.00am to avoid traffic, we will be usually be home by 9.30am ~ 10.00am. For those late sleepers, your family wouldn't even know that you are away! That's great.

It's a short run and some photos for your viewing pleasure.

A gather together for a good chat on cars before moving out. Nice to have a lady to join us that day.

A first stop point at the foothill of Ulu Yam. We will normally wait for all cars to arrive before start the attack.

Two little Mini Cooper S lining up behind the muscular Fiat Coupe. 1.6 turbo vs 2.0 turbo, that might be a good run.

Italians, white Fiat Coupe follow by Alfa Romeo 147, that's mine =)

Mitsubishi Lancer and Volkswagen Passat join the team, nice!

Lining up, ready to punch.

The gang couldn't get enough of each other, so more chit-chatting before we start the run.

Beautiful sunray behind the heavy-weight Volkswagen Passat.

Off we go and I'm leading the way. Normally small car will lead so you won't be left behind =P Just minutes into the run, my 147 acted and there is funny sound coming in from the engine bay. It sounded like broken gasket or leaking exhaust sounds. We stopped for a quick check and confirm it's nothing wrong with the engine, so we move on. I take it easy and they lost from my sight, leaving me alone to enjoy the morning freshness and a good slow drive.

It took us less than roughly half an hour and we reached the 2nd stop at Awana Cable Car Station.

Heavy-weight participant, FSI, drooling ...

Mini Cooper S that never fails to draw the crowd

My dream ride, compact little 1.6 turbo that gives the bigger brother a good run.

Can't help to snap this, drooling over my own ride, love the curves.

The run always ended up with a good Roti at the old Awana Cable Car Station. Breezing cold atmosphere with a group of enthusiast teh tarik over mods and life. Exactly how I would like to live my life.

Dragon One @ Ipoh

2011-06-02T07:24:00.000+08:00

There are these Shanghainese restaurants sprouting all around KL over the last 2 years and everyone know how Shanghai Dumpling taste like. The same is happening in Ipoh and my mum brought me over to try out this Ipoh very own Shanghainese restaurant named Dragon One. Yea, the name is a little of copy cat to i-Dragon but that's just the English name. Their chinese name is more meaningful, and it's definitely creative.

Since the opening of this restaurant, it has been drawing crowds and my parents are part of the group that love their food very much. Let's see how they fare agaisnt the giant player in KL.

Dragon One opened its restaurant right in the middle of the famous De Garden in Ipoh, and that's the hottest place in Ipoh as when I'm writing. If you are looking for Korean food, Pappa Rich, Tutti Fruitti, Japanese food, and etc, it's all here. It's one of the famous hangout place for Ipoh people day and night.

Back to the restaurant, the entrance is facing the main parking area of De Garden and as you can see, it's targetted to local folks. Very heavy chinese styled and decorated, however, it's not that important as we are more concern about the food quality.

Once you step in, the place is fully air-conditioned with fans in helping the ventilation. Kitchen is hidden and the floor is spacious. All dining tables are dark brown in colour except the soft seating at the side of the walls. Comfortably decorated although it feels a little cheaper than the giant player in KL. Also there are plenty of waitress around attending to your needs.

Small gesture of toothpick and tissue box for every table, just the way I like it. A little more investment, you will actually save on the waitress that you need to hire, more efficient!

This place is famous with its dim sum so first to come is the Black Sesame Dumpling with Peanut Powder priced at RM4.80. It's not a mistake, RM4.80! The black sesame is very nice and the peanut powder adds up nicely but the skin is a little too thick to my liking. If you ask me how to improve it further, make it softer and thinner skin, it should be just perfect! For that price, anytime I will take another plate!

Second to come is my family favourite, the Stuffed Rice Flour Roll with Chinese Croissant and Squid Paste priced at RM6.80. Yea, RM6.80 only for the whole plate! The serving is so plate that I think you will be feel with just this plate for yourself! Lots of exclamation, but that's the price we are having in Ipoh. Love every bit of it. Let's get into the food, the crispy hot chinese croissant is nicely wrapping the squid paste. The rice flour roll is only adding a little syling into the food and dipping the piece into the sauce provided, it's heavenly like. It's so nice that I will come back to this place just for it. You will never find similar plate anywhere else, I only know this restaurant selling it. Must try!

Next to come is my mum's favourite, the Stir Fried Vermicelli with Minced Pork priced at RM8.80. Now this is a little surprise plate as it got capsicum and the vermicelli is more like spaghetti noodles. Put all those together with a chinese stir fried style, it ended up very nicely. The vermicelli with minced pork is very tasty and delicious. My mum finished the plate, nearly.

For more stir-fried plate, here come my favourite of Stir Fried Bean Sheet with Preserved Vegetables priced at RM6.80. The pricing is really killing me, RM6.80, I love Ipoh. For those that hate noodles, this is the plate they are looking for. The transparent thin bean sheet is super nice. The preserved vegetables gives a very nice taste to the overall plate and importantly, it's not oily. I love every bit of healthy food but the the main attraction is still the bean sheet. It's so nice ...

More dim sum to come and we got the Steamed Prawn Dumpling with Spinach priced at RM4.80. Cheap price again, and the dumpling is very big. Prawn is fresh and again same problem, the skin is too thick to my liking. Nothing special, you can skip this and order the rest.

Everywhere got this dish, so Dragon One also. The Steamed Shanghainese Meat Dumpling with Superior Soup priced at RM6.00. So far, if you ask my opinion, nothing beats the i-Dragon for this dish. However, I think only this restaurant in Ipoh serves it now, so for Ipoh people, here is your nearest restaurant if suddenly you have a craving for the Shanghainese Dumpling! Not getting my vote but nice to have it in the menu. At least my mum no need to drive all the way to KL to eat it.

More surprise that this restaurant also serves tong sui and also snow ice bowl. We ordered the Snow Ice Honeydew Sago priced at RM5.90. The ice is a little big as you can see and still it cannot be compare to the famous KTZ desserts in KL, but a nice addition to the menu for a little twist, if you need.

After all those foods, and guess what! The total bill summed up to only RM51.60 including service charges of 10%! The service charge is a little high, but considering the low food pricing, I'm more willing to pay them. That's the price for food in Ipoh, crazily affordable and yummilicious as well. If you are having the same food in KL, I'm sure the bill will ended somewhere above 80 bucks. Rating is good, but with the pricing in Ipoh, it gives a good boast and it's very nice! No need to drive all the way from Penang or KL to try this out, but a nice place for hangout for Ipoh people and those that happen to be in Ipoh for a visit.

My best vote goes to the Stuffed Rice Flour Roll with Chinese Croissant and Squid Paste and it's so nice that the three of us even order another plate! Of course, we couldn't finish it so we take away the remaining and continue the enjoyment at home. A warning, don't take away, it's only nice to eat when serves hot. It's not bad but it's much better when it's fresh.

Dragon One
G-R-15&16 De Garden
3 Persiaran Medan Ipoh
31400 Ipoh, Perak
Tel: 05-5495 393
Fax: 05-5494 405
Opening Time: 12.00pm till 3.00pm, 6.00pm till 11.00pm
Location Coordinate: N4 36.703 E101 07.083

Ah Loong Grilled Fish (Crabs) Seafood Restaurant @ Kepong

2011-05-31T08:36:00.001+08:00

There is this place that served the one of the best grilled crab in the soil and I always wanted to share it with all of you but it's located so far away and I couldn't frequent the place as much as I wish. Last week finally we have some free time and I grab my camera to get it cover for you guys.

I'm sure KL people are well aware of the Kepong area, and it is particularly famous with its grilled seafood. I'm not local to that area but I've been recommended on this particular restaurant, Ah Loong Grilled Fish Seafood Restaurant that's sandwiched between a good row of grilled seafood restaurant.

Ah Loong Grilled Fish Seafood Restaurant is a typical chinese run-down restaurant at the uptown of KL but continuously pouring out extremely good food. The restaurant layout is small but they make full use of the open space behind the shop (where I'm photographing) to squeeze in easily 30 over tables.

This is how it is typically looks like when you decide to pay them a visit on the weekend. Most of the tables are located open space, so you wouldn't want to come here if it's raining. When we reached by 8.30pm, the crowd is scary. It's on the weekend of course, but still the crowd continues filling all the tables till 10.00pm. Not all the tables belong to Ah Loong of course, but there are still a spectacular numbers that's belong to them. From the crowd, I'm sure you already know how good is this place. Let's go.

We made our order and waited for quite a while. The serving here is actually quite fast, depending on what you are ordering. Asking for grilled crab will takes a much longer time comparing to other dish, as they have limited grilled area. I've warned you but it's worth the wait, trust me. How long I've waited for our portion of grilled crab? Not longer than 1 hour...

We got ourselves a large orange juice to kill the thirst and it's keeping us afloat while waiting for our food. This glass of fruit juice cost RM6.00. Standard price everywhere, no problem.

First to come is the common fried rice that's priced at RM6.00 only. We ordered for a single person and the serving is huge! We check the price, RM6.00 is correct, but the portion is crazy! Go anywhere and order a fried rice that's RM6.00 that can match the size of this plate, I dont think you can find any out there. The fried rice is good, somehow we fancy friend rice when eating crabs, possibly influence from fatty crabs earlier. Nothing spectacular but you can skip the white rice and order this. It's good.

Next to come, we get into a little adventurous this time and took the recommended Yin-Yang Tofu priced at rather hefty RM24.00. If you are not someone that fancy Tofu then I don't recommend this dish. The white tofu is cold and quite raw in taste. The prawns served are also quite raw in taste. My wife basically didn't touch the white tofu and I have to wallop everything. That's a big tofu for a single person! While the black tofu is something more decent.

The colour looks a little scary but it's easier to eat. The cheesy buttered sauce that's served together help adding the flavour to the good black tofu. What is it made of? I'm not sure, but it's a nice plate of adventure for those that haven't try. For that price, I rather go get another plate of crabs!

After a long long wait and we are finally also complaining, the boss know that we are waiting for a long time, so everything I turn my head to them, they tell me it's coming. Small gesture, but at least I know that we are not forgotten.

Finally the grilled crabs are served and it's beautiful. Minimal order of crabs in this place is two crabs so we ask them for smaller one. This plate cost us RM38.00, reasonable charges to me. For grilled crabs, the colour of crabs served is fantastic showing that it's not overcooked and a check on the meat texture, it's not undercooked as well. It's done just perfectly well and the smell is irresistible. The crabs served are of salty taste, suppose to be some kind of marinate before grille and it's very delicious.

To me, most important point of eating crab is to make sure the crab served is fresh. How to identify? Basically for fresh crab, the meat wouldn't stick to the shell and the meat is still juicy. And that's what you will be expecting from this place. Fresh juicy, salty grilled crabs, it's so good that I nearly voted them serving the best crabs in Malaysia. I love the simple salty and sauceless style of cooking that allow me to taste exactly how the crabs suppose to taste. Maybe I'm a little exaggerated, but it's very nice. As said, good food is hard to describe in words and it's the same here. Everything goes together so well that me and my wife will just travel around the KL to this place for another bite. Try it out, but please prepare to wait, it will takes a while.

The bill totalled up to RM70.00 for both of us and as expected, there is no tax or whatsoever in this place. We normally don't mind having an expensive dinner but we are both equally disappointed with the Yin-Yang Tofu. For that price, we can easily order another grilled fish that guarantee more satisfying experience. Anyhow, the grilled crabs still manage to shut our mouth for the day and keep a smile as when we are travelling back home. This place serves much more than grilled crabs, and you can basically order everything recommended on the menu, I guarantee a special dining experience. We didn't order because there are only two of us. Given a choice, we will feast at this restaurant! Other highlights are such as grilled fish, salted egg crabs, kam heong crabs, fish steamed in nyonya style, lala soup, stir-fried four heavenly king, mussels, fried pig intestine, and etc. The list is endless, talk to the lady boss there, she will recommend.

Nearly forgotten, double thumbs up!

Ah Loong Grilled Fish Seafood Restaurant
Lot 12-14 Jalan Kelab
Jinjang Utara
52000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 012 386 2832
Location Coordinate: N3 12.743 E101 39.495

Taipang Matang (Teochew) Seafood Porridge Restaurant @ Puchong

2011-05-26T09:08:00.000+08:00

It's Saturday evening and we are running out of thoughts of what to have for dinner. The night is breezing cold after an evening rain and my wife has a little flu coming, so she suggested something light & easy. She is active in Puchong area and myself usually never set foot into Puchong considering the traffic there. There she repetitively recommended this place that's good with their seafood porridge, and I say why not we have it tonight. Off we go to Puchong.

