1. Look ma, it wasn’t me!
2. last camwhoring session before driving
3. Suanie’s car leading the way

We had a pretty decent dimsum breakfast meal near my house and then started our journey towards Pahang. Our first destination, the Chamang Waterfalls. We arrived in less than 2 hours of driving. Unlike the Chiling Falls we went whereby a 1.5 hour trekking is needed, at Chamang Falls, the car park is situated right beside the river. It took only a few minutes to walk to our “camp site” near the main fall.

1. Kim with really long arms
2. setting up our pad by the waterfall
3. my zen moment
4. ze noobs minus tock the cameraman

We had loads of fun there, the weather was hot but the water was super cold. We eventually found a way to swim and climb up to a somewhat dry platform just below the main fall (see my zen moment photo) and hanged out there for a bit.

1. crossing the lucky suspension bridge
2. what do you want me to do, suan?
3. who said you can’t swim and smoke?

Dree, the dude who can swim and smoke, even bought a portable stove and made coffee! Cold water, warm coffee, great view, even better company, it was awesome.

1. the two baby elephants
2. the super exaggerated Rachel
3. hello giant baby!
4. Sammy was a bit shy with the elephants

We had to leave the waterfall by around noon as we hoped to get to the Elephant Sanctuary in time to register for the free elephant rides (valid only for some 100 people daily). Though we did arrive there before 1pm, the list was all full as the sanctuary was packed with visitors on this Labor day.

1. tock tock setting up the camera
2. ze group, look at how tock was hugging the pillar
3. haaaaaaaaaa! my superpower!

We played with the two baby elephants a bit. They were very playful and still had trouble controlling their trunks and it was very cute. The sanctuary is also a home for many adult elephants, but they are placed on a fenced up area. We hang around the place for a bit, took a few silly pictures, had some ice creams and cold drinks under the hot sun, then proceed to yet another destination - the Deer Park.

1. Kerol & Suan looking as Sammy feeds the deer
2. Kim posing with the ostrich
3. don’t they look alike? ST & the hedgehog
4. Suan again so interested in Dree and the sugar glider

The entrance fee for Deer Park was RM 5 per person, and it was totally worth it. The place is more like a petting zoo than a mere sanctuary for deers. We fed the deers with sweet potato, the ostriches with some leaves, had our hands on the spiky (but not sharp) hedgehog, and the very shy (and shivering) sugar glider. Of course, there’s the sun bear with extremely small wiener! It was a very fun place.

1. ze small wiener!
2. Dree feeding the big sun bear

We actually headed to the Chamang Falls again after that and had a second session of sun, water, and swim. By the time we got back at PJ it was already dinner time. We had garlic fish and some other dishes at Lucky Loke nearby my house and called it a day after that. It was an excellent trip, we should do this more often!

choices of pastries

To be honest, this was the first time I had hi-tea anywhere. I initially thought that hi-tea would actually involve some sort of really high class tea, but apparently it is just a buffet style late afternoon meal that can be quite substantial. Oh well, learn something new everyday - never to simply assume.

may I have a bowl of that please?

The hi-tea at Cafe Serena Brasserie serves quite a lot of dishes, from a huge selection of pastries, raw oysters, mussels, clams, wantan soup, mee goreng, cheese cakes, ice kacang, to mini potato, mee hun soup, satey, and even chocolate fondue. Definitely more than enough for anyone’s stomach. I was spoiled for choices.

raw oysters, mini wantan soup, baked mussels and more

I started off my meal with a serving from the raw bar, a few fresh raw oysters, mussels, prawns, and clams. As with any buffet, you should always start with things that aren’t very strong tasting and work your way from there. If you started off with satey and plenty of peanut sauce with extra chili, the taste buds will be desensitized to dishes with subtler tastes.

Between chatting with Azira and taking some photos, I had a mini wantan soup, salad, some pastries, pancake, and moved on to satey, fried chicken, and the very very good meehun soup (my favorite). Then of course it was chocolate fondue and some fruits for dessert. But I did sneaked in another serving of oysters as I simply cannot resist.

a bit of noodle, chocolate, raw stuff, fruits, healthy meal ya.

In all, it was a very satisfying and hearty meal. While the food was very good, the hospitality from Azira was even better. We throughly enjoyed the session. Thanks!

More pictures can be found at my flickr set.

Sammy enjoying her meehun soup, and the friendly Azira

Other than Hi-tea on weekends and public holidays, Cafe Serena Brasserie also serves buffet breakfast daily, as well as lunch and dinner on Mondays to Fridays. Buffet dinner has an even wider selection of food, including sashimi from their Japanese kitchen as well.

