Lazy Bun Simply Write

Scrummy Cafe - Valentine Set

noreply@blogger.com (LazyBun simply write) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 11:24:00 +0000

Now im having dinner in Scrummy Cafe in River City Jalan Ipoh. Im going to have Mee Goreng (RM 8.90), one of their new meals recently.

Having know that they have a wonderful Valentine set for a couple, immediately we book a table for two this coming Valentine day. Here is the menu set for Valentine day.

Just a quick update for those Scrummy fans. Enjoy!!!

Little Penang Kafe (Thank God It's Friday - before Japan trip)

noreply@blogger.com (LazyBun simply write) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:01:00 +0000

Thank God It's Friday!

That means one more day and I will be flying to Japan for 8 days!

At first I wasn't ready for Japan because I don't see the excitement from my face expression.

Even though my friends all said :" Good lor/So nice, you can go Japan! ",

and I was like :" ....Okay la.... ".

But the departure day is getting closer and after reading some amazing blogs/articles about Kyoto, I turn 360 degree of mood, my body can immediately feel the little drop of snow touching down on my face, it's gonna be f*cking cold! I am really excited and dying to see snow (God bless me!).

Well, I will share my little experience of visiting Osaka/Kyoto/Nara in winter season for another new level, first time ever, in Japan....after I come back.

After work, I went to The Gardens for dinner.

Here's to share with you my dinner in Little Penang Kafe.

Actually went through few Chinese restaurants in The Gardens like Fong Lye, Ying Ker Lou, Canton-i, and Ding Tai Fung; people were queuing and I hate queuing for food, therefore end up going to Little Penang Kafe, fortunately it is one of our favor dining place.

I've taken the photo using my new iPhone 4S 8mp camera!

Let's see the photos. (Actually, the resolution is too big. So I use Window's Paint program to resized it to 50% and 60% (twice) to get this size. Just click the image and you will get what I mean, the size)

Lobak (Chicken) RM 8.50

Ju Hu Char (small) RM 9.00

You eat like this! This is the way. Grab it with vegetable and put into your big mouth!

Char Koay Teow RM 10.50

Very simple, they all tasted delicious to me!

I don't know why I just love this Little Penang Kafe!

Okay, now I'm gonna quickly post this and say to you all:

Happy holiday to you all if you're still in vacation and SEE YOU after my Japan trip!

YaaHuuuuuuu!!!

Happy Chinese New Year 2012

noreply@blogger.com (LazyBun simply write) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:55:00 +0000

It's Dragon year - 2012

http://instagr.am/p/jlQ3p/

http://instagr.am/p/jK1Go/

http://instagr.am/p/jGpZk/

Happy Chinese New Year

U ALL

Google Translate App for iPhone 4S and iPad 2 (Tutorial)

noreply@blogger.com (LazyBun simply write) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 13:27:00 +0000

Google Translate for iPhone 4S and iPad 2 is in town!

I didn't know it until I read it from iPadJailbreak which is linked to MostlyBlog.com (click here) on Facebook page. I was overwhelming by the app feature which takes your voice and translate into the language you preferred to see/hear.

Immediately I go to App Store (click here for Google Translate app) and download it. After that, I play with the app. I will show some of the sample I've tested which was quite funny when it didn't hear you properly or maybe my pronunciation was terrible (I admit!)

So why was I overwhelming? I mean this voice recognition technology is no longer new and everyone knows about it. Well, yesterday partner and I were having conversation about what if an application that can takes our native language speaking and translate it into preferred foreign language AND speaking as well. It would be a lot easier for traveling all around the world without learning to speak a foreign language! AND we, happens to be going to Japan this 29th of January. God bless today I saw the news from Facebook! Hahaha.

Below examples are tested in my iPhone 4S. (not yet test with my iPad 2)

Here's how the app look like after open.

First, button on the left is "Translate From" and on the right is "Translate To". In my case, I tested with translate from "Chinese" to "English".

When you tab on the left button, above screen will appear. See the top bar "Translate From", then just select your language.

"Translate To" screen, select the language you want to understand. LOL. If you notice the under the "All Languages", listen icon next to "Afrikaans" is faded meaning that the language is not ready yet. Soon or later Google will upgrade the application with more languages allowed. Those listen icon in dark grey color is active and ready for you.

Now, from the main screen you can see a speaker icon. You don't have to type the word if you prefer to speak. Just tab the speaker icon and the below screen will appear next.

It will immediately waiting for your "command"...I mean SPEAK WHATEVER YOU WANT!

Then it will do the translation.

So here I've tested with simple phrase in Mandarin and the result is correct "How are you". So now in this situation where you are a typical Chinese from China and don't speak English and you're traveling right now in let say New York city. You want to interact with American there and this app is actually helping you doing that. Here, after the translation in English "How are you", you can tab/press the little icon/button to hear in English. In this case, put your phone near to the person you want to talk to and tab the icon. There it goes, it speaks "How are you" to the person.

Everything seems fine but actually it is not yet. What about you don't understand English speaking? Here, first thing to do is change the "Translate From" to "English" and "Translate To" to "Chinese", then tab the speaker icon on the top of the screen there and ask the person u're talking to, to speak to the phone, in English. Then Google Translate app will do the magic and you can finally understand what the person is saying.

It just fantastic! Of course I know Google Translate in WEB can do translation but all we do is to type and translate. But in the app, you can speak right to the app! Hehehe. isn't it great ?

Here's some funny example that I've tested. Maybe my background was quite noisy and the app didn't hear my right, but here it is. (All is via speaking)

Ohayo Gozaimass in Japanese,

translate to,

Good morning in English

Arigato Gozaimass in Japanese,

translate to,

Thank you in English

In this example, I asked my partner to speak in French and to test whether it works and it did, perfectly!

This is the faulty one. I tried with "arigato" and it translate it into "Grandpa cried". Hahaha. But as you can see previous example of "Arigato Gazaimass" Google system can translate it into correct phrase which is "Thank you".

Well, that's about it.

I hope it is a great news to some of you guys who just love traveling around the world but have problem with language barrier. And of course, this application needs Internet connection. :D

LazyBun's New Year Gift - iPhone 4S

noreply@blogger.com (LazyBun simply write) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 07:23:00 +0000

I will buy myself a present every end of year.

I don't care how much left my saving, I don't care what friends would say about me. I will just buy!

I mean, treat yourself good. Come on, it's the end of the year and new year just around the corner! Don't give me bullshit of saving the money excuse, I heard a lot. But it just not me, not LazyBun's style.

I remembered end of year 2010 I got myself Blackberry Torch 9800 with DiGi and signed Internet Smart Plan of RM 68 per month for 1 year contract. And now the contract finished on Christmas Day in year 2011. So God's will (LOL), I get myself now a new toy, iPhone 4S black color with 32gb. Of course my contract still with DiGi and now it is extended to 2 years! I mean for now there is only 2 years contract for any iPhone 4S purchases via telco. I could have bought it from Apple website just like I did with my iPad 2, but then again, I need installment. To be honest, I got a lot of debt in credit card. Kekeke.

Here I show you my iPhone 4S!