Taipang Matang Seafod Porridge Restaurant that's located just within the shoplots at Bandar Puteri Puchong. It occupies the ground floor of a corner unit and the floor space is huge! The name on the signboard is a little misleading though, as there is no English, and even the name is in Chinese only. I suspect any other races other than Chinese will actually patronise it for not knowing what they are selling, I think it's a mistake.

However, the menu suggested otherwise. Obviously someone designed the menu for them, as it's creatively English drafted including a Chinese four-words phrase. The photographs are also professsionally done, wondering why other restaurants couldn't even spend a little money on the menu. Looking at those other badly presented foods in the menu urge me to help them take some nice photos for publicity. As those foods that's really nice, they wouldn't even be able to attract anyone to order it if it's not presented nicely in the menu. It's especially true for walk-pass customers, call me for nice photos!

The restaurant occupies the entire ground afloor and once we walk in, wow, it's big! I never thought a single shoplot can be this huge. Can you see they put three round tables and still got room for the kitchen?? Crazily high ceiling also help in the ventilation of the place. The place is not air-conditioned, and with the hot porridge, you will tend to sweat a little. The tables & chairs are comfortable classic chinese marble type in kopitiam, and it's just what Chinese prefers. Obviously the target group.

A simple kitchen with claypot and ingredients laying all around the tables. They even have abalone on the shelf if you fancy some, or else you can always bring your own. It's open kitchen concept, but the idea of watching your food prepared is just wrong in this kind of dinner place, hehe.

I took a peek into the containers, and fresh crab that's still actively moving. I though crabs need some water to survive? I don't know, but it's dry, possibly to avoid damaging the meat texture? Let's go to food now.

First and last to come is a large Claypot Seafood Porridge for 2-person that's priced at erm, complicated. The way of ordering is quite creative. You basically choose how many persons you want, then you top-up whatever thing you fancy. For us, we ordered 2 persons pot with White Prompet Fish and Minced Meat. For fish, it's up to the size and it's charged on weight of their price while minced meat will cost you RM6.00.

This pot of seafood porridge basically cost us around RM50.00 all-in. Expensive? Wait till you see the size in person, it's not that bad considering this pot alone can feed 4 persons.

Once I look at this seafood porridge then I know the owner is Teochew person. Why? I'm Teochew myself and this is exactly how my mum used to cook seafood porridge for the family. She said it's very nice because it's soupy based porridge and I tell her that it's how Teochew Seafood Porridge looks like. So for those that don't know, try it out, that's how we Teochew people eat our seafood porridge.

I strongly recommend this place because the taste that they cooked is exactly same like what my mum cooked! And it's so similar, that I remember sitting at the round table with my family when I'm young eating it. Rice-alike in a soup based porridge with all kind of seafood that my mum got on-hands that time.

My first bowl of Teochew Seafood Porridge. Essential eating style of Teochew Seafood Porridge is to add some pepper, add a little spicy flavour into the porridge and it's crazily delicious. I ate almost 4 bowls that night, too much!

A piece of the White Prompet Fish. After 3 photographs, I've yet to comment on the quality of food served. Most important criteria of Teochew Seafood Porridge is the freshness of the ingredients that you put in. Reason being the rice is tasteless and normally same applies to the soup. So where the taste comes from? From the ingredients, and the fish that they served must be super fresh. I'm very particular with fish as my mother's family are fishermen and we normally eat the freshest seafood in the soil. We had fish almost on daily basis, so I'm a little knowledgeable on that direction.

If the fish is not fresh, then the funny taste will easily flow into the soup and spoil the entire pot. Importantly you eat the fish bare without any seasoning, so you will taste exactly how the fish suppose to taste. For this restaurant, they know what they are doing, and the fish is extremely fresh. I raised my eyebrows on the first bite and told my wife this is restaurant is good! The porridge is great, but some people will love it while some hate the soupy base porridge. It will be a good experience for those that have yet to try a Teochew Seafood Porridge. It's the best and possible only restaurant selling this kind of porridge, as my limited encounter though.

Now my wife love it so much, that she even walloped the last drip of the soup. She is really into Teochew Seafood Porridge, possible because she is half-Teochew now =P hehe ...

The total bill ended up to RM53.00 including a fruit juice drink and there is no whatsoever tax. It's a little expensive, but the portion is crazy huge and I think can easily feed 4 persons. For that freshness of seafood available, I think it's reasonable. So strongly recommended for Teochew Styled Seafood Porridge in this restaurant. I did a search and they are really origin from Taipang Matang, Perak. Venturing so far into the heart of KL and maintaining that good quality of food, that's great. Thanks to them for bringing the Teochew Seafood Porridge into my sensible travel area. Nice, a good add-on to my usual dining place.

Taipang Matang Seafood Porridge Restaurant
No. 35-G Jalan Puteri 4/7A
Bandar Puteri
47100 Puchong
Selangor Darul Ehsan
Opening Time: 11.00am till 9.30pm
Tel: 03-8065 3522
Location Coordinate: N3 01.383 E101 36.896

Energizer Night Marathon 2011 - Mike Foong's Promises

2011-05-25T08:02:00.000+08:00

Received a call in the middle of the day and it's a courier services. With the recent announcement from Mike Foong from Energizer, I'm expecting the delivery of the running pack and it's efficient. The delivery guy called me asking for my home location, but I told him to re-route to my office instead and he is alright. Within hours, it's delivered to my office with everything intact. Woohoo, finally got my Energizer Running Pack.

It's a little funny that isn't the running pack suppose to be given to runners before the run? I'm sure some of the items inside is useful to them, not sure, let's check it out.

Open up the box, and it's packed very nicely. Let's do a count, there are a total of 8 items in the box.

1. Energizer Night Marathon 21km Medal
2. Energizer Headlight with batteries
3. Energizer Recycle Bag
4. Energizer Rechargeable USB Dock, without battery
5. Schick Shaver
6. Energizer Night Marathon T-Shirt
7. Energizer Night Marathon 21km Certificate
8. finally, a box of Playtex Gentle Glide ... what the ...

Most importantly is the Certificate of Participation for myself on the 21km run, the paper looks crap like poster quality only, but I still treasure it, my 2nd certs for 21km. Hope more will come.

My 21km finishing medal, looking good. Funny thing is, they are giving this out to everyone. My friend that didn't join the run also got the medal, they cant pleased everyone, so nevermind, as long as I got mine. I told my friends that I should have register for the 42km instead, then I will get a 42km medal! Hehe, but I want to earn it myself, let's see if I can complete my target this year. But if someone show you a 42km medal from Energizer 2011, better verify =P

And finally, a full refund as promise. I got this separately in my mailbox almost a week earlier. It's good that Energizer is taking full responsibility and I'm sure all runners are pleased now. Keep it up and we will continue to support you in the future. And if Energizer staff are reading, why you give us the rechargeable gear but without rechargeable batteries?? Weird!

Ireland's Potato

2011-05-16T23:00:00.001+08:00

We are wandering around the megamall and suddenly crave for some snacks before heading for our next schedule, and we stumble upon this place. I'm always a big lover to potato and of course this place will never escape my sensitive radar, The Ireland's Potato. I just couldn't resist not to try it out.

Here is the entrance of the Ireland's Potato first outlet located in Midvalley Megamall. By the time of my writing, there are 3 outlets with the others located in Berjaya Times Square and Sunway Pyramid.

As you can guess, the main highlight of this outlet is Potatoes. It claimed they serves the original Irish Potato and knowing nothing about Irish Potato here, I just got to try it out. There are not much choice but a few choice of sauces to go with the potato, easily explaining that it's a snacking place. However, the price explain otherwise. Read on.

The dining area set-up is small, simple yet elegant. There are some limited comfy low chairs around the area for a long seat, but it's a snack place, where you wouldn't spend too much time in this place. At least it doesn't encourage you to do so.

The kitchen area is open-concept and you basically can see exactly how your food is being prepared, and if you notice, it's very clean as well. Small and functional, much better than other snacking outlet. A plus point from me.

We made our order and take a seat beside the kitchen for a better view of what you are going to eat. It's quite a long wait of about 15 minutes when the outlet is empty.

We are a little hungry, so I took up the set menu that's priced at RM15.90. Included in the menu set is a box of potato with sauce of choice, a box of chicken balls, and a cup of drinks. I'm actually a little surprise with the pricing, but as a blogger, I'm out to try everything. With that price, I set the expectations very high, but a little disappointed. Let's go to the chicken balls first, I'm not sure why it's in the menu in the first place. It's just a normal chicken ball that you can find anywhere. It's obviously not the highlight and no reason for you to eat chicken balls from this place, especially at that price. There are easily 15-20 balls in the box, and I still don't know why it's in the menu.

Let's move to the real deal, potatoes.

For the sauce, I made the choice of Honey Mustard because I have a thing with mustard, don't ask. Take a bite, and immediately you will notice the potatoes are different. It's not local grown and I think it's imported because it does taste different. Ironically rather than calling it a potatoes specialist, might as well call it french fries specialist, but they couldn't because they are from Irish, right? The honey mustard sauce is nice and you basically really need the sauce to finish up the potatoes. Not to say it's not good, but the potatoes fries are thick and it's a little dry. Sauce does compliment the fries nicely, but how is it overall? I rate it ok only, not fabulous. Possibly I set my expectations high, but for that price, they can't blame me.

Funny thing the outlet claimed everywhere they are originated from Irish, and there is this famous quote saying in Ireland, there are two things in the world that can't be joked, 1st is marriage and the 2nd is potato. Really? I did a more detailed search online and found out that this outlet is originally from Hong Kong. It's franchise out to Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and etc. So call Irish Potato, ptui. I hate it when they pretend to be something else. Just tell the truth, don't trick consumers into thinking they are eating Irish potatoes please, as it will only last a month of hip in the age of technology. Can you imagine you meet an Irish friend and tell him the proverb, and his surprising facial looks?

Overall, I think the pricing is ridiculous for snacking. You can basically get a full plate of spaghetti from nice western restaurant anywhere and it's only for the potatoes here and the ridiculous chicken balls? Crazy enough and I'm not sure how they are going to sustain their bussiness. However, the spread of the franchise in multiple countries suggest otherwise. Despite all that, it's a nice potato fries they have there. Just that I cannot agree on the pricing. Your choice.

Ireland's Potato
LG-211 The Gardens
Mid Valley City
Lingakaran Syed Putra
59200 Kuala Lumpur
Opening Time: 10.00am till 10.00pm
Website: http://www.irelandspotato.com.my/

Swedish Meatballs @ IKEA Malaysia

2011-05-14T22:44:00.000+08:00

Alright, eventually after I collected my running kit earlier in e@Curve, we couldn't decide on what to eat for the evening. It's not very often we venture into Mutiara Damansara area as it's actually quite far from my house, so we decided to eat something that's not available other than Mutiara Damansara area.

Where else got IKEA in Malaysia? Unfortunately no where else, and that's exactly where we are heading that evening. IKEA for dinner? Curry puff? For those that haven't try out their Food Court, you better read through.

We move into the building and skip everything by turning right just right after the escalator that lead us up to the showroom area. You will see a bypass door on the right side, cross it and immediately you will notice the IKEA Food Court located at the corner of the area. Here is a view of the entrance and the full menu as well with price indicated. They even have Nasi Ayam in Swedish restaurant, phew.

You know how annoyed I am when I'm not allow to take photograph of a place that I wanted to photograph in a free country? Once I step into the food ordering area, I starting taking photographs, and the stupid waitress behind the counter started shouting. So rude, can IKEA has the courtesy ask someone to walk over and tell me properly? Stand behind the counter, and shout across all the customers to tell me to stop taking photos. Wondering what they are going to do if I continue, but not making a big deal with them as I'm with my wife. Just wanted a quiet dinner, so I keep my camera away till I clear the line.

Things that I don't understand, (1) what's there to lose by taking photograph of their restaurant? Someone going to copy their way of serving food and become so famous and steal their customers? (2) Someone going to copy their recipe? I'm sure customers can always take-away the food. (3) my thinking is that the serving is so bad, that they worry people will blog and publicise their bad way of serving foods like in prison. All food pre-prepare and scoop down onto plates just like those you watch in the movie. (4) or else can't think of any other reasons.

Not to say the food is bad, but it's not delightful way of seeing it done, some people think it's new experience, very exciting for them. But I'm always skeptical about restaurant that don't allow people to take photograph.

Read on.

Move into the dining place, and good thing is you will immediately notice some familiar furniture all around. Here, you can test all their dining tables and chairs, even the lightings and etc. Hey, that's great idea. The food court is huge and it's always fill with people, I'm not sure why. People finished their food but just linger around there like mamak place, maybe they are waiting for their other half shopping in IKEA instead.

Now come to food.

