Live Blogging: From Kuching

Tonight will be our last night in Kuching. Didn't go much visiting except trying out a few restaurants here and there. Food here are very interesting. From Ko Lo Noodle to Laksa Style crabs as well as "umai ikan" to "tuak" mojito. Sadly, we have yet to visit the major tourist spots here. Hopefully, tomorrow we got time for some.

At the same time, Rachel is having a good sleep while I'm still awake to do blogging. We had a full day trip around Kuching looking for foods and we went to Damai beach as well today.

Pictures to come very soon. Thanks for reading while we were here.

Ya, one more thing. Happy Merdeka!! Kuching has been very nice to us except the hazy weather.

Malaysia Truly Asia!!

PlacesAndFoods.com Is A Team Of Two Now

Many that knew us personally knew this would be coming. After supporting and helping me for months, my wife Rachel will join PlacesAndFoods.com. I will still do my blogging as usual and Rachel, will have her own articles as well. I felt its unfair for her as she had been giving lots of inputs in this blog.



We enjoying our dinner...



We traveling in my B170...



We at our first hand experience with a 7kg durian.

I had been really busy with work and keeping up with a daily post is not easy. Rachel coming in would probably help out a bit at least. We still had quite a huge backlog and there will be some interesting article coming up soon.

Thank you for reading... This blog officially now becomes a husband and wife affair.

Dream Wedding Chapel @ Blue Point Bay Villas & Spa, BALI

Let me put something nice for a Friday. Since we are going to have a long weekend ala Merdeka celebrations, we will be away for a short holiday as well. We will be going to Kuching for a short trip.

This whole dream wedding chapel wasn't really my idea. My sis, Adeline told me about this amazing dream wedding chapel in Bali a few months ago. Then, she went to Bali and took a couple of pictures of it. After looking at the pictures, I knew its going to be posted here.

The place is called Blue Point Bay Villas & Spas in Bali. It's quite popular for its wedding packages, address and contact as below.

Now, let me share with you the dream wedding chapel pictures...



The chapel, but that's not all....



Look at that!



The amazing sea view....



Let's check out the swimming pool...



Look closely...



Trust me I would save money for my next trip to stay here, if possible...



Thanks Adeline for the wonderful pictures, she's in the picture.

I promised a breathtaking pictures and I delivered. More food posts to come! Thanks for reading!

Address:
Jl.Labuansait - Uluwatu, Pecatu, Bali 80364, Indonesia.
Telp: (62-361) 769 888 (Hunting)
Fax: (62-361) 769 889

Website: http://www.bluepointbayvillas.com
E-mail Address: info@bluepointbayvillas.com

The Famous Kek Lok Si Temple @ Penang

This dated June when we were there for a short trip. We didn't been to Kek Lok Si for a while so going there was a dejavu... There's few things you can do around Kek Lok Si, shopping, eating and the Penang Hill cable car. I did blog about the famous assam laksa around the area, read more about it HERE. We didn't manage to go up the famous Penang Hill as the tickets were sold out!



Unfortunately, we were late and they were closing. Yet, they were nice enough for us to sneak in for a while.











*Pictures are taken using Canon 20D with a combinations of Sigma 24-70mm and Canon 50mm and also Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ 15

A short history of Kek Lok Si as below from Wikipedia:

The construction of the temple began in 1890 and was inspired by the chief monk of the Goddess of Mercy Temple at Pitt Street. With the support of the consular representative of China in Penang, the project received the sanction of the Emperor Guangxu, who bestowed a tablet and gift of 70,000 volumes of the Imperial Edition of the Buddhist Sutras.

The primary benefactor of the Kek Lok Si Temple in 1906 was none other than Kapitan Chung Keng Quee.

In 1930, the seven storey main pagoda of the temple or the Pagoda of 10,000 Buddhas, was completed. This pagoda combines a Chinese octagonal base with a middle tier of Thai design, and a Burmese crown; reflecting the temple's embrace of both Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism.

In 2002, a 30.2m bronze statue of the Kuan Yin was completed and opened to public. The statue is located on the hillside above the pagoda. - Wikipedia

The time we there, they were constructing a building surrounding the bronze statue of Kuan Yin. My first visit was in 1980s. The temple did multiple renovations and its much nicer now than it used to be. A must go place if you visit Penang.