Address:
165, Jalan Ampang,
50450 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 603-2782 6228

This is actually my entry to McDonald’s Big Mac Chant Challenge that is currently running. If you think you can beat my video, make yourself an even better one (which I doubt!), upload it to youtube, and send your entry to BigMacChant@nuffnang.com with the title Big Mac Chant.

Oh, the chant is
“Two All-Beef Patties,
Special Sauce, Lettuce,
Cheese, Pickles, Onions
On A Sesame Seed Bun!”

Winner gets RM 10,000! I am imagining a holiday… if you’re a nuffnanger, do vote for me here!

Writing about this brings back quite a few memories. One of my buddies’ friend described how he once ate five Big Macs in a seating. Amazing. McDonald’s is also my first employer as I used to work for them after my high school PMR examination many years ago. It was at the Gurney branch in Penang, and I can proudly say that I went through the whole menu many times over. The other thing that I always remember is that we had to keep the kitchen spotlessly clean all the time. I have no doubt that McD keeps the highest standard of hygiene in any food outlets.

Ahh.. those memories. Now let me win my RM 10,000!

Sun Bear has a really tiny one!

This was taken at the Deer Park, a place where you can pet and feed deers, ostriches, play with rabbits, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, and even bears. The trainer made this Sun Bear lay down on his back and fed him with some keropok. I can’t help but notice how small a wiener he has! Just slightly bigger than an elevator button!

No wonder sun bear penis and balls aren’t considered aphrodisiac by Chinese.

I shall post a detailed report about the trip soon. Cuti cuti Malaysia.

Thanks to Eyeris who managed to source a pair of extra tickets for Iron Man last night, I got to watch this show before the official release this weekend. Before you ask, the movie is awesome and totally kick ass, you have to watch it when it comes out this weekend. Now lets proceed to a bit of a “review” that might or might not contain spoilers, read at your own risk.

Tony Stark’s first armour

For those who didn’t grow up with American comics (ie: me, I was reading Chinese version of Doraemon and Lau Fu Tze), Iron Man has his super power not via genetic mutation nor being born on some other planet. Instead, somewhat like Bruce Wayne in Batman, Tony Stark is an industrialist who archive superpower-hood via his engineering brilliance. If you haven’t figured it out, he built the freaking armour that allows him to fly, shoot people, carry heavy loads, etc etc.

2nd version in the making

The story doesn’t stray very far from the typical superhero movies, with the introduction of the main character as an ordinary person to the transformation that makes him a superhero to the final fight with the super villain. The difference is, of course, Robert Downy Jr. fits the profile of Tony Stark perfectly, and Gwyneth Paltrow played a brilliant role in being Pepper Potts.

awesome or not?

Then there’s the absolutely awesome CG that blends it perfectly while bringing the awe factor not any less than Transformers. You’ll love the movie, watch it!

the enemy, iron monger

Luckily, there are many good Japanese restaurants in this part of the world, and one of my absolute favorite would be Rakuzen, a place I visited on a regular basis ever since I came back from the States. In fact, the blog entry on Rakuzen at Subang Jaya is one of my first food articles. I bet you can imagine my enthusiasm when I was invited to a food review session at Rakuzen @ Chulan Square.

Sashimi Moraiwase

According to the friendly host and restaurant manager, Jack, Rakuzen Subang is where everything started, and this Chulan Square location is the second branch. Then there’s the Pyramid Zen, and I found out that they also run my favorite conveyor belt sushi place, Zanmai Sushi! I believe there is also a Zanmai outlet at Gardens, you can check it here.

the really zen like ambiance

Chef Ah Fai at Rakuzen is one of the top apprentices of the bald Japanese chef heads the Subang branch and has been making sushi & sashimi for more than a decade. For this review, he prepared the signature dish sashimi moraiwase, a sashimi salad, dragon roll, and assorted tempura. I was already drooling while taking these photos.

sashimi moraiwase, sashimi salad, dragon roll, tempura

The sashimi includes sake (salmon), maguro (tuna), otoro (tuna belly), ika (squid), tako (octopus), amaebi (sweet shrimp), uni (sea urchin), and a Spanish mackerel, everything imported from Japan and properly stored in their special -15 C fridge to ensure freshness. Order individually, everything would totaled to over RM 200, so the RM 150 dish offers very good value.