The signature dish of the IKEA Food Court, the Swedish Meatball with Fries priced at RM10.60. There are three size of servings for this meatballs plate, either 5 meatballs, 10 meatballs or 15 meatballs. We obviously ordered the 10 meatballs and trust me, it's more than enough portion for a man my size. The meatballs are beef meat and it's actually ok only, but the twist come from the thick gravy cream sauce and the lingonberries sauce they put in. It's not very sightful serving, but it's crazily delicious with a mixture of both sauces. Cut the meatball into half, dip it fully into the cream sauce then pick up some lingonberries sauce on the way, it's sinful way of eating. Before you knew it, you left a few more meatballs only and every bite is a precious for you, not to mention the lessening of sauce by every bite you take.

These meatballs are just so great that I will come back to IKEA whenever I drop by just to take a taste on the meatballs again. Forget about the curry puff, this is the only thing you should order here. Swedish meatballs, where you can find in Malaysia? Yes, only IKEA Malaysia.

Dining with my wife, so she wouldn't be ordering the same thing, and she took up the Baked Salmon priced at RM15.79. Now that's a weird pricing, why RM15.79?? How is the salmon? As I said earlier, forget about everything and try only their meatballs. The sauce is erm, funny. The vegetables are raw and the potatoes are hard & tasteless. Salmon is not bad but killed by problem mentioned. Just stick to the meatballs, Swedish don't cook other stuff very well. And if you insist, Fish & Chips is the best bet, I think.

Good thing is, the dinner is relatively cheap. We only paid a total of RM22.00 including a free flow of soft drink that's priced at RM1.59 only. Cheapest soft drink you can find in any Food Court. I think the taxes are included in the price already, if not why the weird numbers right. Finally I'm serious about the Swedish Meatballs, that's why I wrote it in the title. How many times I mentioned? Oh, just for the final time, FORGET ABOUT EVERYTHING ELSE, AND TRY THE SWEDISH MEATBALLS ONLY! I read somewhere that there are pork meatballs in IKEA Singapore, damn!

IKEA Malaysia Food Court
No. 2 Jalan PJU 7/2
Mutiara Damansara
47800 Petaling Jaya
Selangor Darul Ehsan
Opening Time: 10.00am till 10.00pm (extended to 11.00pm on Friday, Saturday and eve Public Holidays)
Tel: +603 7726 7777
Fax: +603 7726 6255

Dragon-i Signature @ Pavillion KL

2011-05-10T22:26:00.001+08:00

We are visiting Pavillion earlier and decided to dine in the Dragon-i Signature restaurant located at the lower ground floor. If you would have notice, this place is exclusive with the name "Signature" and as you can guess, the food & price is also premium here. If not how to afford the higher rental in Pavillion right?

We are just longing for the traditional Dragon-i's food therefore we stick to the usual routine of ordering in usual Dragon-i restaurant around the whole Kuala Lumpur. A glance into the menu, and immediately you will notice additional food served, main addition to the premium restaurant is the family-sharing dish for family dining. Most of the tables within the restaurant is round, strongly indicating family union dining experience, but as you can guess, the price is premium as well.

The entrance into the Dragon-i Signature is the usual corridor decoated in major dark colour with stripes of red decoration to bring out the chinese culture. Dimmed lighting and it's always a good welcoming ambience for a fine dining. Move in then you notice the different immediately.

Interior of the Dragon-i Signature restaurant is obviously different from the usual franchise, as you can see multiple round tables are set-up for family dining. Chinese saying of dining table must be in round shape, usually indicating chinese way of equal food sharing for all diners and also most important element of full rounded family reunion during dinner. That's the major different from Western culture.

All right, now come to food, let's see what is our normal favourite order.

First to come is the XO Style Prawn Carrot Cake priced at RM12.00 that you shouldn't miss. It's a little pricy for a small plate of carrot cake but it's a must order for anyone. It's the most delicious carrot cake no matter where you go. Enough said, best carrot cake I've ever eaten.

Next up is the special Seafood Sour and Spicy Ramen priced at RM13.00. A healthy choice of food and my sisters love it so much that they will order is everytime they go Dragon-i. Origin from Sze Chuan, the sauce is sour and a little spicy. Seafood is plentiful and the ramen is also crazy delicious. I personally think it's a little too sour, but it's good for sharing. To have the whole bowl for myself, I doubt I can finish it.

Signature dish of Dragon-i and it's made famous to all Malaysian since the Dragon-i open its door, the Shanghai Steamed Meat Dumpling (Xiao Long Pao) priced at RM9.80 per basket. We ordered three basket and still manage to finish everything. It's by far the best Xiao Long Pao I've ever tried, and the specialty is the skin is crazy smooth & thin with delicious meat and soup within. Each Xiao Long Pao is hand made through glass wall for all diners to witness and the signature 18 plaits shaped in pagoda jewel alike.

Way of eating is simple, take up the Xiao Long Pao by it's tip top and rest it on your spoon. Puncture the the skin and enjoy the soup within first. Then dip the Xiao Long Pao with a dab of black vinegar and complete the spoon with a few slivers of fresh ginger. The taste is incredible and not to mention the experience. For those have tried, you know what I meant. For those that yet to try, go try it out now.

Then we ordered the Steamed Rice with Chicken, Mushroom and Chinese Sausage Bucket priced at RM18.00 for sharing as well. Everything in the wooden basket is simple but yet they compliment each other so well. The chinese sausage, steamed chicken, vegetables, rice and the sauce. It's delicious and I will take this anytime, the sauce is the killer actually, not the mention the smooth steamed chicken.

Finally, I decided to try something special called Seafood Fried Mixed Rice on Hot Stone Bowl that's priced at RM22.00. Seafood, I'm not sure where is it. The five types of rice served is crazily delicious served incredibly hot. The hot stone bowl keeps the whole experience good. There is not much meat, not much taste, but I love it. It's those type of healthy food that you don't mind having another spoon, exactly what I'm looking for. Love it.

Total bill summed up to RM130.00 including 10% service tax and 6% government tax for the eight of us. If you notice, the dishes here are a little more expensive than the usual franchise restaurant, but the food is truly fabulous. It's by far one of the best Chinese cuisine I truly recommend. There are other choices that serve Chinese Cuising but I love Dragon-i the most. Good food is what makes me continue writing.

Dragon-i Signature
Lot 1.13, Level 1
Pavillion Kuala Lumpur
168 Jalan Bukit Bintang
50200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +603 2143 7688
Fax: +603 2143 7588
Opening Time: 11.00am till 10.00pm
Website: www.dragon-i.com.my

Energizer Night Race 2011

2011-04-29T10:12:00.000+08:00

Two weeks ago is the Energizer Night Race 2011 and I participated in the 21km run. It's been a busy month, so haven't got the time to post it up and share with you all. As everyone know by now, the event is seriously mess up and thousands of runners nearly riot in the Sepang International Circuit. I know, because I'm one of the group as well. Let's see how it goes and my result.

Warning, this post is long, click only if you are interested to read. Cheers.

In order not to repeat the same mistake we done in my previous 21km run, we decided to reach there early. Based on the schedule, 21km suppose to flag off by 8.00pm. So I left home by 5.30pm and aiming to reach there by 6.30pm. A little of traffic jam and walking, I should have more than half an hour to prepare myself and warm up my body. Once we got there, as expected, cars already queueing up to enter SIC. I made my move into the main entrance and park nearby. First unexpected thing, I have to pay RM10 for an open parking! Wow, that's more expensive than Pavilion KL. Nevermind, I'm here for the run and I need my energy.

I packed my stuff and walk into the SIC, and it's huge! Sorry, my first time to SIC, so it's really huge for me. Bad things is, there are no signboard on where to go. So I just follow the crowd and reach the shaded watching area beside the track. No sign again but I saw a bunch of runners lining up for something, must be the right way, so I follow suit. They are lining up to go into an underground tunnel, or so call the death tunnel in some web posting by frustrated runners. Let's concentrate in my run instead, will cover the problem later.

Once I make through, again a bunch of people surrouding fex boxes for something. Then I saw some people holding the headlight coming out from there, I squeeze my way through to get a unit as well. No registration, just grab. Some took 4-5 sets, I hope they are taking it for their friends. Another guy took the whole box out! I hope he is taking it out there to distribute as the room is too small and stuffy. It's one of the main cause why the tunnel is jammed.

No sign again, I wonder everywhere and finally, hit the tarmac of the pit area.

That's me and you will wonder why the pit is empty. There is this lady that scolded everyone on the pit area to move away as they are not allow to be there. If not allow, then why open the gate?? I'm one of them of course but I manage to snap this before being shoo shoo by her.

And ironic thing is that, we are instructed to assemble at the pit afterwards, what the ...!

It's hitting 7.30pm and people are preparing the track with these motorcyclist patrol team heading the way. Another funny thing, it's already 7.30pm and the flag off time for 42km suppose to be 7.00pm, yet it's not started. Someone said they push back to accomodate muslim friends for praying session, fine, but then why posted as 7.00pm flag off? They never thought of it?

Anyway, I quickly take my time to stretch and warm up my body. Find a nice spot for my wife to take photographs and decide on our meeting point after the run. I also locate the toiler before the crowd come to clear the bladder and apply the petroleum jelly to important "parts". hehe

As the time is pushing nearer, all runners are filling the pit area, with a lady shouting on the microphone for all runners to keep to the right of the pit and let the 42km runners to reach the starting line. Question, which side is the right? and some of the full marathoners still warming up, not sure why she is shouting though. Basically all ignore her and she continues shouting. Phew, don't worry, we are adults and we will get to the starting line when time comes.

The motorcyclist went for the 1st patrol and station themselves accordingly and the media set-up their gear for the starting of 42km run event.

The crowd is gaming up and everyone is minding their bussiness with their camera to capture the lifetime moments. Lots are warming up as well, and the lady as usual, still shouting at people with full blast of music as background. Time hitting 8pm and it's yet to start!

Alright, a gang up photograph session before we go for the run. There are few more friends joining up but this is the only group that I manage to spot in the area. All made it, nice.

Finally they are allowing people into the track and all 42km runners are lining up for the run.

With a short speech, the race started and as you can see, there is no category run. All 42km started in a single shot with mixture of veteran, men, and women. It's quite a sight to witness the iron men & women in challenging the incredible 42km run of human threshold. Salute and I hope I can be one of them soon.

Soon after that, they started lining up the 21km runners already. I quickly move my way into the group and line up there. Speech again and some high school perfomers for cheerleading, the run is started. My friend said he even couldn't get to the track and he started the run from the pit instead. Bad planning. All of us light up the headlights in red, and it's quite a sight, unfortunately I do not have a photograph of that.

The signal light turn green and the race start. I move my way and bad thing is, the tag recognisation carpet is so small, thousands of people is squeezing through to make sure the tag is scan. Nevermind, small problem.

Started with my pace and after a while, I realise a mistake. I started at the front of the line and they are fast runners. Without realising, I followed their pace and I'm into fatigue mode after a few km down the race. I quickly regain my pace and with other faster runners passing me all the times is depressing me more. It's not getting better as I predicted, the slope around the SIC will actually kill me. True enough, I have to stop running and walk in reaching the 2nd slope around the SIC. My plan to run non-stop for the 21km actually vanished.

Along the run, the water station is in-consistently located. The first water station is located approximately 4.5km from the starting line. Then the next water station is just 3km away from the 1st one. I lost my rhythm and I already eaten 2 out of 3 of my powegel source at both stations. I'm only 7.5km into the race. That's bad. I struggle along and clear another slope and finally I'm entering the Sepang track again and I'm already done 10km. It's a struggle and the cow dung smell along the route help in worsening the experience as well.

My thought is that only 10km more to go, I will make it through in quicker time. Then nightmare started. The SIC track is huge! I mean really huge. I run and run and run and yet I'm so far away from the finishing line to clear 1 round of 5.3km. Crazy. Seriously, if you are planning to run marathon, don't join those that run in a round and you can see the finishing line. You will be so depress that you feel that you are not making any progress. Join run in KL marathon or Penang marathon, where you don't go round and round. There are slope in the SIC track as well! I didn't expected that and it's killing me. I realise my weakness is that I can't run slope. My muscle is trained for long run but not strong enough for slope run. I will need to change my training to include cross training of hill run. And funny thing, lots of runner taking shortcut in the circuit. As it's very big, so all of us are trying to find the best racing line =P some running into the grass to cut short the distance. Depress, I also try to follow them, but it's damn hard to run as the grass is thick and uneven. It's meant to stop the car from crashing, and it's bad for running. I stick to the tarmac after 1 try, don't know why they are still doing it.