Why black? Well, the white color was out of stock. Otherwise mine would be white.

Why not 16gb instead of 32gb? Hmm, this is because out of stock as well.

I just couldn't wait. Well, this is me. When I want something, I want it to be done right away!

So, I walked in DiGi centre in The Gardens one afternoon and I asked the kids standing next to the ticket number machine whether still have iPhone 4S stock.

They said no more 16gb and left one stock of 32gb. Immediately I get the ticket number and queue.

Less than 20 minutes I got myself iPhone 4S!

Now that I got iPad 2 and iPhone 4S, both are the latest gadgets by Apple for now. What else could I ask?

But hey, I am paying it. I'm suffering from what I've done. Ridiculous right? Haha.

The iPhone 4S is about 2 weeks now and I just got myself a cool battery charger case for my iPhone 4S.

I believe you know that iPhone 4S actually have battery issue. It just drains rapidly, even you don't open any application. I can't solve this mystery, I leave it to Apple to settle. Then I saw my friend having this external battery charger, a small case that can plug into bottom of iPhone. I realised I need it too. Yesterday I got this cool iPhone 4's battery charger case for RM 199 from Machine store in The Gardens.

It is iKit Nu Charge battery case. Here's the photo:

It is compatible with iPhone 4S, that's why I bought it.

What I love about it is the coolness of having LED indication light on the bottom of the case. The battery life is talk time 5 hours. I believe that's good enough for me.

Now the only question to me is that,

do I need to unplug my iPhone 4S from the casing when I want to charge my phone or the casing?

iPhone 4S owner with iKit Nu Charge battery case, can you advise me?

With iPhone 4S always in my hand, I still need my iPad 2 for Internet surfing.

So I will not neglecting my iPad 2 (I use it in the office for work most of time now).

How's your 2011 ends? Fabulous or pathetic? Kekeke. It just another year, right!?!

Wish you good fortune in this Dragon year and always be happy & grateful with your whatever lifestyle. The most important is that, spend more valuable time with your family and friends. At the end, please love yourself more!

Kekeke.

Happy New Year 2012!

Penang with family 带家人去槟城

noreply@blogger.com (LazyBun simply write) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:11:00 +0000

First of all, I'm sorry this post is going to be in Chinese language. The reason is because my sister is going to read about it and share among her friends. This is 2 days 1 night Penang trip with my lovely mother, 2nd aunt & my sister, of course with my partner as tour guide. :D

老妈七早八早就起床（听可爱的妹妹说老妈整晚睡不着），然后驾车与妹妹从丹绒加弄去到巴生载二姨。大约八点多全部都到八打灵白沙罗舅舅家。我吃了鱼圆清汤面而妈姨妹则吃Roti Canai。九点中，驾老妈的Vios车出发去。从白沙罗TOL出去Baru Lembah Klang Highway直到与南北大道交叉，就这样顺利的向北冲去。

天气非常合作，大家一路上有说有笑，她们都迫不及待想观光槟城（她们没想到恶梦就将来临。呵呵！）。在Tapah停歇站上了厕所，我们再继续路程。我可驾得有点不耐烦。不过为了她们，什么都行。老妈可没有去过槟城，说了都不知道有人会笑吗！不过我们家乡kampung人就是什么地方都没去过。我去过了几个地方，算是天赐福了。驾到靠近Bandar Bahru就堵车了。堵得我口出“文章”，什么都骂！应该吓到妈姨妹，心想我这个人怎么那么粗了（我原本就是粗人嘛 - Kampung人）。原来是出车祸，浪费了大概四十分钟吧！要不然我们早就吃着午餐了。当时大家都肚子叫饿了，我这个人又不能饿过度，不然进风就死了。看到槟城桥，就是到了槟城。心情特别爽，因为肚子很饿了！槟城出名美食嘛！

因为大家都饿极了，所以就去Lorong Selamat吃槟城著名的炒果条(Fried Kuey Tiao)。那个小店依然是高朋满座。非常幸运当时有人要离开了，我们就霸了那张桌子。对了，如果你是驾车去那边的话，可以parking在隔壁的空地，他们收你停车费2块钱（合理吧？呵呵）。一口气就叫了10盘炒果条!总共是6个人（一位槟城朋友见我们也一起吃）。价钱又起了！7块半钱一盘！天啊！记得年头我来的时候才6块钱！

二姨吃得特别快！

本人就吃了2盘，而且是9个大虾！因为二姨不吃虾，所以我就要了！来这里除了为了炒果条，也不能没了虾！等着炒果条的时刻，妈叫了蚝煎（Fried Oyster Omelette）。好像是16块钱。

老妈二姨都吃得津津有味。她们说不会有腥味，煎得好。而我和妹妹都只顾着蛋而已。

吃完了后我们就赶去Tune Hotel。Tune Hotel就在Lorong Selamat和Jalan Burma的交叉点。所以呢，如果你想天天吃炒果条，那么就住这里吧！

到了Tune Hotel也就下午两点钟。万万没有想到的是Tune Hotel竟然没有提供过夜Parking！每个进入都要5块钱！我们需要check in然后再出来，这样就5块钱！如果晚上回Tune Hotel又要5块钱。天啊！每个人都说AirAsia是救佛，说什么人人都能飞，机票廉价;其实是sucker来的！什么小东西都要钱！加加起来都很贵下！（结果晚上没有得parking，只好park隔壁，更加贵！）进入房后，大家都休息一个钟头然后5点钟再出发找美食。

真的很累！我休息了还不够！大家5点钟在lobby集合，然后接下去的节目是去泰式佛教庙堂，买香饼，然后去Gurney Drive。首先去了泰式佛教庙，结果关了！我们迟了几分钟！泰式佛教庙是早上9点开给公众看，5点钟关门。我们就在外面拍了几张图。其实这个庙，我之前来过槟城几次都很有印象的是那个黄金宝塔。因为去Gurney Drive的路上都会看到这宝塔。

幸好我有拍这张图片。看到黄金宝塔吗？LOL

失望后，我们就去买香饼。去了馨香饼家看看，不明白为何她们很快就出来说没有了。之后就去益香饼家看看。结果还是一样没有，不过可以订购，明早可以拿。我还是搞不清楚什么是香饼，因为不同区的香饼是不同的，结果我买了5盒小豆沙饼。RM5.50一盒（小盒共16粒）。老妈买了4盒，二姨找不到pandan味道的豆沙饼。看来好像很多失望哦！

而我却觉得很不舒服！结果到了Gurney Plaza后，去厕所“劳塞”（diarrhea）。一直以来去槟城的后果就是肚子不舒服，这次也不例外。在Gurney Plaza买了两件长裤，非常cheap! Quality也cheap!无所谓啦，反正是便宜！晚餐我们就在香港金加利餐厅吃。我没有胃口，就吃了点点的面线。妈姨妹又吃得津津有味！我在想，等下还要吃夜宵呢！在Gurney Plaza最底层的那一楼，我们发现了新乐记饼家（Loke Kee）。怡保特产！好友的姐姐最喜欢的萨奇马（Shat Kek Ma Cookies）在这里有卖！我就买了两包再加另一包是余合香饼。

余合香饼（RM 9.80), 萨奇马(RM 5.80)

哈哈！去槟城买怡保的特产，笑死你吗？死吧！哈哈！只是顺便而已！

宵夜的时间也到了。妈姨妹听其他同乡人说Rojak很好吃。好吃的原因是他们都有放脆脆的炸油条。Gurney Drive的夜宵街真的人山人海！不是第一次看过，不过还是要哇一声！那么多人喜欢吃这些路边当口的小食！

妈姨妹又成功霸了两个桌子，而我负责order!叫了10块钱的Rojak给她们吃！然后还有Ice Kacang!