The raw fish were very very good, especially the otoro, fatty savory tuna belly that melts in your mouth; of course, the sea urchin is always one of my favorites too, texture of raw brain but with the tastes of that unique sweetness. It was very very satisfying, everything tasted perfect, with proper cuts and the right temperature too.

chef Fai and his creations

As for the sashimi salad, there were plenty of raw fish, squid, and a generous portion of ebiko (fish roe) on top of all the fresh vegetable, tomato, and cucumber in a creamy topping that tasted slightly sourish. This is perfect for someone who loves to have raw fish but doesn’t want to have the rice to go with it. (you can choose to fill your stomach with just sashimi and break the bank at the same time).

The dragon roll is made by deep frying a big tiger prawn and wrapped it with seaweed sheet, sushi rice, avocado, and topped with some Japanese mayonnaise. There were carrots, prawn, egg plants, and even the mint leaf in the tempura dish. I find the half fried mint leaf having a very interesting taste with a unique texture. I always eat the mint leaf served with sashimi anyway, try it!

Rakuzen at Chulan Square is just a short walk from Pavilion KL

It was a very sumptuous and satisfying lunch that is second only to the hospitality by the good chef and the restaurant manager Jack. The invitation was arranged by foodstreet.

Address:
Block B Lot 2A Chulan Square,
92 Jalan Raja Chulan, 50200 KL
Tel: 03-2145 6200

excellent interior, chef Kamaruddin and yours truly

Gaucho Grill is one of the very few Argentinian restaurants in Klang Valley. Chef Kamaruddin explained that Argentina is actually the 2nd largest consumer of beef in the world, just after US (with 7.5x more in population). Vegetable is not exactly popular, the south Americans love their meat. Gaucho Grill imports all their meat from herds raised by gauchos (cowboys) of Argentina.

starters: garlic bread, seafood soup, escargot, mixed crunch

The three of us that attended this review session by foodstreet were first served with some really nice garlic bread, Escargot, their Sopa Oceano (seafood soup), and the rather large portion of Mixed Crunch.

We managed to sample 2 desserts after all these food, the Choc Madeleine is perfect for chocolate lovers with apricot on moist choc, ice cream, and warm choc fudge. The Panna Cotta is similar to creme brulee, but served cold with dark cherry and raspberry stew. The desserts are made in house as well.

Chulan Square is adjacent to Pavilion KL

Steaks are priced at around RM 68-80, desserts are RM 13-16. There’s also a very good deal for set lunches on weekdays between 12-3pm, for RM 26 you get soup, salad, ice lemon tea, and a main dish (rib eyes, burgers, etc).

The food was really good, and I have no doubt I will go there again.

More pictures of this place at my flickr set

Address:
Block B, Lot 5 Chulan Square
92 Jalan Raja Chulan,
50250 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2145 4268

So after a long day chilling around the city, the three of us (including Terence & Dree) decided that a visit to Thailand is never complete without going to Patpong. We boarded the train and headed to the station nearest to the red light district.

all these go-go clubs and ping pong bars

The place has more flashy neons and interesting sign boards than the whole of downtown KL. Thai girl, Thai boy, lady boy, go-go bars, you name it, they have it. There is also a lot of street stores selling “I love Bangkok” T-shirts and imitation Bell & Ross watches. As we were walking along the shops, we were ushered by many pimps asking if we wanted girls, beer, ping pong shows, etc. We kept rejecting them.

look at the 2 guys in black and yellow shirts, dodgy?

And then one particular pimp told us “You wan watch ping pong show? 1 minute no pay, you no like you go, free. If you like, just stay and buy drinks. 200 baht per beer, that’s all!” (10 baht is roughly 1 Malaysian Ringgit)

Wanting to experience everything Bangkok has to offer (sans the STD activities), we reluctantly said yes. The guy then led us to a bar a level on top of the popular shops/restaurants/bars.

We sensed something wrong as we went in, there were no customer in that place. A group of not-so-great looking girls were on the stage, dancing half naked, trying to be seductive but failing miserably.

We ordered our drinks, 2 beers and a coke, and then the show started. A chunky lady stripped and started shooting darts on balloons. It was done in such mechanical precision and ease, dart in hole, squeeze, dart flies, pops balloon. I was as impressed as worried about her aiming as we were only a couple meters away from the stage.

ping pong balls love Terence

Then came the ping pong show, same thing: ping pong in the hole, squeeze, ping pong flying at Terence. Poor guy had to swat away all the incoming missiles lest having them landing on his face. It was a lot more scary than funny, I kid you not.

In between, the girls kept cajoling us to buy them drinks, 100 baht per coke. We kept saying no, but goddamn dree finally agreed to one coke per girl after the shemale kept pestering him, dude is weak. He didn’t even realize that was 100 baht x 10 girls!