The 3rd water station finally within sight of line and it's located just 2km away from the finishing line, meaning it's almost 5-6km away from the 2nd station. That's crazy! I'm not sure if the organiser know what they are doing. The route indicated there are 2 water stations in the track, but only 1 is set-up. I'm cursing but no choice. I kept my powergel for the final round to boost energy. As I clear the 1st round in the SIC track, I'm more depress than ever. The 5km and 10km runners already clear the track and very little runners left on the track. Making me felt like I'm the leftover runners that's so slow. Pushing myself through and when I hit 17km, my leg started to hurt. The knee pain is starting and I started walking to avoid making it worse.

I continue running whenever it feels better and walk when I feel the pain again. It drags on for another 2km in this situation. After that the knee pain is gone and I'm left with fatigue feets. My Asisc finally not able to support my feet and it's painful for each stomping step I took. It's the price I'm paying to run the 21km marathon and I continue pushing forward. As I reach the 3rd water station again, I eat the final powergel and I push it through for the final 2 km. As I'm struggling, suddenly someone honk me from the back. An idiot traffic police riding on his big bike coming from the back and honk at all runners for him to pass through. Seriously, with my tiredness and final push, I really feel like beating a hell out of him.

What's him to honk at people in the track? It is suppose to be a safe running area for all runners without the risk of running over by cars or bikes! Stupid fat idiot. I ignore him and concentrate in my run. As I cleared the final turn, the finishing line is at my sight. I increase my pace and storm towards the finishing line. As I crossed the line, I forgotten to check my time, thinking the organiser will take care of that for me and I completed another 21km run.

That's me after clearing the crowd at the finishing line and I nearly collapse. The pain at the knee is taken over by the pain of my feet. I couldn't walk a single step further and I rested just like that until I catch my breath.

I don't even have the strength to cool down my body and stretch my muscle. I just slowly walk towards my wife and sit down beside her to rest my fatigue body.

She passed me the water and I appreciate the most with her waiting for me at the finishing line. I know why I'm running the marathon and I know she will be always at the finishing line waiting for me. That's what keep me running.

I do some stretching on the floor for my legs muscle and I can't help but to snap a shot of my hardworking legs to bring me to the finishing line.

Fast forward it back to current time, I check on my timing, and the stupid Energizer Night Race messed up the timing and record my timing as 1:37:10. Crazy, I where got run so fast? Frustrated with them, and luckily my wife snapped my photos when I started the run and when I finished the run. There will be some off-sets but my time is roughly following:

Category: 21km Men Open
Nett time: 2 hours 19 minutes (start-to-finish time)
Average Pace: 6:62 minutes per km

It's not up to my expectations as I'm aiming for a little closer to 2 hours. However, the timing is an improvement over my previous 21km run in Penang Marathon which I achieved nett time of 2 hours 36 minutes 5 seconds. And importantly, I don't suffer chaffing and I still can do my normal errands on the next day! Comparing to my previous experience that I need to rest for the whole day before able to walk again, this is a big improvement.

This is my view of the finishing line after collpasing at the road side. No drinks, no medic, no massage, nothing. Bad event.

I've been waiting for my colleague to arrive, but it's been quite a while. Until about 20minutes over, then I saw him. His normal pale face is worsen after the run, but he is actually alright. He managed to clock 2:35:43 over 21km in nett time. He got better timing than me in both of our first 21km run. Nice.

He vowed to join 42km full marathon by end of this year, so gung ho and I decided to join him. His face looks so pale at the finishing line, and I think we are going to die in Penang, haha...

My first run in Sepang Track, supposingly with my Alfa, but completed the circuit with my legs instead. I will never come back to Sepang Track with my legs again! It's made for tyres, and we should keep it that way.

Ok, completed the posting and it's time for complains. For all informations, Energizer has already offficialy apologise on the problems and will door courier the medal, completion t-shirts and goodies bag to each runner and will also refund 100% of the registration fees. That's' great move, but refund is not important to us runners. All we want is the recognisation of the mistake and our medals. Great job. Now let's looks at the problems, if you are still interested to know, or else shoo shoo ...

For those that joined the event, make sure you updated your mailing address in Energizer website (http://www.energizernightrace.com.my/) so that they can send the all the stuff to your house. The refund cheque will be send to the same address as well.

- purely my opinion & experience of the event -

The whole event basically screw up big time and leaving 10,000 runners dissatisfy with the arrangement. That's 10,000 people for them to make each of them to hate the event, and they did it with impressing 100% rate. There are always complain, but 10,000 runners hated the event, that's real big. What actually happened? I recall my experience and indeed it's very bad. Just with a small run around my brain, I listed out 16 problems without sweat. Let's see.

1. No signboard on where to go, toilet location, assembly point, starting & finishing run, routes for different category, luggage area, running kit distribution area, and etc. You basically reach SIC and don't know where to go. Simple rule, just follow the crowd, maybe that's their plan. Everyone also ask me where I get my headlight, basket.

2. Super narrow underground tunnel for main access into the running area that's without any air flow / conditioning for 10,000 runners before & after the run. Chaos, and if people panic, stampede will definitely happen and wondering how many life will perish! It looks like maintenance tunnel access to me, is it even a proper access??

3. No registration / distribution of running kit. Seriously, after finished the run, I still dont know where runners collect their t-shirt there. Luckily I got mine from e@curve. Even the headlight is left in the box at the exit of the narrow tunnel! All are grabbing it because scared it will run out of stocks and it's causing a big jam to the tunnel. People might just suffocate there. I'm sure someone didn't manage to get their headlights, and where the heck is my running goodies?

4. Luggage storage area open up very late and causing a long queue before the run start. Lack of staff and obviously they couldnt manage the 10,000 runners crowd planning to keep their stuff there. My friend just told me that he didn't realise there is this storage area, basket no sign again.

5. Rude MC keep shouting at people. We have been finding for starting line and lots of open door to the pit so we made our ways. Then got scolded and push back into the waiting area. After a while, then instructed to go back to the pit for access to the starting line! what the hell, we just got scolded from going there!

6. We are basically running in the dark, and the distance markers are in dark also. Ok, so I thought that's why they distribute the headlight, no problem. But there is no marshall, patrol or whatsoever. If you collapse in the dark hill outside or inside the sepang track, i'm not sure who is going to help you. Crazy.

7. Lack of water station! This is most unacceptable for marathon runners! I'm in 21km and the first water station is at 5km, still not too bad. the 2nd water station at 8km, just 3km away, too near. then there is no water station until 14km mark. That's almost 6km away without water. Then you need to make another 5.3km to reach the same water station! Only 1 water station in Sepang, crazy! i think the medical station is also same with the water station only, didn't realise there is more.

8. The check point at the starting/finishing line is chaos. Everyone in 21km/42km is squeeze into a narrow opening and I saw some people is distributing something, so I go take one also. It's a black rubber thing, like those use to tight girls' hair. I thought, why they are distributing that? Funny, so I kept between my fingers. I only realise it's one of the marker how many rounds you have done so people can tell you to stop! and it's in black and no people telling you also! I heard somebody in 42km ran extra round outside the SIC, crazy.

9. No marshall around the track and runners are taking shortcut! We are all basically staying on the tarmac road while some are taking shortcut through the grass & gravel area. My friend saw a guy climbing over the fence to the finishing line as well. It's their own choice to cheat, so I dont bother, but it's depressing.

10. No water distribution and guidance on what to do after crossing the finishing line. I think no people even notice I completed the 21km marathon! Worse is that I heard 42km runner completed the run in 2am and there is no one there. Crazy, wondering if the organiser know how hard is it to run 42km!? Give them massage, towel, water & carbo loader immediately!

11. Waste of money with the transformer screening. No people are watching anyway, and I think you can count there are less than 10people sitting around there watching. Not to mention the distracting movie sound when you are running the marathon.

12. The award stage is placed so far away and I think nobody noticed it. When I left, I saw someone is presenting award to some runners, while few photographers snapping away. If I'm the winner, I'm going to curse like hell that no people noticed and share my joy!

13. Lack of staff, whenever I ask anyone about something, answer is tak tau. Maybe they are not staff from the organiser, but then where are you guys!? Harder than finding salesperson in Jusco furniture department.

14. Most expensive parking ever, RM10 for each car. Worse, my friends park somewhere nearby also never pay. So it's not consistent, am I being conned?? And I heard they are charging RM3 for water!?

15. As I'm approaching the final round, I'm pushing myself to the last 2km, then suddenly someone riding big motorcycles horn at us! That's in Sepang Track! Horn horn and expecting us to give way for his big badass! Crazy fella, it's police but damn stupid to horn at runners who are so tired!

16. Worst, unpack finishing goodies bag. They havent pack it yet and when people started to finish the run, they couldn't cope! Runners line-up so long in queue and finally, the organiser threw the goodies bag to the crowd and the organiser force close the shuttle door! I heard someone is still standing beneath the door that time! Again the idiot MC scolded everyone to disperse and said will mail the goodies bag over. I'm not sure if she understand what is the meaning on running a marathon. It's recognisation and pride in finishing the run. The only thing we are looking forward to after punishing our body and an exhaustive running is to get the medal and snap a satisfied photograph to keep the memories! She even gives her handphone number out, I think she will definitely change the number, as if she is going to answer calls from 10,000 runners!

Energizer did their part but I'm still not happy with the wrong timing recorded in their system!

How Green is the iPhone?

2011-04-21T09:07:00.000+08:00

Reading through the web and stumble upon this posting, How Green Is the iPhone. It's an interested chart, and sadly I contributed to the whole process. It's too late now, but for all iPhone owners out there, there is one thing we can do, recycle the iPhone rather than throwing it away!

Courtesy of Geekaphone.

Geekaphone's How Green is the iPhone Infographic

SS2 Durian Station @ Petaling Jaya

2011-04-20T09:46:00.000+08:00

The season of Durian or know as King of Fruit is finally back and the street of SS2 is filled with crowd again, all swarming the durian stalls for a taste of the best durian in the town. There are four stalls along the road and we decided to give it a try on this one, named SS2 Durian Station. We didn't go for the remaining three stalls because here seems to have most durian stocks and choice.

Look at the crowd around the stalls! We basically waited for a table for almost 15-20 minutes. Didn't know there is so many people and need to wait so long. We nearly left, but luckily we got our table.

While my family is ordering the Durian, I snapped photos for your entertainment needs. Gorgeous little spiky durian, wondering why it's so tasty. Sinful little spiky piece of fruit.

So here is the variety of Durian available in this place, namely the Raja Kunyit, Tekkah, Udang Merah, XO and D24 is most famous, in my opinion. If you notice, there is no price indication for Raja Kunyit and Tekkah, it's for your guess.

We saw these baskets before deciding to eat in this place. Lots of choice and won't run out of stocks of our choice of Durian =) So let's feast.

First to come is the Raja Kunyit or known as "Mao San Wong" in cantonese. This Durian alone is going to cost you from RM40 onwards and it's the best Durian you can find. It's so good that Stanley Ho, Macau Tycoon, fly in his private jet to Singapore to get Malaysia's best durian last year at RM38/kg. He spent nearly RM5,000 for the durians, but it's nothing compare to his jet fuel! It's so good and there go the commercial effects, all jacking up their price now further.

You might ask, if it's Malaysia's best durian, why he buy in Singapore? Answer is, Singapore pay S$ and if you are durian dealer, will you sell your best durian to neighbour country that can pay much higher, than keeping it in Malaysia? Simple question, simple answer. Therefore no doubt, to taste the best Malaysia's durian, go to Singapore, but prepare to pay a premium as well.

The highlight of the Raja Kunyit is the funny shape of its seed. It's not round and it's crooked and very small. Some calls it seedless Durian and the durian meat does not stick to the seed. You just eat and everything is pull off to your mouth left only the seed on your hand. What so special? The taste is good and lots of durian meat for your enjoyment as the seed is small.

A shot of my wife holding up a big Mao San Wong durian for her enjoyment. Notice the missing seed of the durian, she has to hold it very carefully or else the durian meat will drop off. She is very happy that day.

Here is how the Raja Kunyit seed looks like. Crooked but nice.

If you ask me, I don't think Raja Kunyit worth the price. It's nice but the price doesn't do the justice. For that price, I can have 3-4 already good durians, and possibly lots more satisfaction. It's commercialised and it's all glamour only for now. I'm sticking to the normal durians for sure. Just for a try of what the richest is getting. Once is enough. They are not so far away, for sure.

With the hefty price tag on the Raja Kunyit, we try on the next type of Durians and this time, we have XO Durian. Good thing eating at this kind of durian stall is that you get to see it before taking it. They will open up the durian for you to check and take it. If not good, you can always reject it. So call the "guarantee eat" scheme they are putting up.