妈和二姨很喜欢这个rojak!

卖这个椰水的小哥哥蛮好看的。。哈哈

吃着吃着，竟然给二姨看到其中一档有卖pandan味的豆沙饼！哈哈！听说是买给外婆吃的。买了后，我们也就这样回去Tune Hotel睡觉！老妈走得很累了，脚都出水份！而且大家的肚子都觉得不舒服！除了二姨！她可走得很享受！呵呵！在还没去拿车前，去了G Hotel看看。其实原因是要去厕所。

可爱的妹妹！

帅气的哥哥！哈哈

就这样一天过了！我的肚子还是不舒服！

第二天的旅程是早餐去吃印度炒面，福建面（槟城人都叫福建面，不过我们吉隆坡是叫虾面），再去看看泰式佛教庙，因为她们很想看那个大大的睡佛！之后去益香拿我们订购的豆沙饼。最后一个地方要去的是极乐诗。早餐的地点是Lorong Bangkok! 好吃的印度炒面就在这里！

Order 一个大，一个小；妈姨妹分享。同时她们还要印度炒面！GENG!

印度炒面！非常好吃！里面放了Sotong片还有蛋！如果你要加辣是可以的，不过普通辣就够了，因为辣得甜。棒！

妈和姨一直赞不停！呵呵！幸好她们enjoy!

吃饱了大家走路去泰式佛教庙，因为它就在下条街吧了。终于给她们看到了美丽的睡佛！我拍了几张，分享下。

他们都忙着清理...也好，给你们看看大概睡佛有多大。

也没有什么特别，就是很多像。墙壁上都有很多图片，述说着故事来源。最后，拿了饼后，我们去极乐诗。其实我也不想走下去了，因为我很累。想到二姨要从下面爬上去，我头昏了。幸好另一个方法是可以驾车去到上面的。结果我们一下子就到上面了。真的很厉害，什么神像都有。妹妹很想爬，结果老妈不能爬；就这样我们停了少过10分钟就走人了。哈哈。连拜拜都没有！庆幸的是我看了比她们多。哈哈。图片如下：

极乐诗不是有个很大的观音吗？对.....对不起。我们没有上去到那边，在下面也拍不到观音的风景！哈哈！Paiseh!

就这样子，我们回去吉隆坡！回去的路程上，我们在几个停歇站休息，主要是我要去厕所。泻肚！就来说为何我们5个里面，4个人都泻肚，我是最厉害那个。而二姨竟然没有泻肚。后来才知道原因是来自于Lorong Selamat那个老姨的炒果条！她的虾有问题！二姨没事是因为她没有吃那三个大虾，我全部都吃了！其他人也吃。真的很不干净！虽然是槟城出名的炒果条档，但是现在越来越不像话！价钱贵，吃得又不舒服，卖水的又不友善，还泻肚！你们说，值得吗？哈哈！我个人不只是一次的经验，相信去过的人都清楚吧？！？

其实很多地方都没有去如Batu Ferringi, 升旗山还有Queens Bay Mall。不过也没有什么好玩。Penang trip就这样咯。最后想分享这个video clip。。献给我妹妹。哈哈

Dubai (day 7- last day) - Burj Khalifa, Souk Al Bahar, Madinat Jumeirah, Al Muna, Mina A Salam

noreply@blogger.com (LazyBun simply write) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 06:02:00 +0000

This will be my last post about U.A.E trip (Dubai). Well, not many readers following anyway. So I just take my time to update. This day is the last full day in Dubai and the next day will be taking flight going back to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.

It was an easy & relax day. First in the morning we went to the top of Burj Khalifa and hanging out in The Dubai Mall & Souk Al Bahar in the afternoon. For dinner friends brought us to one of the top restaurant and their favorite, in Madinat Jumeirah.

Burj Khalifa is a skyscraper in Dubai and the TALLest building on earth. Like I said before, you have to get the tickets in advance to avoid sold out or expensive tickets.

The ticket counter

The tickets we bought in advanced 2 days costs 100 Dhs per person. We asked what if we want to go in right now (it was at night time), the lady said 400 Dhs (per person? ). It was crazy! Maybe night view of Dubai is more fascinating therefore cost more. Kekeke. To enter the building, you have to pass by security check. It feels like in the airport, checking in. Hahaha. Then you will have to walk a short distance to take the lift. Along the journey you will see pictures on the wall telling you the history of Dubai. Then queue up for the lift. The lift doorman explained that it's going to take us 60 seconds to reach the observatory floor of Burj Khalifa which is at 124th floor. Total floor is 160. (So, at 124th floor still wasn't at the top of Burj Khalifa..kekeke)

Here I show you all the photos I took At The Top of Burj Khalifa observatory floor.

The Dubai Mall

Souk Al Bahar

Look at the highway interchange-link

MRT (this station I believe is Burj Dubai Metro station)

YES. That's The World (small islands that form the map of the world-earth)

People are waiting for the lift.

This is the only stall you can see At The Top in observatory floor. (indoor)

We bought a bag and 2 short pants. I bought myself poker card (silver color)

Poker card that cost me 50 Dhs.

This is the bag. Cheap comes with cheap quality of course. Kekeke.

The Dubai Fountain

Lego you can buy..so expensive. For so small version costs you hundred+ Dhs.

Remind me of KLCC that I got it from Mitchelle, my ex colleague.

I wasn't sure what were they arguing or they just happened to pose right there. :)

Then this couple..hmm..I know..they were in love, in a forbidden country. Great shot!

souvenir for your friends...LOL

Finally we saw this GOLD machine. It works like an ATM. You put in the money and it gives you gold! Buy gold in Dubai is cheap! LOL

Look at the price. I have no idea what's gold market in my country and I'm not interested anyway. Compare it in your country price and probably you might getting one or two when you are going to Dubai. Kekeke

This is the sample of the sizes.

Around 1 hour later, we hit down and to Souk Al Bahar. There are so much things (mostly souvenirs) to buy in Souk Al Bahar. Of course we just went there for meals. There are few good restaurants. We went to Karma Kafe, highly recommended by friend. Yes, it was absolutely good.

Souk Al Bahar. I was in the connected bridge from one of the Dubai mall wing to Souk Al Bahar. If you notice the people walking behind me their eyes were looking at right is because Burj Khalifa building is right there. Kekeke

It is Souk Al Bahar. It's a huge Souk!

Inside Souk Al Bahar

Sunset Bento set

My Mongolian Beef. This is one of the best meal I had in Dubai.