Malaysia Truly Asia...

Dim Sum @ Restoran Mexim Cheras

*NON-HALAL*

Everyone knows the Taman Connaught stretch in Cheras is famous for their dim sum but I found another place. It's located in Taman Yulek (same row with the post office). It's not a new place and it's quite popular also. Place is called Restoran Mexim Cheras, it has been there for quite some time.



Packed as usual, a casual and usual spot for the residents around. The last time I was there was years back.



Siew Mai...



Dim sum with sweet sauce...





Pork porridge...

In general, the dim sum was fresh and decent. This explains the usual crowd in the restaurant. Place is not air conditioned and the service was okay. Parking might be a slight issue here but sometimes you might get lucky. Pricing is quite reasonable, ranging from RM 2.00.

Well, if you are around Taman Yulek, Cheras and you got the craving for dim sum, this could be the place. Reasonably good.

Address:

Kuchai Lama's Hidden Good Food @ Restoran 88

*NON-HALAL*

I wouldn't been there if there's no one brought me there. Thank you Cynthia for bringing us there!

After several turns from here and there, lies a restaurant out of no where with an open air car park (for directions check map, below). The place was packed! Even for a weekday! We sensed good foods.



We started with lettuce with fermented beancurd. Lettuce was not overcooked, still maintain the freshness. I liked this.



Mixed beancurd came with a generous amount of paste. Not to mention the soft and smooth texture of the beancurd. This should goes very well together with rice. This was good.



Pork with portuguese sauce was next. Like the earlier 2 dishes, this was good as well. Pork meat was tender and it blended very well with creamy thick portuguese sauce.



Lastly we had the steamed fish with fook chew style! Fish was fresh and it was steamed to the right timing. Yet, some might find the sauce slightly "too flavoury" for a steamed fish. I loved this and personally I felt it was tasty.

In general, the food was good and the service was okay. Place was not air conditioned and the pricing was very reasonable. I found a great place to dine good food in Kuchai Lama!

Address and map is below.

Recommended!

Receipt:



Address:


Map:

Malaysia's Very Own Bat Cave @ Langkawi

Often when we talk about bat cave, the first thing that comes to our mind is Batman. Well, it is true that Batman has a bat cave. However, our country Malaysia also have our version of bat cave.

Located in Langkawi, the bat cave tour is usually packaged under the mangrove tour. Tour prices varies depending on how many person per boat and what type of boat hired. What I can say is we got ourselves quite a sweet deal. This was dated back in October last year.



Platforms were built towards the cave in the middle of the mangrove jungle.



Inside the cave was total darkness. When I flashed my camera, I realized there were lots of bats on the ceiling of the cave. Its kinda creepy though.



Even it looks like droppings, trust me they were bats.



The bat cave tour was included in the mangrove tour like I mentioned as the above. Most hotels have the information about the mangrove tour and other local tours.

Malaysia Truly Asia....

Superwilson Sell Toys @ Amcorp Mall Flea Market

Today marked the first time I shared a stall in Amcorp Mall's Flea Market to clear off my toys for more space at home. Well, firstly thanks KC and Chris (below) for helping me.

For those who didn't know about my toys collections, I do have a humble collection of toys. You can check out my toys collections blog HERE or at http://wilson-ng.blogspot.com/

I met a lot of toys collectors who were shocked to see me. After missing in action for months, it was really happy to meet them.




I didn't bring much toys to sell today. Today mainly trying to learn and survey what to sell. Will bring more next time around. My next round will be at September 6th. I will bring more vintage toys to sell.

Next weekend, I will be at Kuching for a short trip. It will be my first visit to Kuching, getting very excited about it.

More traveling pictures will come soon, and also food outings with friends and fellow bloggers. Please do look out for places like Cherating and also Bali. And also thank you for lovely people who invited me for the food reviews this week, I will post the reviews in upcoming weeks.

Thanks for reading, and good night!

RM 1.50 Nasi Lemak @ Sri Weld Food Court, Penang

It was RM 1.20 when I came across Vkeong's post. Now, its RM 1.50. Guess the inflation hits Penang as well as in KL.

I didn't go there on purpose... seriously. It was by chance. It was too early in the morning to look for foods. It was around 10 am and it happened a few weeks ago. Lorong Selamat's famous stalls were still unopened at that time so we went around and found this food court.