Only 10 minutes into the whole thing, we decided to make a move and called for the bill. It was 3,900 baht!!!

We were like WTF, and started arguing with the lady boss (who was as big as Terence) saying the other guy told us it was 200 bath per beer and the show is free. She said she didn’t know who that was, and this is her bar. I put down a 1,000 baht bill and prepared to walk away, but our good friend dree kept saying “dude just pay just pay I’ll pay you guys back” in a very emo and worried voice. We kept arguing for a bit and decided to give them 3,000 baht as there were about 10 of them surrounding us already..

1,000 baht per person for a lesson to be smarter tourists. Lucky I didn’t have to touch any ping pong ball.

The photostream at flickr is here.

showmanship

I was walking around taking photographs, and suddenly this ice cream seller started performing for me. He scoop up the ice cream, threw it up about 20 feet and drop it on the cup. This was his victory pose after performing his trick. It was a shame I did not manage to capture that in action, but at least we have this pose.

taxi stand

Tuk-tuk, the three wheeler “taxis” are omnipresence everywhere in the city. You can catch a short ride for as low as 20 baht. However, do be careful as some of them do conspire with shops in an attempt to con unsuspecting customers. The normal taxis, on the other hand, are very reliable and honest in Bangkok.

the line up

This photo is taken at the famous 4 faced Buddha statue (Thao Maha Brahma). It is said that many Hong Kong celebrities pay their respect at this place yearly.

the crowd, chatuchak weekend market

Chatuchak weekend market is a congregation of over 6000 stalls selling anything from bacon stick to foot massages to pet rabbits. The place is packed with bargain hunters and clueless tourists alike.

divers at chow praya river

These kids at chow praya river make a living by fetching and reselling animals released to the river. Here they are just warming up to start the day. It is a common practice for pilgrims to release animals to the wild. (for good karma?)

ringtone

A baby girl guided by her father to ring the bell at the temple, probably for the first time in her life.

guards - emerald Buddha temple

The guards at Emerald Buddha temple reminds me of those Buckingham Palace guards. They were completely stationary with only movements on their eyeballs. Respect.

fat boy supper

Day or night, you can find hawker stalls by every roadside. Bangkok is the city very favorable to food hunters like me, I just wish I had a bigger stomach.

the friendly Chef Michael Wong and his creations

I arrived at Sheraton during dinner time and was greeted by the friendly PR person Bel, who introduced me to the Executive Chinese Chef Michael Wong. Chef Michael has been with the hotel from 97 to 2000 and recently joined back to lead the kitchen team. For this “exercise”, the good chef prepared a total of six dishes and a dessert to satisfy our taste buds.

double boiled soup, assorted vegetable, and cold chicken roll

First on the table was the double boiled fish maw with dried scallop and vegetable soup, it was seriously the best soup I’ve had so far. Scallop, mussel, and fish maw together with Silkie (black skinned) chicken really gave the soup a very distinct sweetness that is so delicious. I was still thinking about it for days after the session.

Then it was the cold dish, cold chicken roll with jelly fish. This dish is traditionally made with pork, but as the Emperor Chinese Restaurant serves halal food, chicken is used instead. Chef Michael explained to me the tedious process of preparing the chicken (slicing, steaming, rolling up) to create a texture consistent with the traditional ingredient. I must say he did a very good job and the substitute meat did not disappoint.

baked cod fish, butter prawn, and dancing fried rice

As for the cod fish, instead of the more orthodox steaming or deep frying cooking method, the good chef baked the generous slice of cod steak in an oven with garlic sauce. It was done just nice and not over cooked, a relatively simple dish that came out just right.

Butter prawn and assorted vegetable were both good as well. However, the other interesting dish would be the “dancing fried rice”, the fried rice is topped with tobiko (flying fish roe) and decorated with katsuobushi (the topping for takoyaki) on the side that seems to ‘dance’. A very visually captivating dish that tastes as good as it looks.

avocado apple juice and lemon grass pudding with mint ice cream

To round it off, we had the lemon grass pudding with mint ice cream as dessert. A nice way to cool down and refresh after the rather heavy meal. Bel also ordered us an the unique apple and avocado juice, a thick concoction that combines the sweetness of the two fruits that tasted surprisingly good!

Sheraton Subang Hotel is right next to SJMC at SS12

It was a very good meal and needless to say I was very satisfied. If you’re looking for a high class Chinese restaurant (serving halal food), you should definitely consider this place.

Address:
Jalan SS12/1
47500 Subang Jaya
Selangor
Tel: 03-5031 6060