If I go to Dubai again, I will definitely go there again for the Mongolian Beef. Kekeke. Well never realized that there was another one of the best restaurant in Madinat Jumeirah. That's for dinner :) Because of night view the camera not good with, scenery photos are limited (Gosh! You really have to bring good camera if you going to Madinat Jumeirah! No jokes!) but I managed to snap the food that we all love so much from the restaurant. If I recall correctly, the restaurant name is Al Muna, in Mina A Salam, a grand boutique hotel in Madinat Jumeirah. I remembered very well that we had to take a boat that it will take you to the hotel. It was a magical journey that you can't believe you are in a boat looking at the amazing local souk building structure and if you looking out to the skyline, you'll see Burj Al Arab with blue color (different colors from time to time) light on the whole building. It was so romantic. Kekeke. If you are rich, you can be romantic too with such luxury hospitality that you can buy with money. LOL.

I love this!

Black Squid Ink Rice! Squid Ink!!!! My first time and it was good. :)

Really nice. Squid ink. Can you get it in Malaysia? hmm...

It was wonderful trip. Everything was smooth and really really appreciate friend's best hospitality. They planned itinerary for us and brought us here and there. It won't be so enjoyable without their help.

Everything come to an end. The next day we dropped by Dubai International Financial Centre to have good meal before friend dropping us to the airport. All suited guys, oh gosh. Kekeke.

Dubai trip - The End.

My coming trip will be, Taiwan. This trip will be going with best friend between 25th February to 3rd March 2012. Looking forward to it. Taiwan FUN!

Previous Post:

Main Post: Dubai/Abu Dhabi trip (9-10-2011 to 17-10-2011)

Post 1: Day 1-2 - Dubai city, museums, and Atlantis!

Post 2: Day 3 - Al Ain city

Post 3: Day 4 - Festival City and WTC (Gitet), Grand Hyatt Hotel

Post 4: Day 5 - Abu Dhabi

Post 5: Day 6 - Jumeirah beach and Desert Safari

Dubai (day 6) - Jumeirah Beach, Dubai Marina & Desert Safari

noreply@blogger.com (LazyBun simply write) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 02:52:00 +0000

There are so many places to visit or worth to take a look in U.A.E. Dubai is already has a lot to offer though. After yesterday Abu Dhabi day trip (13-10-2011), day 6 is going to be a bit relax & easy going. No fear of getting lost or driving in 8/16 lanes of highway. Kekeke.

So the itinerary would be Jumeirah Beach, Dubai Marina and Desert Safari in the afternoon. Pretty easy going.
Now, Jumeirah Beach is one of the MUST-see because you're not going to believe the beauty of this beach! It is public beach some more and Burj Al Arab is just right there as the background. Wow! I love it!!!!! Imagine if I live in Dubai...I'm gonna fall in love with it! If you have a car you can drive around. The best is from Al Diyafah Street or Al Washl Road where both joined in the traffic junction and go in Jumeirah Road. From there you start the beach journey. You also can see Jumeirah Mosque along Jumeirah Road. It was not open for public that day but managed to take a photo or two. (some photos still with friends so not available to post here)

After the mosque, you can see shops or houses along the road, not to mention all the expensive vehicles. Kekeke. Stop by the beach if you see a lot of people there, that's the Public Beach. I took some photos. Hope you love it.

See, Burj Al Arab is so near! Oh at night sure awesome!

Look at the sea water, so clear and see through.

Well, me in Jumeirah beach with Burj Al Arab at the back. Great!

Okay, that is few photos only. Kekeke. After Jumeirah beach, next attraction place is Dubai Marina. This area has the familiar hotel name like Sheraton, Westin and Sofitel. The buildings look the same so hope you won't get lost when you're there. Hehe. If you're in higher floor you can look out the sea for Jumeirah Palm and Atlantis at the tip of the palm. :)

Little bazaar along the beach side area. Got a bag for my mom from this bazaar.

You have to bargain for this. Kekeke.

A lot of restaurants here.

SOY offers dishes from China, Thailand and Mongolia. I kinda forget from Thailand or not but Chinese dishes definitely. With vouchers from TimeOut Dubai magazine, you can enjoy certain discount on total bill. Waiters in SOY are from Philippine. Friendly and big smile :)

Atlantis view, from Dubai Marina beach.

There is a huge parking lot for you to park and walk around the surrounding area. You gotta stop by!

Sheraton hotel in Dubai Marina.

Inner side of Dubai Marina with the creek where they have lot of luxury yachts.

This is Marriot hotel in Dubai Marina. Dropped by to the top floor of the hotel which is a restaurant. You can have the whole clear Jumeirah Palm view from this restaurant.

This building is under construction. Look the building design. Like a bendable plastic. Kekeke. It is located right next to Marriot hotel.

You have to click to ENLARGE this photo. Actually it is 2 photos and I combined them to make a perfect Jumeirah Palm view from Marriot hotel.

Taken from Marriot hotel top floor. Present you Dubai Marina!

Can you believe this area was desert? Look at the buildings!

Dubai Marina!

After Jumeirah beach and Dubai Marina, went back to Dubai Downtown for a quick rest. Next in the afternoon is Desert Safari. The location is somewhere in the desert, going to Hatta. Now if you want this Desert Safari trip, you better book ticket early because they normally don't do last minute booking. The driver picked us up from our friends' condo and straight heading to destination. The journey is about 40 minutes. Before going into desert where they will immediately start with dune bashing, every 4x4 wheels drive will stop at the roadside shops for you to go washing room or buy some souvenirs. Actually the trick is every 4x4 wheels drive need to get their wheels gas leaks for avoiding tire explosion when driving on sand desert. Dune Bashing is quite adventurous and I was little scared of what if the 4WD stucks when going up the sand hills..haha. It is like a roller coaster. Kekeke. Here's my video of Dune Bashing. It doesn't look scary but will see if you're inside the 4WD. :p

Then I have 306 degree of the desert scene:

Managed to snap some photos of desert including I posed in desert. LOL.

The sun was going down and we were heading to the tent where dinner served & camel ride. It was about 6something in the evening.

On arriving the tent, immediately I saw camel. People were quieing up for less than 1 minute's camel ride. I would have expect at least a long walk distance like in Sex and the City 2 movie where the 4 ladies riding on camels in the top of desert sand. Kekeke. Disappointed however I still wanna sit on camel....less than a minute though.

This guy is Italian! We had short chat during this less than a minute camel ride. LOL. Too bad didn't take his girlfriend/wife's picture. She is so classy beautiful! Of course, this guy is hot too.

Let me counting: this moment was at 25th second? Hahaha.

at 30th second, peace pose!

This is the tent. It is actually square tent and belly dance stage is right in the center with all low tables surrounding it.

I always get this when I take photo with this camera at night time. So sorry for the bad quality image. So that's the dining tables & stage in the center.

This is the dinner buffet meal. Do not eat too much because you don't wanna get stomachache or else you gonna miss the belly dancing show. Kekeke.

When they call for dinner, you will have to queue up to get it. Don't worry about the table because all is number seated.