We were told that the beef noodle is famous there. Yet, I found something interesting there as well.



The food court at the Beach Street...



The Nasi Lemak Daun Pisang stall at the food court...



Don't tell me after looking this nasi lemak preparation (picture above), you are not tempted to try one. The malay owners paid no attention to me, even though I kept taking pictures of their stall.



They sell 3 types of nasi lemak, the nasi lemak sambal udang (prawn), nasi lemak ikan bilis (enchovies) and egg, nasi lemak ikan (fish). All at RM 1.50 each! That was bloody cheap.

I bought the prawn nasi lemak and slowly unwrapped the banana leaf. The size of the prawn caught the attention of my friends and they were surprised it's only RM 1.50. The rice was very fragrant and not to mention the spicy prawn sambal. It was very good indeed. It was a no regrets affair having this, lovely!
Recommendable!

Address:
Beach Street, Penang

Ah Loong Grill Fish @ Wang Zi Kafe, NZX, Ara Damansara

Thank you Big Boys Oven, Ken of FoodPOI, Richard, Edward and Wang Zi Kafe for the invitation for the food review.

This was the second time I went to NZX at Ara Damansara. Wang Zi Kafe is located just behind NZX complex. Not knowing its history, Wang Zi Kafe is a branch to its famous SS2's Ah Loong Grill Fish.

There, I met up with BBO, Iamthewitch, Jess and Chris Tock. It was my first time meeting Iamthewitch though, she and Rachel can really chat.



The entrance...



The place has made its name with a number of write ups and promos from newspaper and TV as well. This includes the popular "Ho Chiak" TV show. I would call this the "Wall of Fame"...



We were entertained with a numbers of drinks with vibrant colours. Colourful!



Some might thought its just the colours were nice, but rest assured, it was pretty good.



My personal favourite was the Kiwi drink, I loved it.



The butter escargot came first, priced at RM 15.00. Some might mistaken it as a prawn from the outlook but it was indeed Japanese escargot that was coated nicely with butter sauce and yet it was addictively delicious.



Next, was the Fried Pork Knuckle...



When I cut the fried pork knuckle, I could feel the skin cracking signaling the crispiness of it. Pork knuckle might looks like an easy dish, but sadly its not. Some would have crispy skin but the meat will totally overcooked while some might have tender meat but the skin is not crispy. Finding a right combination of both, is quite hard actually. Luckily, the fried pork knuckle here had crispy skin with tender meat. Came together with the jelly fish, it went well with the chili sauce. This dish might look fat, but it was the ladies who ate the most out of it.



Salad prawn was next. Disguised with the salad, the prawn was nothing less than decent.



La La soup was next. First thing first, la la was not overcooked and the soup was deeply flavoured with hints of chinese wine. The whole package came together well.



The mixed seafood with beancurd. A mixture of seafood with tomato sauce poured on the beancurd. Some might love this, some might have different preference on this. I would say I prefer to stay neutral on this.



The special mixed vegetables didn't disappoint me. The vegetables were cooked nicely enough to have the "crunchiness" feel. This was decent.



As the feast went on, we were served with claypot chicken with yam. I haven't had such dish for some time. Well, I must say that personally I would prefer the yam to be softer but the overall taste was decent.



It was Rachel's first experience with chicken fish. Oh well, I had a few times with my family before. We loved it. Rachel has a personal preferences on fish, so anything related with fish she would rate it slightly higher.



How could we complete the lunch without their famous asam grilled fish. Grilled to perfection, the asam grilled sting ray was a popular dish. For those who fancy spicy, this will be a match making dish. Not to mention, the tasty spicy chili sauce that blends well with the fish. It was good.

In general, the food was good and the place was comfortable. Didn't know much about the pricing as it was a food review. My personal preferences? Pork Knuckle, don't miss it!

Thanks again, Big Boys Oven, Ken of FoodPOI, Richard, Edward and Wang Zi Kafe for the invitation.

Address:
69G, Jalan 1A/41B,
Pusat Dagang NZX PJU 1A,
Petaling Jaya 47301 Selangor M,sia
Tel: 603- 7885 0252
Fax: 603- 7885 0252
Web: http://www.loonggrillfish.blogspot.com