XO Durian is also nice and as the name implies, it's a little bitter like XO! Yes, that's a nice taste to have in a Durian. It's sweet and bitter at the same time, a good twist of the flavour to tickle your tastebud. We have 3-4 of this durians, lost count.

This is my sister's spoon and as you can guess, she is eating durian with the spoon. Crazy fella, she said later the hand smelly. But then what's the point! haha ... first time I see people eat durian with spoon.

The best drinks to go with the heaty King of the Fruits, of course is the coolest Coconut drinks. It will just wash down everything and cool down your body after the heaty food. It's rather expensive though, costing us RM4.00 for each coconut. But necessary to avoid getting sick.

The whole durian feast session cost around RM100 for 4-5 pieces of the durians, where the main contributor come from the Raja Kunyit of course. If you skip that, it's kind of affordable. I would say stick to XO Durian, it's good so far. I would avoid the durian buffet if can, because normally they will mix up the type of durian for you and you might get kampung durian which is famous for inconsistency in taste. One bite and it's too late. You got to finish up the whole thing before moving up to another type. I prefer to pay a little more and choose what I want. Your choice.

Some other stalls along the road for your enjoyment. It's all crowded, crazy.

Pahang Durian and sadly I think they finished up their stocks already. Only left a few durians around, so we move to another stall.

Donald's Durian and Quality is their priority! Also empty rack as you can see.

Durian SS2 showcasing their website, and I checked out the website, minimal information but you will be able to see exactly how each type of Durian looks like. Durian also online now ok!

Nyonya Imperial Restaurant @ Puchong

2011-04-15T09:08:00.000+08:00

My best friend came down last month to be torture by the jimui, so I gather up another high school friend for a dinner eat out. He suggested for us to try out the Nyonya Imperial located in Bandar Puteri, Puchong, as we all have already try the Bumbu Bali but would like some local spicy food. A little reluctant because it's a Friday night and as you know the traffic condition in Puchong. Problem is, my friend is staying in the Puchong, so no choice, let's go. Another place to explore anyway.

The main entrance of the Nyonya Imperial Restaurant in Bandar Puteri Puchong. The restaurant occupies the ground floor and the first floor, but somehow the first floor is not open, probably only open when there are more customers. Anyway, I think that's stupid because it makes the place so dark and those that dont know the place might think it's another run-down restaurant in the process of bankruptcy. The lighting along the corridor is also too dark, please dimmed up the dining place for the ambience enough already! Light up the rest to show people that you are there. As expected, when we got in, only a few tables are occupied.

As we made our order, I snapped away and noticed the decoration within the shop is actually quite nice. The ground floor has minimum tables, like less than 10 for a two shoplots space and an open space staircase lead to the first floor, which is sadly not open. It's a nyonya dining place, I don't understand why they put the chinese traditional marble table & chairs around. Funny, makes me think that this is bought cheap over from the Old Town opposite. But the tables we are seating is alright, comfy sofa with solid chairs for those prefer otherwise.

There are five of us and we decided to feast away! In total, we ordered 5 dishes, basically each of us will need to order something, therefore the results are crazy.

Assam Gulai Nanas priced at RM19.90. My friend ordered this and it's something special from the menu. With the name and the ingredients, I'm not sure what this is. It's a seafood assam plate or appetizer plate? I'm not sure, but with the name nanas in it, it's sour and spicy. The prawn is good with a mixing of the vegetables served and the sour spicy sauce, it's nice. But it's covered by the better food down there. I might go straight to the Tom Yam Soup later which have the same prawn served.

Curry Chicken Kapitan priced at RM14.90 is nice and taste good. The gravy is so thick that it won't flow from your spoon, just kidding =P The chicken is fresh, tendered and juicy. The gravy is so good that we almost lick the sauce from the plate, or maybe it's only me willing to lick it. Nice kapitan style.

Oyster Omelette priced at RM11.90. The oyster is good but the eggs is bad. After tasting the best Oyster Fried Egg in Penang, I think nothing else can satisfy me. But this plate is less than ok, the egg is too thin and tasteless. Try their other omelette dishes perhaps, that's why I blog so you no need to eat those not good food anymore.

Kangkong Belacan priced at RM9.90. Again some greens to balance the meal, but a highlight is the little fried prawn served together. It's crunchy and slight salty taste give a good twist to the original kangkong belacan. We all hunting to get a scoop of it when taking the kangkong, hehe.

I fancy some spicy food that day so ordered up the Tom Yam Seafood Soup priced at RM19.90. This is the cheapest food of the night! This bowl of Tom Yam can easily serves 10 bowls and yet it's only charged RM19.90. Look at the generous amount of prawns & seafood, it's cheap until I cannot believe. Anyway back to the quality, it's super good as well! Most important taste in Tom Yam is sour & spicy and this pot have both of them best! If I'm coming back, definitely because of this pot of Tom Yam Soup. I walloped 3 bowls that night.

I ordered up the Cendol to cool down the spicy food, and it's priced at RM3.00 only.

My wife playing safe took up Fresh Soya Bean priced at RM2.30. It's warmed and nice. Not too sweet and full of soya taste.

Then the rest of the funny bunch is very adventurous, playing with all kind of stuff in their glass! Starting from left, we have Rose Syrup Selasih at RM2.60, Lemon Barley at RM2.30 and the Rainbow Lychee at RM4.90. Surprising all the drinks are actually quite affordable, you should forget about the Old Town / Papparich and get a drink here for for WIFI connection. Cheap place to yumcha.

Despite the cheap food, the dinner total amount still add up to RM111.30 including 10% service charge. It's very cheap by any means as the amount of food that we had that night is enormous. The serving is huge and we even ordered additional steamed fragnant rice, which is a little pricy in my opinion, priced at RM1.60 each bowl. Anyway I have no complain, it's definitely a nice Nyonya eating outlet and much more affordable than the Bumbu Bali or other most upclass dinner restaurant. Good thing is the food are great and the decoration is nice as well. Whoever call me for recommendation to Nyonya food, try this one out first. For that price, you will never complain and give me a thumb up as well.

Some more photos for your viewing.

Nyonya Imperial Restaurant
No. 1, Jalan Puteri 2/6
Bandar Puteri
47100 Puchong
Selangor Darul Ehsan
Tel: 017-681 3608
Opening Time: 9.00am till 9.00pm
Location Coordinate: N3 01.419 E101 37.071

Kong Sai Zai Chicken Rice Restaurant @ Puchong

2011-04-14T21:38:00.001+08:00

We are heading into Puchong for errands and suddenly we are craving for protein source, which come best from fish or chicken. For lunch, chicken is always the best choice to fill my always hungry stomach, so my wife recommended us over to pay Kong Sai Zhai Chicken Rice a visit. Something new to me, let's go.

This is the Kong Sai Zhai Chicken Rice located in Puchong. I noticed there is another new shop beside it also painted the same colour, probably they are expanding or moving to the new shop. Look at the chair outside, it's there for the dinner session instead. Once the nightfall arrived, they will set-up tables & chairs all around the outside of the shop, road side dinner experience.

They also have two more branches over the Petaling Jaya, located in Bandar Sunway Mentari and Paramount. The latter being the main branch of the shops. Understand that quality is similar, so no problem.

Steamed Kampung Chicken for two and it looks like it's poached instead of steamed. Funny, but it's nice nonetheless. Kampung chicken texture is a little hard as expected but it's easy to eat. Very little fat and it taste not bad. If you ask me, nothing beat the steamed chicken from Ipoh, and if you compare something nearer, New Restaurant Ipoh Chicken Rice I posted earlier has better chicken than this place. However, the specialty comes from the sauce they served. Let's see.

The typical chicken chilies that have mixture of chilies, ginger, and lime. It's a must have for chicken rice, I wouldn't eat the chicken rice without a plate of these. Then come the special signature sauce from Kong Sai Zhai Chicken Rice. I'm not sure what it's made of, but it somehow compliment well with the steamed chicken. Couldn't desribe, or else I would've known what's the recipe. Eat the chicken rice together with both the sauces above, nice.

Ultimate way of eating the Kong Sai Zhai Steamed Chicken, a piece of stripped steamed chicken and a spoonful of their special signature sauce, heavenly like. Somehow the special sauce is quite normal when you started eating it, but you will definitely ask for another plate. Slowly, you will love it.

Another highlight from the restaurant is the Curry Pork Ribs. It's wrapped in the aluminium foil and it's crazily oily. However, it's one of the best curry pork ribs you can find, and my definition of home cook curry pork ribs style alike. My mum's curry is similar to this, and it's giving me so much memories. The pork ribs are so soft and tasty, and of course the potato is delicious as well. My advice is to get a bowl and clear the oil before start eating, or else you will cry that even marathon cant help you. Nice.

A simple plate of vegetables just to balance back the sinful lunch. It's nice but nothing to shout about.

I walloped a total of 3 small plates of the special signature sauce, asked for one more and stole my wife's plate. She doesn't fancy it and she don't know what she is missing =P

A view fo the old shop, simple but effective setting. The place is air-conditioned, so no worries on the hot weather in Malaysia. Don't let the deceiving looks rate down the place, it's better than the photographs, must be my bad skills.

A cooling glass of iced chinese tea. We asked for refill, and the staff didn't seems to be recording it somewhere, free flow perhaps.

The lunch bill came up to a total of RM35.70 only and obviously there is no tax or whatsoever. They don't break down the price so I'm not sure how much each plate cost. It's surprisingly reasonable considering the popularity they are enjoying. However, that should be reasonable price, and if they hike it a little, I think they will lose many customers who prefer affordable quality food. It's a nice experience for good steamed chicken rice whenever you are hungering for it. I will definitely be back to try out their other specialty like the Pig's Stomach Soup, Kong Sai Style Taufu Balls, and Braised Yam & Pork Belly. Review thumbs up for the Kong Sai Zhai Chicken Rice!

Kong Sai Restaurant
44-G, Jalan Puteri 5/2.
Bandar Puteri
47100 Puchong
Tel: 019-2088 249 or 019-3290 382
Opening Time: 11.30am – 2.30pm, 5.30pm – 10pm (Closed on Monday)
Location Coordinate: N3 00.954 E101 36.860

Beef Noodles @ Lam Ah Coffee Shop, Penang

2011-04-10T22:37:00.000+08:00

In my earlier post of Lam Ah Coffee Shop, I mentioned there is another famous Beef Soap Koay Teow in the same coffee shop, crazily hidden gems in the same shop. I'm still into the Penang food crave thing, yes it's crazy how much we ate in our earlier two trips into the Penang Island. Bear with me for another while, only two more post to go then I'm done with Penang.

Here is a glimpse of the shop selling the good Beef Soup Koay Teow in Penang. It's operated by a young lady and as indicated earlier, this place is also famous as name of calling the beef noodles opposite the Fire Station. Look for Lebuh Chulai and Lebuh Pantai, you wouldn't miss it.

A close up shot of the pretty operator of the beef noodles, young and beautiful lady. A good surprise on the good beef noodles is actually served by her. She gives me a good smile when I'm asking her to give me a pose. There you go buddies, the also famous beef noodles lady. You have it first from me.

We made our order and she started working. We got there in the middle of Saturday and surprising it's a little empty. I do a quick eyes around the place and took this shot. The preparation of the ingredients is waiting around the corner for our enjoyment.

While we are enjoying our Fried Oyster as in my earlier post, the famous beef noodles arrived. I've tested lots of beef noodles and I would say this bowl of Beef Noodles fall only in the middle group with not bad nor good rating. The ingredients are fresh but the soup is a little plain to my liking. However, there is always a reason for it being popular, it's quite nice nonetheless. I love particularly the beef meat and the beef intestines. Such soft and tasty but still go together very well with the beef soup.

The standard bowl of this famous beef noodle is price at RM7.00 while the bigger bowl will cost you an additional more RM1.00 for your sinful appettite. If you are into beef noodles when you are in Penang Island, I can't seem to find anything better than this. As said, there are better beef noodles, but this one will have my vote for one of the best beef noodles, if not number 1.

Beef Soup Koay Teow @ Lam Ah Coffee Shop
Crossroad of Lebuh Chulia & Lebuh Pantai
Penang
Location Coordinate: N5 24.925 E100 20.367
Opening time: 10.30am till 4.30pm (closed on Sunday & Public Holiday)

Half Marathon Training

2011-04-07T08:13:00.002+08:00

Yesterday I went to TTDI park and decided to push my body for a final test in preparation for the Energizer Night Race 2011. A 10km non-stop run, something I've never manage to achieve and I nailed it yesterday!

I completed a total of 10.35km yesterday in 1 hour 6 minutes and 20 seconds, averaging my running speed at 6.25min/km. That's slight improvement over my 7km run earlier in averaging 6.52min/km. A little fatigue this morning, but feeling good overall.