Bought 3 bottles of sand art from this stall inside the tent. Sorry I forgot the price already. Should have take note but it was 3 for 100 Dhs (around 90 Ringgits) Below is the photo. Here's the tip for you. You no need to go to desert to get one of this sand art, you can get it in any Souk market and with cheaper price. It's up to you :)

After the dinner, performance started on the stage. Since the camera is not doing any good for night view, therefore I shoot 2 videos of it. First performance was by this young guy wearing the special costume with electrical bulbs that perfect his magical dance. Take a look:

2nd dance is by this beautiful girl performing Belly Dance. I bet the men must be mouthwatering. Kekeke.

The belly dance was the last in this Desert Safari trip. Adventurous? Well, little bit with Dune Bashing, the rest of activities were just fine & relax.

So my little advice for this Desert Safari would be:
1. Book early if you can. Maybe like 1 or 2 days in advance.
2. Must bring your own water! Dont forget this!
3. Bring your camera along with you cos you don't wanna miss this opportunity to take photos in desert!
4. Do not eat too much BEFORE desert safari. You don't wanna get yourself dirty during Dune Bashing. LOL.
5. Read TimeOut Dubai magazine or any other magazine to get discount voucher for Desert Safari. Call to their company and confirm this voucher. Save better than nothing. :D

My disappointment would be the Camel Ride. Did you notice I keep saying that! Less than a minute ride! Ohhhh...!!! Maybe next time I go to Australia can have a Australian Camel Ride! Well, different feel then.

Hmm. What else I not yet cover in this U.A.E trip? YEAH! Burj Khalifa! The world's tallest building (828m). At the top of Burj Khalifa, how's that feel? Kekeke. Tell you in my next post :)

Previous Post:

Main Post: Dubai/Abu Dhabi trip (9-10-2011 to 17-10-2011)

Post 1: Day 1-2 - Dubai city, museums, and Atlantis!

Post 2: Day 3 - Al Ain city

Post 3: Day 4 - Festival City and WTC (Gitet), Grand Hyatt Hotel

Post 4: Day 5 - Abu Dhabi

Next Post:
Post 6: Day 7 - Burj Khalifa, Al Souk Bahar and Madinat Jumeirah (relax day)

Boycott the Common, by Publika @ Solaris Dutamas

noreply@blogger.com (LazyBun simply write) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 13:04:00 +0000

It's been a long time we were waiting for it and now it is finally here and open the door wide to welcome you. The recent latest shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur has open the door for public. Publika, is the hit word spreading around people recently.

Early this year when I was working in Solaris Dutamas, Publika still under construction. I didn't realized it is a mall. Instead, I thought it was just a store named Publika, like Jaya Jusco or The Parkson store. I was wrong.

What so interesting about this mall compared to the rest, hmm..I don't know. I can't tell you what is so interesting there but all I can say is that, it is unique. You will see a lot of uncommon shops, cafe and even variety of food. What I will say is, there is NO Starbuck or CoffeeBean; there is no fast food like McDonald's or KFC; those you commonly see in other malls you won't see them in Publika. There are 3 words on the wall of Publika:

Boycott THE Common!

Yes, that's the uniqueness I can describe. And I actually like the place. However, the mall is yet more shops to open. So, there are 3 major attractions in Publika. First, of course in my personal list I put it at the top one is EAT Food Village.

They don't call it 'Foodcourt' there, because there is no foodcourt back 50years ago. And the concept is, they gather few famous authentic food stall together and present customer a whole new level of enjoying local food within a small village. Kekeke. The food village still have more stalls to come and what is there right now are :

1. Yeoh's Bak Kut Teh from Klang (杨氏肉骨茶)

2. Tian Yuan Claypot by Ah Yip Herbal Soup

3. Sentul Ah Yap Hokkien Mee (洗都阿叶福建面)

3. Ampang Chicken Rice, BM Yam Rice from Bukit Mertajam

4. Fishing Village Restaurant (鱼乡酿豆腐)

5. Lorong Seratus Tahun from Penang

6. Kin Kin Chili Pan Mee (建记辣椒板面)

7. C & P Oasis Yam Cha Corner (beverages)

They all have their own history and they are local authentic food that you can have it all in one place. And you know what, I have tasted in 5 stalls out of all. Let me show you the photos and my personal comments.

Bak Kut Teh from Yeoh's. The soup taste is not as sweet as my favorite but it is a bit light, good for health? LOL.

I like this combination. Loh Tau Kuah, Eggs & Meat

This is chicken rice from Ampang Chicken Rice stall. It tastes okay, just another plate of chicken rice. :D

Prawn Mee from Lorong Seratus Tahun. They actually have one outlet in Phileo Damansara I where my office is, but the outlet name is Village Cafe.

Yong Tau Fu by Fishing Village Restaurant. I forgot the price. LOL. I'm sure price is not a problem anymore nowadays to Malaysians. Just enjoy great food!

2nd attraction of Publika is B.I.G. Ben's Independent Grocer. It is located at the same floor as Eat Food Village but in the other end wing. This supermarket is huge and everything is so glamour. And they have a mini Ben's General Food Store. There is actually one General Food Store in Bangsar Village I. But the one in Publika is in the same compound of B.I.G that says "Eat, Drink, Shop". Please pay a visit if you're there. You will love it I think.

Jamie Oliver products on the shell.

Ben's General Food Store menu

IL Carnivore (RM 24.90). I love it. Love the whole combination.

Marshmallows Chocolate Cake. I forgot about the price and not sure about the true name of it. but you can see it in the store bar.

3rd that might attract youth category & people who just love Bazaar is the open space outdoor stage. There are some activities there like cycling and board skating. Yes, you might see some kids with bicycles inside the mall. Kekeke. I have no idea why the management allows that. But anyway, it is something uncommon that you don't see in other mall. Too bad I'm not a fan of any kind of sports or outdoor activity, so I didn't take the outdoor photo. Kekeke.

There a lot of places and corner that you can explore in Publika and surrounding Publika. There are so many restaurants and shops outside Publika mall. I often go there dinner in like Jawa Mee, One Sweet One Night, China Wok, Edo Ichi Japanese Restaurant, PappaRich and so on.

I was lucky that saw this luggage shop got big discount. So without doubt I swiped my card for my very first own luggage. I'm going to use it for my very first oversea trip to Taiwan with best friend!

Buy one FREE small one with price of RM 239.

There are more to come, more to explore. Now is the best time to visit because the crowd is not yet 100%. A lot of people still have no idea where is this Publika, most reason is that they do not know where is it. Well, it is located in Solaris Dutamas. If you're in Solaris Mont Kiara, then you're near to Solaris Dutamas where you just need to drive through the bridge and whole Dutamas area is just right front of you. Let me show you the location.

Please click for enlarge image. If you dont know, please google map it with 'Solaris Dutamas' keywords.

Enjoy people!

Pine 3 (Vegetarian) in River City Jalan Ipoh

noreply@blogger.com (LazyBun simply write) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 12:55:00 +0000

Tonight I want to do a quick update about Pine 3, which I had dinner at.

Pine 3 is located in the same row as Scrummy Cafe, in River City Jalan Ipoh.

I've been there like 3-4 times for dinner and I never tell you about it in my post. So I feel like obligated to tell you all about this vegetarian Chinese cooking style little restaurant.

YES, it is vegetarian restaurant

AND

I EAT vegetarian food.

Don't be surprised.

I kinda into most variety of food right now.

Not to mention I had vegetarian in Kechara Oasis before.

Oops! I didn't post it here too.

Alamak!

This Pine 3 little restaurant is actually "split" into half. Cashier counter and kitchen in one room unit and tables in outdoor and another room unit.

It is actually not convenient for customers in the other room because can't reach to the staff as when needed. However, they installed a doorbell kinda button in the room, so anything just press it!

DING DONG!

then the staff will come to assist you.

Anyway, let me show you few dishes that's regular in Pine 3.

(Oops again! I forgot to snap the restaurant! )

(Reserved this spot!)

It is called Yuan Cai (RM 10.90) in Mandarin language. I don't know what's in English though.

Mongolia Crispy Lotus Root (RM 13.90)

One of my favorite. :D

This is Sao Yu RM 19 (burned fish). It is not real fish. This is vegetarian la!

Sorry this one I don't remember the name but the taste was not bad. I like it.

If you think most of the dishes are dry, please try this one. Very nice.

Soya Milk (RM 2.80). I always order soya milk, I dont know why.

So sorry for the poor post. It is a bit rush at this hour.

I just wanna post it while I can remember it.

You see, I still have a lot of nice food to recommend you all but once I snap I forget.

Then all the photos wasted filling up my phone memory.

Kekeke.

Hometown Weekend 1 (Food in Kuala Selangor)

noreply@blogger.com (LazyBun simply write) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 07:46:00 +0000

It was a pleasant trip this time back to hometown (a small 'kampong' [village] in Tanjong Karang).

But I'm not going to talk about Tanjong Karang; I'm going to tell you information that you need if you are going to Kuala Selangor.

YES, I'm going to tell you about Kuala Selangor.

Of course not all the facts but just quick 3 information that you definitely don't wanna miss if you going there.

I know when people heard about Kuala Selangor, the first thing they will say is "oh, the 'kelip-kelip' [fireflies]".

Yeah, you can see fireflies in Kuala Selangor.

You have to be ready for this little adventure.

First, it's going to be very dark that you can't see each other.

And next you can't speak or talk to each other when you're in the boat. This is to make sure you won't scare away fireflies.

Yeah, the boat however is, 'sampan' [wood] type, can be easily capsized; hold on everybody! Haha

Be prepared for mosquito's attack. To prevent this, please wear long sleeve-shirt and jeans if possible.

Sound scary right? Hmm, it depends who.

Personally, I saw fireflies before (not as many as supposed) so it's not something that I love. Maybe for traveler, should at least look at it.

One more thing I must warn you that recently CROCODILE appeared in surrounding of fireflies spot.

This is no joke!

Visitor experienced the boat shaking, that crocodile's tail 'slap' the boat. Fortunately everyone was safe.

Don't hesitate with what I just said, because this is confidential info from local people.

Until now at today (19-11-2011), they still failed to capture the crocodile.

Seafood comes 2nd topic when people talking about Kuala Selangor.

I don't know much about seafood restaurants in Kuala Selangor. But there are TWO seafood restaurant that you might want to try.

One in the Jetty, one is in the traffic junction of turning into Pasir Penambang.

Well, I will intro you the one in traffic junction turning point.

The restaurant name is called "Kedai Steamboat Kampung' (鱼乡海鲜火蜗小食馆)

If you are searching the keyword 'Seafood' you probably couldn't find it because it is a steamboat restaurant but + seafood.

It is very easy to find it. If you're from coming from Kuala Selangor, you will definitely pass by a bridge. After the bridge drive for less than a minute, you will see a Caltex petrol station on your left, follow by a traffic light.

You'll need to turn left in the traffic light junction, immediately you will see the restaurant.

Simply park your car on the road side and then you're ready to order seafood.

This seafood restaurant is our village people all time favorite.

Their crabs, scallops, fishes and prawns are freshly captured in local market.

I'm not sure they have a menu for you to order in case you don't know what to order or how you want the seafood to be done.

But just to tell you that they're speaking Hokkien and Mandarin.

I actually try to remember the name of the dishes but my memory is not good as a CPU memory.

But I have the pictures taken so that you can take a look and maybe use it as reference show to the Boss when you ordering it there. :D

Eating seafood is one of the routine when I back in hometown.

Enjoy the seafood please:

Steamed prawns. This one is steamed and when the boss delivered it to the table, the smoke can be seen and waited a while he came back with a cup of soft of alcohol drink and scatter it all over the prawns, then only we start to eat. You have to taste it with the sauce. It was good.

Well, I have no idea what is the name of this but you can always see it if you going to a Chinese wedding dinner. It is a must dish for every Chinese wedding dinner.

Some kind of searfood stuff but I don't know what is it, again. Just try and then you will know. (Please drop me a comment if you know the name :D )

Oh I love this. First time tasted it. It has taufu, eggs, mushroom, crab meats and little prawns.

Fish dish

Some people like most Hokkien, they love chicken feet.

Well I had once took it and it was okay. However I just picturing myself biting and chewing the dirty chicken bare feet. Hahaha. Disguting isn't it? Well, go and taste it.

Okay, this one I know only the Hokkien name, which is called "Du Sha" [土刹]

(Still googling about what is it in English. LOL [after ask from expert, in English is catfish] )

One of my favorite. it is one kind of shrimp. I know what's in Mandarin but not in English. The Mandarin name is 虾姑

Sister asked for a snap :) Beautiful isn't she?

2nd brother of my mom, my uncle's son got straight As in his SPM and he got few thousands as reward so he bought us seafood this time.

Total people was 10 with 10 bowls of rice, Chinese tea, one bottle of Guinness (黑狗－酒), and some take-away, total bill was RM 219.10

Do you think it's cheap? Well, It is DAMN cheap.

No wonder people drive all the way from KL to KS (Kuala Selangor) just to have a seafood dinner.

NOTE: Kedai Steamboat Kampung only accept cash. No credit card.

The Address:
Lot 66, Jalan Pasir Penambang,
45000, Kuala Selangor,
Selangor, Malaysia

Tel: +60332896987
Mobile No: +60126554277, +60162582163
Contact Person: L.H.Tan (亚水)

So that's for dinner. One last thing about Kuala Selangor that you might get is their famous local made "Kelopok Udang".

One tip is, do not buy "Kelopok Udang" from Kedai Steamboat Kampung there.

Because there is a van on the roadside, selling "Kelopok Udang" as well but it is not the famous one.

The different you can tell is from the packaging.

Here's the real famous one:

The name is Yeu Hock (有福).

The shop is just down the road.

So after you turn left in the traffic light, Kedai Steamboat Kampung is at your right, immediately you come to a junction. Take the left turn again, go straight and keep your eyes on the left side shop-lots. Try to search for the shop or you can see 99 mart. Yeu Hock shop is just 2 store away from 99 Mart.