KM1 = 6:18min/km
KM2 = 5:59min/km
KM3 = 6:11min/km
KM4 = 6.18min/km
KM5 = 6.16min/km
KM6 = 6.23min/km
KM7 = 6.37min/km
KM8 = 6.45min/km
KM9 = 6.48min/km
KM10 = 6.49min/km

As you can see, I'm going into exhaustive mode in late running around 7KM. But still happy with my training & results. I will see if I can manage to achieve 21km run below 2hours. Wish me luck!

My iphone apps shown that only 1,105calories burnt! So little!? Got to cut back my food already!

Bali Hai Seafood Restaurant @ Penang

2011-03-30T21:47:00.001+08:00

Introducing a nice seafood restaurant in Penang this time, named Bali Hai Restaurant located just right along the Gurney Drive. There are lots of seafood restaurant along the famous eatery road, and I think Bali Hai topped the list without any doubt. It's highly recommended by a friend of mine and we will see if it live up to expectations. Another important point is that, this place is pork free, good news for muslim friends.

A view of the restaurant along the Gurney Drive, and you won't miss it with its big neon lighted signboard. They have a slogan, called "IF IT SWIMS, WE HAVE IT". True, I couldn't find anything that they don't have from the display, maybe I've not eaten enough =P

A good view of the fresh seafood available, it's surprising tidy with good label of names & price.

More seafood on the ice, I feel so hungry just by taking photograph.

And more seafood on the plate, it's all so fresh, so colourful and clean. You will want to dine in this kind of place.

Some romantic bamboo set-up along the main street to give you a different ambience in case you need some privacy.Only three is available, and it's all taken by young couple. Lovely.

Some classy decoration at the entrance of the restaurant, can't help to snap a photo.

The dining area has high ceiling level, the setup is comfortable with lots of room for movement and importantly the high ceiling help alot in giving a good airy environment to the entire restaurant. If you visit other seafood restaurant you will notice the place has good decoration on the ceiling, it's their tiny idea, and it works very well. I love it.

Here is our table with her fake smile. She is actually quite tired after a long hour of walking in Penang heritage town, so I'm longing to bring her out for a good dinner, hope this is excellent choice for her.

First to come is the Stir Fried Pea Shoots priced at RM15.00. It's kind of expensive but still within expectations considering the serving is quite big. The vegetables are fresh and importantly there is lot of "wok hei" in the plate, which is most important for stir fry style food. It's also seasoned well and it's delicious. Nice green add-on to the dinner.

Next to come is the Claypot Crab Glass Noodles priced at RM50, recommended by the waitress. The portion is big and we nearly couldn't finish it. What to say, the crab is super fresh and super tasty as well. Only complain is the glass noodles is a little dry in comparison, got to swallow it sometimes to get things moving. Highlight is still the crab, and I'm loving every piece of it.

Lastly the Teow Chew Style Steamed Fish priced at RM52.00. Again, the size is big for two of us, and it's incredibly delicious. The fish is extremely fresh without any mud taste and the Teow Chew sauce is incredibly delicious. I'm trying to avoid as I'm having hypertension but still couldn't help it.

Our choice of drinks, Watermelon juice and a can of 100Plus, priced at RM3.20 and RM2.80 respectively. The fresh juice is worth every cents, forget about the 100Plus if you are visiting. Grab the the juice, it's cheap, fresh and nice.

I've highlighted many times that those little touch in restaurant will give lots of add-on to the dining experience without the diner realising. I can't stress enough on the conveniency of all above on every tables within reach of every diner. They also have a good handful of waitress around the area sniper-ing all customers need. Nice.

The whole dinner totalled up to amount of RM135.30 including the 5% government tax and 5% service tax, surprising reasonable for such a restaurant. Good food always required less write-up because it's not describable on words in my blog. If you notice the food review is short, meaning it's good. If I wanted to eat a good dinner on seafood in Penang, this will be my only favourite so far. Couldn't stress enough on the freshness of the food and constant delicious quality of taste across the dishes we tried. There you have it, the recommended seafood restaurant in Penang Island.

Bali Hai Seafood Restaurant
90, 90A~D
Persiaran Gurney
10250 Penang
Tel: 04 2288 272
Opening Time: 7.00am till 11.45pm (Dim Sum served from 7.00am till 2.00pm)
Location Coordinate: N5 26.025 E100 18.925
Website: http://www.balihaiseafood.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

Running Kit Collection at e@Curve for Energizer Night Race 2011

2011-03-29T08:47:00.002+08:00

Last weekend the running kit collection date for the Energizer Night Race 2011 started, indicating the race is just a month away. Excited, so I made my way down to e@Curve for collection, but I'm disappointed. I forgotten to bring my registration slip, luckily the staff there manage to recognize me through my IC number. Noticed my IC is wrong in the system, so we corrected it. I thought I did an online registration and I'm sure I entered the correct number, why there is a mistake? Clueless. They quickly grab the pack for me and ask me to verify the tag for running at the next counter.

Immediately I felt something wrong, but waited for the whole thing to finish. I double checked my details and the guy "dut" my tag and asked me to proceed to the counter beside The Laundry for a free power gel. Ok, but where is my running kit? They only handed me the running shirt and the running tag only. Where are the Energizer headlight, and all those goody? They told me to collect from the Sepang! What the ... The main reason I wanted to collect from e@Curve because I didn't want to waste my time there, now I still got to line up in Sepang, it's going to be crowded! Not sure why the arrangement is like that, bad.

Move to the next place and small stalls were set-up selling all kind of running stuff, and importantly for me is the Power Gel! Grab a free one at the same counter and I bought another 2 extra Power Gel. It's RM6 each, well worth the money to help me finishing the run.

In my previous 21km run, the Power Gel prove to be very useful as I'm getting hungry very fast along the run. Not sure if it's just physcology matter only, but it does help in making me forgetting my hungry stomach. I took 4 power gel earlier in every 4~5km to complete the run, and I'm reducing it this time to 3 only. Hopefully it's ok.

After I reached home, I opened up the pack and big surprise, the shirt quality is very good, from FILA. It's much better than what I've got from the KL Marathon & Penang Marathon. Just for the shirt alone, I'm willing to pay the registration fees. Nice. The tag is another piece to be attached to the shoe just similar to the Penang Marathon. Try the shirt on, and it fit nicely to my body with size XL. It's better than the rest, much better. Now I will need to beef up my training, the date is pushing near ...

McDonald's Big Breakfast

2011-03-25T08:38:00.001+08:00

Alright, as everyone know, McDonald's is giving out their best promotion now with free two big breakfast for every RM5 spent in a single receipt? If you don't know, then you better start printing the voucher at the bottom of this post and grabbing it because it's only valid till 31st March 2011. Reason being McDonald's won the Gold Putra Brand Award for the 2nd consecutive year and they are thanking us, the main consumers in supporting them. I do eat a lot in McDonald's so I should take reward also =)

Alright, hard to believe so I wake up early with my wife and visited the nearest McDonald's that serve breakfast. We ordered up a cup of Milo and a Hash Brown, my most favourite. The bill ended up RM7 with tax and we got two big breakfast shown above! It's true and we munched our ways! Since the photos is up, a little review then. I basically love McDonald's breakfast, mainly because their quality is consistent. You will expect exactly the same breakfast every corner in Malaysia. The eggs are well mixed & cooked, buns and soft and buttered, meat patty is tasty enough. No surprises and I eat it either separately or putting everything togethet as a burger and munch away. Both is giving different satisfaction, but it's nice!

For info, a big breakfast easily cost RM10 above each, so go figure. Point to note is the the free big breakfast does not come with any drinks, it's ala carte plate only. They expect you to buy drinks, therefore the RM5 minimum payment. Reasonable enough.

The big breakfast also come with my favourite hash brown. I ordered another one, so total of three is served. I'm always big on potato, and Hash Brown is one of my favourite. I've also got a pack of Hash Brown in my freezer, fry one when hunger for one to kill the desire, haha. Review again, the hash brown is crazy crispy, best eaten when it's hot. The potato is so tasty marinated and there is no single spot of overcooking of the entire piece. Such a good control in McDonald's.

To me, I always hated McDonald's because their burgers really not delicious. It's so dry and tasteless, comparing to KFC's burger, Wendy's or other fastfood outlet. I'm not sure why people eat burgers in McDonald's. However, they have really good potatoes, including the french fries and the Hash Brown. Because of these two, I will still go back and patronise McDonald's. Hope they keep up with the quality.

As I'm still taking photograph, my wife already finishing her plate! Hehe ...

My favourite, the golden Hash Brown from McDonald's. I walloped two of them that day, it's so good that I think I alone can eat 5 pieces.

Saw a couple that ordered a takeaway family breakfast set. Why order the family breakfast set when you can spend RM5 and get two big breakfast for free?? I really don't understand. Maybe they love the packing, but still, why??

When we are leaving, look at the people lining up at the counter. Basically McDonald's operating style is to make the food when it's ordered to ensure freshness and minimise wastage. But there is no ordering that day. The kitchen staff just keep churning out big breakfast! That's nice.

You can redeem the promotion at out McDonald's outlet that serves breakfast and they are open from 4am till 11am. It's so cheap, I'm suggesting to a friend of mine to eat once at 4am then eat again near 11am. Save on lunch =P Here is the coupon or you can find out the details in the link here.

Fatty Crab Restaurant @ PJ

2011-03-21T21:05:00.004+08:00

This time around, I'm back to PJ for food hunting and I'm including the already famous Fatty Crab into the list for my records. It's kind of impossible for anyone living in KL that haven't try the Fatty Crab, because it's famous and its food is really living up to expectations. Their 2nd branch is located near The Mines, too far to write about it anyway. Let's take a closer look.

Fatty Crab located in the Taman Megah in PJ. It's located just right at the corner and it's quite impossible to miss it. Simple white sign board all around and red crab logo. They have two floors, plenty of tables & seats but still the waiting time is a little scary. Prepare to wait if you fancy a taste of their crabs in the weekend.

We are those crazy bunch that crave for a taste of the fatty crabs on the weekend, and this is what waiting us. Look at the people outside the shop! Crazy, yea, we too =) What you need to do is go inform the waitress and they will remember you, then find a place and wait. However, make sure the waitress can see you, or else you might risk them forgetting you. So far they never miss us.

Finally after a good 45 minutes wait, we get our table. We ordered earlier, so waiting time again, but different place only. At least we get a table =) Good thing is their serving is very fast. There is a reason for it, let's move on.

First to come, the wet towel for all eight of us, and it's charged RM2.80. Not sure how the cost work out, it's necessity for crabs eating experience, so no problem.

Since you will still need to wait for food, the guy that working non-stop at the corner will definitely catch your eyes. Yea, he is very busy frying chicken wings. We ordered as well.

I took a closer look and he got two working woks churning out those delicious chicken wings fast! The assistance beside him keep chopping the chicken wings, they basically started frying until close shop. Just try to count how many wings they fried that night, you will get crazy.

Here is a plate of Chicken Wing that's priced at RM14.00 and it's priced at RM2.80 each. Is it good? Yes! But maybe because I'm too hungry waiting for the table. Its not the highlight of the day, but a good add-on. Let's move on.

Then we ordered also the three century eggs priced at RM6.00. Again, another plate of quick bite food to fill our hunger while waiting.

Alright, first to come is the crabs and this plate cost us RM60.00. Why the serving in Fatty Crab is fast? Because they only serve one style of crabs in this place, Sweet and Sour Sauce Crabs. There is no other choice and if you fancy some other taste, you can go somewhere else. It shows that if the food is good, one style is enough. People fills the shop fast because of this plate. The sweet and sour sauce is crazy delicious and if you eat it together with the toast bread, it's incredible good as well. Crabs were fresh and it's good. Somehow the sauce have a special attraction that makes you come back for more. Is it really good? I think it's normal but still I'm going back from time to time. Weird, some magic? but the sauce is really salty, not really good for high blood pressure people.

Toast Bread to go with the sweet and sour sauce priced at RM2.40. Order more if you need to, just make sure wallop every dip of sauce after such a long waiting time. We add another plate later.

Next highlight is the Teo Chew Style Steamed Fish priced at RM50.00. Again, important element of freshness is there and the teochew sauce is delicious as well. For those high blood pressure people, stay away, it's delicious salty. Bad. With hands dirty from the crabs eating, picking up spoon to get a piece of the fish meat with the sauce is crazy messy, but that's the idea. It's delicious messy. I love the idea of mixing up the food. Some people like to finish the crabs then only eat the fish, Wrong! The fish will be cool by the time you finish up the crabs. Mix it! Get your hands dirty, somehow it's more delicious, haha.