First you will see 99 Mart and then Yeu Hock

This is Yeu Hock shop, selling all kind of seafood stuff.

"Kelopok Udang" hanging high in the shop.

I decided to get something from hometown, for my colleagues.

"Kelopok" is the most suitable souvenir from Kuala Selangor. Hehehe.

---stopped writing at this part. I was urgently need a pee after a while drinking and writing this post in San Francisco Coffee, Publika, Solaris Dutamas. Time : around 5.30pm---

---6.20pm back from Publika, continue this post---
At night I went to visit my best girl friend.
Thank God she finally got her wish - get pregnant.
It's already 6 months after marry. I was still feeling guilty and missing something that I didn't attend her most important day - wedding dinner.
I was excited too when I got the news from my sister.
It was difficult for her to get this one. She was hospitalized for the first 4 months of pregnancy due to some reason. Now that she is okay and expecting delivery in March 2012.
I'm going to be a Godfather!
Strange feeling.
(What can a Godfather do apart from being called Godfather? Hahaha)

I had a great talk with her and her family. We talked about traveling, recent update of our life, and some gossips. Usually whenever I go back hometown, we will meet for chat. Everytime we hang out, we feel older as time pass by. For the last 5-6 years she been talking about no one will like her or getting marry. Now that she is married and going to have baby. I know already that our next conversation will be all about feeding the baby. Kekeke.
She's is the conservative type of woman. She decided to follow the normal life that 99.9% of the village population lived with and I am always the opposite.
God bless you, my dearest.
I will pray for you and my (your) baby. Kekeke.

Around 10pm my mom called me for supper.
Every single time I go back, one of the MUST-do is having Loh Mee as supper!
Here's the picture:

I still can't find the same taste of Loh Mee in Kuala Lumpur/Petaling Jaya.
This Loh Mee is the BEST Loh Mee in my list!

---stopped writing at this point for dinner at home. Just now take away Nasi Lemak with fried Chicken from Mee Jawa. Time: 7:30pm---

---8:14pm done dinner and jogging, continue this post---
The next morning, Sunday, as one of the routine for eating, Bak Kut Teh with family including 2nd aunt & grandma for breakfast.
It was quite late in the morning around 10 o'clock.
This Bak Kut Teh restaurant got famous history. I think I've mentioned it in my blog (you can try search "Bak Kut Teh" in my blog search engine on the top page) before that the kid of 14yo mastering cooking of Bak Kut Teh from his father and was published in one of the local newspaper. Now that they have branch in Puchong.
Back in Tanjong Karang is, considered 'HQ' now. Kekeke.

FULL! Satisfaction!

This is dry one with chili. My sister's favorite!

(well, you're my friend or regular reader, you should know Bak Kut Teh is a MUST-do when I back in hometown. LOL)

One last thing that I will do at hometown is to drink herb.
Well I still don't know what is the name for this leaves. Anyone of you know the name?

The function is like pennywort (daun pegaga), to cleansing your body.
Please do drop me a comment if you know okay? I need to know.

So, there was this amazing mother-son story behind this.
20 years ago, Grandma desperately looking for this herb. The son (my uncle) was diagnosed with Hepatitis B. She went alone with determination searching for the herb to Ketam Island (Pulau Ketam) That time still no bridge connect from mainland to Ketam Island ('Ketam' in English means 'Crab') but only with small boat. In the island, for those who has it, they didn't want to share because it was priceless and rare species and they keep it for themselves. Grandma did not give up and went on searching. God blessed her for her unconditional love to the son, eventually she found it and brought home. Since then she passionately planting this herb until now in the house's backyard. According to my mom, the herb leaves are looking pretty and healthy. Beautiful!
And I've been drinking it every time I go back hometown or when my family visit me in KL. Of course she always remember to make one more for my partner.

Listening to the story, I was quite touched. Surprisingly I was being very patient, listening to my mom. Usually I don't bother, but this trip coming back hometown, I was like another person. Patient, pay attention to conversation with whoever, very participated and very an adviser. Kekeke.
Not that I know a lot of things. In fact, I know little thing. Traveling really make me a better person. Of course when talking about traveling, my partner is the one I should thank to.
Special thanks to Stanley & his partner too. I've learnt a lot from them in my U.A.E trip.

Every moment you spending with family and friend is invaluable. Life is short, don't waste it while you have the time.

Well, that's all the food I enjoy back in hometown. Good night and hope you have a wonderful week.

Dubai (day 5) - Abu Dhabi day trip

noreply@blogger.com (LazyBun simply write) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 14:10:00 +0000

Today is 12th and one month ago at this particular day I was enjoying my time in Dubai Festival City and WTC.
One month already!
How I wish to turn back the clock so that I will be still in Dubai (Hahaha)

In 5th day of the trip, our friend brought us to Abu Dhabi.
Before the trip we have watched "Sex and the City 2" DVD and saying that we must go to Abu Dhabi!
Yes! If you are happen to be somewhere in U.A.E, Abu Dhabi is no matter what, a MUST go destination!
We started our journey about 9:30 in the morning and it took us 1 hour 15 minutes to reach Abu Dhabi.
Thanks to our friend, I didn't have to drive and probably might delay the journey.
We were rushing to go to see Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque before it closed for last visiting time for the morning session.
We missed the turning point when we entering Abu Dhabi island, so we went straight and turn left somewhere and ask for direction. 15 minutes it took us and finally we found the Mosque!
Funny thing was there were 4 gates I believe and all closed except one. We had to been through all gates that was closed and succeed to get in via last gate ( I forgot which direction gate, maybe South Gate? ).
Fortunately we arrived in time for 11am visit.
The session was 1 hour and the mosque will be closed for visitors at 12pm and then re-open at 5pm.
Definitely we don't wanna miss the morning session because we still have a lot to do in Abu Dhabi! Kekeke

If you're wondering what so special about this Mosque where there are hundreds of mosques in Malaysia that you can almost spot one in every few street?
Well, it is the LARGEST mosque in U.A.E and it can 'fit in' with 40k people.
One more thing great about this mosque is the color. White color marble! It is not painted with white but built with white marble, from the top of 'bawang' shape to the floor!
Amazing! (I was saying that for hundred times while I was exploring inside and outside of the mosque! Amazing!

So I took the that 15 minutes to snap the Grand Mosque from different angle.
(but somehow the photos look similar, though)

( Please click image to enlarge. Trust me, it looks amazing! )

There are some guidelines that you have to follow if you want to visit this mosque.