Finally, the Fatty Crab's signature Fried Rice priced at RM10.00. We ordered a small portion and it's nothing special if you eat it alone. But it transforms into be the best fried rice when you mix it up with the sweet and sour sauce from the crabs and also the teochew sauce from the fish! Again magically transformed.

The total dinner summed up to RM160.30 including 5% government tax. There is no service tax, a surprise that my father loves! Quite a sum if they charge the 10% service tax, nice. Our order of the food in this place covered almost 80% of the choice available, nothing much to order anymore. If you look at the entire dinner, it's actually quite normal, comparing to other crabs specialty restaurant. Long waiting queue and only single style of food offer, but somehow the taste will attract you back someday when you are craving for crabs. It's weird and funny feeling. If you ask me, I won't come here with my wife, only mostly with a good family gathering. My parents love this place, especially my mum.

Fatty Crab Restaurant
No 2, Jln SS 24/13
Taman Megah
Petaling Jaya
47301 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-7804 5758
Opening Time: 5.30pm till 11.30pm (closed on Monday)
Location Coordinate: N3 06.886 E101 36.745

Ole Ole Bali Balinese Specialties @ Empire Subang

2011-03-20T23:25:00.001+08:00

Late last year my parents came down to KL for a visit and as usual, big family gathering for a big special food feast that's not available in the tiny city of Ipoh. Eventhough Ipoh is known as food heaven, but KL possessed more variety of cuisine that my parents haven't tried before. Our choice this time is the Balinese cuisine named Ole Ole Bali located in the new Empire Shopping Gallery.

The grand entrance of the Ole Ole Bali that's located at the Lower Ground floor of the Empire Shopping Gallery in Subang Jaya. A special climb up altar at the front door for those that love to be spotted when having dinner in the posh dining restaurant. It's a little inappropriate with the leg that guy is showing though, not really a pose that you want to get spotted with, my bad.

The working kitchen along the corridor with a good number of organised staff in uniforms. Witnessing the working kitchen with good hygienic is always a plus point for a good dining experience in any place. Hardworking & hygienic bunch of chef pouring out plates after plates of food for us diners, making you think the money is well spent. That's what eating out suppose to mean anyway.

Grill station, always my favourite way of healthy cooking style. A good kitchen set-up in showing the customers the preparation but also same time controlling the oily smoke from reaching the customers. Nice, how many open grill you see in a shopping mall?

A classy balinese style of decoration all around the restaurant. A good mixture of LCD around the shop bringing the restaurant up to par with current technology advancement. It's mixed up so well, well done to the decorator.

Another common docaration in Balinese restaurant.

A warm & stylish decoration on every tables. It's cheap and simple but it's giving a good overall ambience to all diners around.

I ordered the Ice Blended Black Rice Pudding priced at RM9.00. It's crazy thick but nice also, if you love black rice pudding. But do prepare to have a glass of water to go with it, it's definitely not killing any thirst.

My sister ordered the Lemongrass Mojito Cocktail that's priced at RM11.00. I didn't try it, but she said it's nice. A good twist of Mojito with lemon grass and and mint leaf. No need to taste also know it's weird tasting.

A must order Balinese specialty, Ole Ole Trio priced at RM38.00. It's common sharing plate for a diner group. The plate have Ole Ole BBQ Wings, Sate Lilit, and Cumi-cumi Goreng to kick start your dinner and also get you start talking about the food and the night you are spending. Three type of foods, and three types of sauce, namely Sambel Matah, Sambel Terasi and Tartar sauce. It's spicy and nice. I love especially the Sate Lilit, good lemongrass taste of the sate.

Next to come is the Nasi Kambing Bumbu priced at RM23.00. All do take notes that the food served in Balinese is full with lemongrass and it's a little spicy. If you fancy some normal dish, then get those western meal then you will know what to expect, but defeat the point though. The serving is rich with taste and you will have to eat slowly to appreciate the taste that the chef wanted you to taste. The lamb is tasty and go very well with the rest of the sauce and serving.

As my parents are traditional chinese, they don't really like other red meat other than chicken, I'm not sure why also. So we ordered up the Chicken and Chips priced at RM20.00 for them. The serving is a little smaller compare to their real Balinese dish, a little out of place as you go to Balinese restaurant to eat western food. How is it? I say stick to their specialty, leave the Western food to Western restaurant. They can serve good Balinese food, not others though.

As the table is long with lots of people, we basically just repeat the order to make sure everyone have a taste of everything. It's a food feast, I've told you. Love sharing food, somehow they taste better. A little quote is that the grass opposite is always greener =) I love this shot.

The whole dinner for the 11 of us totaled up to around RM350.00 including service and goverment tax. It's a good experience and importantly, the dinner serves a good dining ambience and of course good food all around in Balinese style. At current time, Balinese food is dominate by the Ole Ole Bali and Bumbu Bali, and if you hunger for it, those are you best bet. I'm really wondering where else you can go. Luckily, both serves incredibly good food. If you are in a couple dinner, ordering one for sharing with additional snacks / rice is more than enough. Their food portion is actually quite big. They do have another branch in Solaris Mont Kiara, same quality I heard nice.

Ole Ole Bali Balinese Specialties
Empire Shopping Gallery
LG 27, Lower Ground Floor
Empire Shopping Galler
Subang Jaya
47500 Selangor
Tel: 03-5022 2629
Opening Time: 10.00am till 11.00pm
Location Coordinate: N3 04.908 E101 34.974

A little add-on this time, with some shots of my lovely family and my second cousins. They are all lovely, appreciate to have them around to cheer up my life. Thanks!

Now here come the highlight, the shameless helicopter second cousin showing me how to eat the Sate Lilit. Wondering when she will actually "behave" haha ...

The Delicious

2011-03-16T09:40:00.001+08:00

It's been a while and I'm sure people staying in PJ or KL is well aware of the new casual dining outlet named The Delicious. I've heard of the name long time before I actually see one with my own eyes. Are they really good? We are going to find out now. Within a short frame of time, they have already expanded to five outlets concentrating in KL & Damansara area.

The Delicious, we took our choice at the outlet in Midvalley Megamall and this setting is their very original setting throughout all their outlets. A simple word of Delicious in light blue, comfortable waiting sofa with lots of pillow. In fact, those pillows are available throughout the entire dining hall, just grab one if you love to hug it, while waiting for your food. A smily attendant at the front desk ready to serve us. She gives us a good smile before we make our way into the hall. These kind of small details is making my dining experience.

This is the general layout of the dining place in The Delivious, clean wooden floor, wooden tables, wooden chairs, comfortable cushion and lots of sofa around the edge. Airy and simple decocation like the bird cage with lightings are great. It's casual dining, the lights are enough, open area and you will hear lots of chatting, comfortable for a long chat.

The bar set-up, nicely done. People love to see this kind of set-up in the dining area, seeing the people working & serving drinks, not as boring as walls all around. It might not be functional, but I'm buying the idea of the bar. Encourage you to drink as well, good concept. The light setting at the reception area caught my eyes. Again, small details, arrg ...

If you notice, all funitures in the Delicious are woods, airy space, soothe lightings, it's so green and environmental friendly.

We made our ordered and took a snap of my wife again. Girls, love to seat on the sofa with lots of pillow. It's functional, she grabbed two pillow and placed it to support her back. No wonder she also recommends me to try this place out.

Alright, importantly is this is a place for food, so how about that? First to come is the Grilled Chicken Burger priced at RM22.90. For this price, I doubt you can find something similar quality outside. Remember my post earlier in T.G.I. Friday's? I think they can close shop if you can get something like this in The Delicious. The fries are delicious, buns are crazy crispy and the vegetables are fresh. Chicken is well cooked and sauce are incredible. A little "over" reacted here, must be the ambience.

Then my wife ordered the Carbonara Spaghettini priced at RM23.90. It's crazy creamy served with musrooms, beef bacon and oregano. Look at the cheese pieces that they put there, crazy. I always don't understand how come the restaurant's spaghetti can be so nice, while the one we bought from groceries are not as good. It's smooth and delicious. Creamy sauce together with the beef bacon is good combination as well. I wallop every bit of the sauce that day.

Since we are there, we wanted to try out their drinks as well. So we ordered my wife's favourite, Root Beer Float priced at RM8.90. It's good, smooth & tasty. For RM8.90, worth every cents.

Then of course the free flow of water in glass, I love it.

The total dining experience set us back RM64.05 inlcuding service charge 10% and goverment tax 5%. It's cheap if you ask me! If you take the float root beer out of the equation, the dinner is easily within RM50.00. That's some money well spent for a good dining experience and a good ambience for catching up with friends. It's one of my favourite casual dining now on Western Food and they are living up to their name, the food is Delicious and I'm definitely coming back.

In fact, I ate in The Delicious again last weekend. This time at One Utama Shopping Mall instead. Will get it post up later.

An outdoor set-up for The Delicious at Midvalley. They open up till midnight, and as when I took this photograph, the clock shown 11.00pm. It's still fully packed, I think the round shaped seat must be very comfortable! Delicious!

The Delicious
Midvalley Megamall
Lot G(E)-011 & G-001,
Ground Floor, Mid Valley City,
Lingkaran Syed Putra,
59200 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-2287 5770
Opening Time: 10.00am till 12.00am (open at 9.00am in Sat, Sun & PB and serve breakfast)
Website: http://www.delicious.com.my/
Outlet Location: http://www.delicious.com.my/#location

T.G.I. Friday's Restaurant & Bar

2011-03-14T21:38:00.001+08:00

Alright, this is a really old post dated back 30th October 2010 and we are visiting the T.G.I. Friday's at Sri Hartamas Shopping Complex. For those that don't know, T.G.I. Friday's full name is Thank Goodness It's Friday. Some call them TGI, and some call them Friday's. Anyway you see fit.

T.G.I. Fridays open up its franchise door in Malaysia since 1994 and they have thousands of outlets around the world serving Western casual dinner cuisine. It's used to expensive dining experience for me, but not anymore when there are more fine dining around the town.

As we get into the shop, only we realised the next day is Halloween Day, explaining the decoration around the shop. Sorry for the bad quality shooting, not in mood to do much setting that day.

Alright, this is our table, a corner table with a full Halloween decoration. If you ask me, T.G.I. Friday's is really sunset restaurant, all the decors are so lousy that I think 10yo kid can do it. Look at it, it's so cheap with the fire on the glass door, some cards sticking together around the wall, pink cloth with cheapo lighting around? That's so lousy, pass.

Ok, coming to food, my wife prefer something simple and meaty to feed the hunger so she order up the Chicken Fingers priced at RM23.90. A good 5 pieces of chicken fingers, fries and a mustard cream sauce. It looks simple and it taste normal as well. Nothing to shout about.

Moving on, I ordered the Grilled Lamb priced RM29.90 for myself. Mainly for my wife as well, because she loves Lamb. The serving is quite big, but don't get fool by it. The bone is equally big, so the lamb portion is not as big though. The vege serving is marinated as well, loving it. It's just a normal plate of lamb chop, nothing to shout about again.

For drinks, we got the thirst killer, Pineapple Juice priced at RM7.90. It's delicious and fresh fruits, nice.

The dinner totalled to RM70.95 with 10%+5% tax. Good food, but not exactly up to expectations anymore. I'm not sure if only the outlet branch in Sri Hartamas Shopping Complex got this issue, I'm not impress with this value of dining experience though. For this price, I will have lots of choice in Western cuisine like the Chili's or Tony Roma's. Disappointed, that will take me a while to return. Cheers.

T.G.I. Friday's Restaurant & Bar
Lot P-8,9&10, Plaza Floor
Hartamas Shopping Center
60, Jalan Sri Hartamas 1
Sri Hartamas
50480 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-6203 9231
Opening Time: 10.00am till 10.00pm
Outlet Location: http://www.fridays.com.my/html/locations.html
Website: http://www.fridays.com.my/

The Real Cost of Car Ownership

2011-03-14T09:20:00.001+08:00

It's funny how people mind works where they will tell you in order for you to get rich, you musn't spend too much on a car. Never buy anything more than a Vios / City, best if you stick to Proton. People look at the expenses equivalent to a car value or misconception that certain brand car will have a huge lost of depreciation, but most of the time, they will have no idea on the actual cost involved in a car ownership. I'm in support in savings money for the better future but also at the same time I'm huge supporter in getting best enjoyment with the smallest amount of money spent. As said, money paper is useless until you exchange it for something you want.

Living on penny doesn't make you rich, living smart is more important. Which is smarter? Buying a brand new RM89,000 Honday City, or buying a used Alfa Romeo at RM70,000? The answer lies on how much is the real cost of car ownership, as most people will tell you that Alfa Romeo is expensive to maintain and depreciate a lot. I'm sure none of them drove an Alfa Romeo before, I don't talk nonsense but only facts & figures. Let's look at the number.

I'm going to do a calculation comparison for both brand new Honda City and an used 2006 Alfa Romeo 147 2.0SS. In these calculations, I will consider a yearly mileage of 20,000km, current petrol price of RM1.92, 7 years in loan repayment at 2.8% interest and I have downpayment cash of RM15,000 on hand.

Honda City 2011 valued at RM89,000
Depreciation = RM5,800 per year (a search in newspaper will show you)
Maintenance = RM1,000 per year (based on maintenance booklet from Honda, will cost more later)
Petrol = RM3,000 per year (consider 13km/liter)
Road Tax = RM90 per year
Insurance = RM1152 (1st year based on RM89,000 insurance coverage with 55% NCP)
Tolls & Parking = RM600 per year
Loan Interest = RM1,480 per year (equally divided for loan interest over 7 years)

Total expenses per year = RM13,048 for a brand new Honda City.Not exactly cheap isn't it?

Now, let's move to a year 2006 Alfa Romeo 2.0SS worth RM70,000 at current time. I'm sure you can find something cheaper than the price I indicated.

Depreciation = RM6,000 per year (so low?? do a search, you will find out)
Maintenance = RM2,400 per year (a real figure that I spent, it's more than enough if you bought a good bella, not hard though)
Petrol = RM3,500 per year (consider 11km/liter, standard for a 2.0CC car)
Road Tax = RM379 per year
Insurance = RM932 per year (1st year based on RM70,000 insurance coverage with 55% NCP)
Tolls & Parking = RM600 per year
Loan Interest = RM1,091 per year

Total expenses per year = RM14,902 for a used 2006 Alfa Romeo 147.
Surprise? It's real, I owned one, and this is the cost I'm spending.

It's still RM1,900 per year more expensive that a spanky brand new Honda City, but it's a different class of car! I'm talking about 2.0CC Twinspark, 6 airbags, sunroof, 8 Bose speakers + amplified subwoofer, italian superior handling car. It's not a fair comparison, why don't we bring in a comparable class this time, the Honda Civic? Not too comparable, but you get the idea.

Depreciation = RM8,000 per year (again, go check on newspaper)
Maintenance = RM1,200 per year (based on Honda booklet, will get more expensive later)
Petrol = RM3,500 per year (consider 11km/liter)
Road Tax = RM379 per year
Insurance = RM1,634 per year
Tolls & Parking = RM600 per year
Loan Interest = RM2,300 per year

Total expenses per year = RM17,613 for a brand new Honda Civic.
It's RM2,711 per year more expensive than the Alfa Romeo and the only advantage of the new Civic is the room space and of course, spanky brand new model. Forget about the additional stuff Alfa Romeo is giving, but Civic still has nothing comparable in driving enjoyment and handling with Alfa Romeo.

This is what I call minimum money with maximum enjoyment. The rules changed as the number change, it's all numbers in the datasheet, work it out. Another example is that if you want to drive a BMW, never buy an used unit. Car like BMW has constant depreciation over years, and there is no different in depreciation value either new or used. The real cost of BMW is the maintenance cost. Take up a new unit and make sure the 3 years free maintenance is included, I'm sure the interest & insurance cost will be covered up easily.

And if you are really interested in Civic, again this car got constant depreciation, no different in new or used. Take up a short loan, change it every 2 or 4 years for a brand new spanky headache-less Civic. You do the math, then tell me.

Work hard, play smart. That's how I live mine. It's just a simple plan =)

Loh Mee, Old Green House @ Penang

2011-03-13T22:33:00.002+08:00

Lots of food post holding up because of my busy schedule, pouring out remaining food review in Penang. The next upcoming food is Loh Mee in the famous Old Green House, Penang. Those Penangites night walkers will definitely know this place as the stall only open after late night.

The good Loh Mee is located in the famous Old Green House along the Burma road. The place is easily recognise from the road as you will notice it's crowded with night crawlers and lots of motorcycle stopping for a quick bite. It's silent in the morning, and come bustling at midnight.

Lots of food in Old Green House, but forget about the rest and find this particular store. Burma Road Famous Prawn Mee & Loh Mee. I didn't have the chance to try the Prawn Mee, and my friends insisted on the Loh Mee instead, which they claimed it's really good. We came to this place after a wedding dinner, imagine the food in our stomach when we got here.

Here is the messy workstation for the stall that continuing chunking out good food for night crawlers. It's messy, and it's a good messy for good food. Loving every bit of the traditional stalls around the town.

Now here is the best bowl of Loh Mee to fill up your midnight hunger in Penang. Order the Loh Mee with Roast pork, and it's going to cost you RM5.50 only. Keep the chili on the bowl, you are going to love it. The sauce is so plain that the ingredients help to taste up the entire experience. I got it with bihun mee, and the experience is incredible. It's really good that I will go back for more every night that I spend in Penang. As usual, the good food is hard to put into words, but if you try it and it's not nice, come back to me. I will pay you back.

I heard that Greenhouse stall's prawn mee (or known as hokkien mee) is also good, they also serve cintan mee. Try them out, and if you are there, try out the recommended extreme Hokkien Mee that's going to cost set you back RM12. Insane.

Loh Mee @ Old Green House
Burma Road
Penang
Opening Time: 8.00pm till 4.00am (closed on every Sunday)
Location Coordinate: N5 25.421 E100 19.261

My Next Dream Car

2011-03-11T08:39:00.000+08:00

Discover a very interesting video of my dream car, the Mini Cooper S in taking up challenge in Touge FF Champion! Overtaking the King of FF, Civic Type R... It's a long video, watch only if you are interested with cars =)

MINI-Garden

This video assured me that Mini Cooper S is the right choice, can't wait to realise my dream ...

Best Fried Oyster, Lam Ah Coffee Shop @ Penang

2011-03-09T09:23:00.002+08:00

My food crave continues and I think I didn't mention that I love oyster very much. Particularly the chinese style fried oyster is my favourite, but nowadays, it's hard to find a good place to really enjoy a plate that's real nice. The search for best fried oyster ended in my recent trip to Penang. Let's go.

Introducing the Lam Ah Coffee Shop located at the crossroad of Lebuh Chulia and Lebuh Pantai in Penang. This place is also known as the coffee shop opposite the Fire Station. Penang folks should know. Penang really got lots of hidden gem, a small place like this is serving the best fried oyster I've ever eaten. Let's get closer.

This is the uncle that's serving us. A small simple store, operated single handedly, and you don't even look at it when you pass by. But the fried oyster that he serve is really really very good.

The way of preparing the fried oyster is a little different, I noticed. First, he fried the eggs first with the oil and add in some of his recipe sauce in really high heat. Done until crazy crispy then he put the fried eggs onto a plate. he then fried the oyster and this time he cooked very quickly and throwing in his special sauce just to heat it up. Then pour the oyster & sauce onto the fried eggs and serve it. He spent most of his time preparing the fried eggs, weird.

Normally other shops will just throwing in everything onto the frying pan and let it cook. That's why the oyster sticked to the fried eggs, most of the time. Then I noticed the problem with the usual way of cooking after trying his. Let's see where is the secret.

Ok, now here is the final masterpiece of the best Fried Oyster I've ever tasted! The price varies on the portion you order, starting from RM5 for small, RM8 for medium and RM10 for big. I visited this place twice in a few months time and I got the RM5 and RM8 respectively. Take the RM8, don't worry about it. My first visit, I ordered the RM5, and regretted. It's so good that I'm craving for another plate. But my size is holding me back, cannot eat too much though.

So the secret, first of all is the fried eggs. It's done in high heat with sauce, so it's crazy crispy. The eggs is also tasty because of his special sauce and normally he done it into a triangle shape as you see. His signature I suppose. Then come the oyster, it's so fresh that you will not taste some funny smell. And importantly, the size of the oyster is also big enough, but not too big, to give you a good snacking feel. Finally the sauce is incredibly delicious. Whoever eating this, you will find them picking up the last piece and drag all around the plate trying to scoop up the remaining sauce on the plate. Finger licking good for KFC? Plate mopping style for the best fried oyster. He can save on cleaning the plate later =)

So what's the different? If you eat them in separate manner, it's pretty normal fried eggs, oysters and stuff. But together, it's a good thing. Different is the eggs are so crispy, something that other shop cant do. Because other usual shop will do everything together on the pan. You either overcook the oyster or undercook the eggs. That's why you shouldn't mix it. It's a secret revealed I suppose, but still doubt people will learn from him. It's my must visit place if I ever step onto the soil of Penang Island.

Conincidently Lam Ah Coffee Shop is also famous for the beef noodles, which I will blog about it later.

Mr. Gan Fried Oysters @ Lam Ah Coffee Shop
Crossroad of Lebuh Chulia & Lebuh Pantai
Penang
Location Coordinate: N5 24.925 E100 20.367
Opening time: 10.30am till 4.30pm (closed on Sunday & Public Holiday)

Half Marathon Training

2011-03-08T15:54:00.001+08:00

As the Energizer Night Race 2011 is pushing nearer, I'm training harder now. My recent trip to the TTDI park give me a better result. I'm recording an average speed of 6.52min/km and completed a full 7km in 48mins only. My recent hard training is punishing my body to the extent that I'm fatigue most of the time.

I think I over-train and I'm slowing down for this week to recover my energy and pace. I'm increasing my training to 6km per day, if I can afford. Hopefully my body can pace with the punishment, if not I wouldnt be able to complete my aim of 42km full marathon by end of this year. Cheers.

Lorong Selamat Char Kuey Teow @ Penang

2011-03-08T15:46:00.001+08:00

Alright, continuing my journey on the land of food heaven, we reached the 2nd stall of recommended Char Kuey Teow in Penang, the famous Lorong Selamat Char Kuey Teow. Some people tend to call it Sister Char Kuey Teow, that's a mistake. Most of the mistaken idea come from the same rules of the shop that don't allow outside drinks or charge you if you dont order any drink from the shop. I got it mixed up initially.

The Char Kuey Teow stall at the Lorong Selamat in Kafe Heng Huat. It's so visible from the road side, and easily recognise with the chef always wearing yellow and a red chef hat. She also wear the yellow industry goggle last time but I missed it this time, not sure why.

A look into the shop, it's always pack from morning till evening. Main highlight of the kafe of course its the Char Kuey Teow. You will need to wait approximately 30-45 minutes for a plate, I've warned you. There go the rules of each person must order one drink, or be ready to be charge for 50 cents. It's not that bad, because of the long waiting time, you might as well get an ice kacang to kill time. There are other stalls nearby that serve food into Heng Huat as well, so if you are hungry, go ahead and order it.

Now here is a close shot of the chef. She is quite famous for your notorius temper. There is story that some of her customers were so angry that they throw bricks to her stall. Do a quick search and you will get something. She is getting better after than incident, but the waiting time is still the same. Go over, make your order and make sure she heard you, then leave, sit and wait patiently. She treats me alright =)

Here is my bowl of Ice Kacang. Since it's compulsary, I get this for myself to kill the time. It's not bad, but nothing to shout about. Next.

Some herbal tea to kill the thirst after the hefty Char Kuey Teow & Ice Kacang. Next.

As we are waiting patiently for our food, I noticed something on the opposite table. Check it out.
What you see? Pigeon Baby Wipes. There is no baby on that table, only a uncle auntie couple. Maybe it's a leftover from their earlier baby, but ...

Alright, after a long wait, here is the plate of Lorong Selamat Char Kuey Teow priced at RM7.00. She only serve one size type of Char Kuey Teow with a healthy portion and three big fresh prawns. If you ask me, I think the Ah Leng Char Kuey Teow prawn is bigger, which of course more expensive. You can ask for more prawns, I heard it's RM9.00 a plate instead. How it taste?

It's very good. She is famous for a reason, and you wont be wrong when people still go to her no matter her bad reputation. How is it compare to Ah Leng Char Kuey Teow? It's different I would say, not really similar but it's equally good. If you ask me that I can only got 1 place for Char Kuey Teow, then I will choose Ah Leng Char Kuey Teow. For all readers out there, I'm comparing against both best Char Kuey Teow in Malaysia, and it's a close fight. Anyone of them will kick whichever your favourite Char KueyTeow ass. Make sure you don't miss it any of them. For me, I will still eat both stalls, even on the same day! It's that good ...

Lorong Selamat Char Kuey Teow
Heng Huat Cafe
108 Lorong Selamat
10400 Penang
Opening time: 11.00am till 5.00pm
Location Coordinate: N5 25.026 E100 19.477