Below is the guidelines that you guys and girls have to follow (copied from here):

Dress and Behavior Code

- Modest, conservative, loose fitting clothing; long sleeves, long skirts and trousers
- No transparent (see-through) clothing
- No shorts for men
- No shorts and skirts must be ankle length
- No tight clothing, no swimwear and no beachwear
- Shoes will be removed before entering the mosque, so we recommend slip off shoes
- Headscarf for ladies is essential (these can be provided when you arrive)
- Intimate behaviour; i.e. holding hands or kissing is not acceptable in a Muslim place of worship
- For safety and respect to worshippers, visitors should stay within the areas of the mosque that are permitted and not roam freely around. Smoking and food are not allowed in the mosque area
- Visitors are requested not to touch the Holy Quran (Holy Book) and other architectural elements inside the main prayer hall

For the girls, any of you will be given a traditional black abaya to cover you from head to toe. I got this photo for your reference:

Don't worry for the guys, you will be still recognizing your wife/girlfriend with abaya on because it doesn't block face :)

Click image to enlarge

Inside the building you actually can see some flowery on the marble wall. And I have to tell you, you will be amazed once you step inside and see the structure of the each corner.
If you go in with tour guide, then tour man will tell you the story of it. For us, we went in and look see look see and take some photos. Of course some history of this Grand mosque you can find it later in Google. :D

Click image to enlarge

Here's the video part:

Video 1: I took it outside just before entering the mosque. From parking lot area.

Video 2: There was a huge outdoor field ( I believe its where the prayers pray ) where I shoot the video clip 360 degree. Enjoy it!

In case you are looking for the toilet in the mosque, you cannot find "Toilet" sign; you have to look for "Male Ablution".

Do you know what is ablution? I didn't know the true meaning until I googled it. It means cleansing yourself (washing yourself) like wash face, hands and legs. It is actually similar to most Muslims do before they start praying that you can see in Malaysia. (I saw it during my secondary school where every Friday Malay students need to go to small mosque inside the school. I noticed they wash their face, hands and legs before entering the mosque)

But I do not know whether they wash again after the praying? Do you know? Leave a comment then :) Thank you very much.

There it goes one hour in the mosque.

Actually we did wanted to go in again after pee but it was 12pm then.

They closed it for visitors.

Our next stop was Emirates Palace.

Friend was suggesting to lunch there.

Everything inside was spectacle, the high-end classy restaurant that might cost you hundreds for a buffet;the interior was amazingly shining with golden light and so on.

I can't give you every details because my eyes were tired looking around and I lost my little notes in iPad.

Instead of combining all photos into one, I think for this beautiful beast I present you one by one. (not many photos but hopefully satisfy you. Please click image for better resolution)

I wasn't dare to take more because we were not supposed to be there. I mean inside the Emirates Palace. Usually it doesn't allow public to get in unless you want to dining in one of the restaurant/cafe. So we were lucky that they didn't stop us. (the next week after our trip, friend told us that he couldn't get in this time because they not allow public access. Lucky us I guess)

We look see look see and walked out from the main entrance to the water fountain to take photo of Emirates Palace. It is a MUST photo if you visit it, to prove that you've been there.

Fortunately enough we got to see Future of Abu Dhabi exhibition in Emirates Palace.(I'm not sure the name though, hehe)

In 5 years time, they gonna build these (below) in Saadiyat Island.
Amazing isn't it?
I'm a bit lazy now to talk more, let the pictures show you okay :)

The master plan.

Almost to 2pm, we got our butt out of Emirates Palace and headed to Marina Mall for lunch.
Yes, we didn't have lunch in Emirates Palace. It was too expensive and maybe too luxury.

It's not difficult to go to Marina Mall. In fact with a map on your hand, you can drive in Abu Dhabi anywhere!

I had this in Marina Mall's foodcourt. Simple fried mee.

There was a heritage site that you should visit nearby called Heritage Village.
The tallest flag pole in U.A.E was located there next to Heritage Village.
Nah (oops), I give you the photo:

It didn't look like so tall..hahahaha but trust me, go Google it!

Here's some photos from the Heritage Village. Oh yes, there is no entry fee required.

I bought fridge magnet for our fridge at home from one of these store.

You can see buildings in Abu Dhabi from Heritage Village site.

There was a camel lying there you see...kekeke ( In coming post, I will tell you the story of 'riding camel in the desert' )

I think I better cut short my story. I don't want my post boring you as I already have less readers.
So, after Heritage Village we followed the map, heading to Yas Island.
It also happened that Janet Jackson will be having concert there in Yas Marina Circuit.
Such a shame I missed this opportunity to go, even though I barely know her.
But she was such a big star in the world!
Anyway, before reaching Yas Island we passed by Saadiyat Island. It is under construction which I showed you the exhibition photos above in Emirates Palace section.
The highway was done and in good condition, all the way connect to Yas Island.

Yas Island has nothing much to offer except concerts, F1 circuit and Ferrari World.
The whole site was amazing and I felt like I was walking into a alien space ship!
If only I could take a helicopter to the air and snap the photo! But let me show you one photo from Google.

YES! I been there!
It was huge and there was theme park inside. In fact, in their official website, they claims that Ferrari World has the World's Largest indoor Theme Park.
The Ferrari Store inside was big as well.
Let me show you some photos of inside.

I was too excited to see Ferrari store again after the one in Dubai Festival City.

See the ticket price for theme park ? No budget to go in though. So we just hanged out in Ferrari store.

Here's the things we bought from Ferrari World store. I got the shoes (cost 400-450 Ringgit) as Christmas gift for this year from my partner. 2 cups for home display and 1 ferrari perfume. We bought the perfume because of one free gift which was Ferrari red cap. Hell, we spent a lot in Abu Dhabi! (my partner I meant)

Really exciting in Abu Dhabi!

Too bad Carrie Bradshaw and the girls didn't enjoy much in Abu Dhabi in Sex and the City 2 movie. Kekeke.

So I'm gonna end this post because I need to watch X Factor USA result show in TV later.

Next post I will be telling you the beauty of Jumeirah beach and Desert Safari.

Camel, I'm gonna ride you...!

Previous Post:
Main Post: Dubai/Abu Dhabi trip (9-10-2011 to 17-10-2011)

Post 1: Day 1-2 - Dubai city, museums, and Atlantis!

Post 2: Day 3 - Al Ain city

Post 3: Day 4 - Festival City and WTC (Gitet), Grand Hyatt Hotel

Next Post:

Post 5: Day 6 - Jumeirah beach and Desert Safari

Post 6: Day 7 - Burj Khalifa, Al Souk Bahar and Madinat Jumeirah (relax day)

Dubai (day 4) - Festival City, World Trade Centre & Grand Hyatt Dubai

noreply@blogger.com (LazyBun simply write) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 10:33:00 +0000

It's been three weeks since got back from Dubai.

My weekend is full of plan, fortunately today (Monday) is public holiday replacement so that I can rest and update my blog.

Let me continue with my Dubai trip story - 4th day in Dubai.

It was an easy day but walked a lot.

Itinerary of the day was:

1. Dubai Festival City (Ferrari Store, Jamie Oliver's Italian Restaurant, Dubai Creek, HardRock cafe)

2. World Trade Centre (Gitex Exhibition 2011)

3. Grand Hyatt Dubai ( for dinner)

Our friend brought us to Festival City part of the reason was to find out HardRock cafe in order to get a HardRock shirt for friend back in Penang.

Disappointed because HardRock cafe there was yet to open and under renovation.

So actually the first building we saw when we get near to the destination was IKEA.

It's huge and their interior design was identical to IKEA back in Damansara.

Felt like I was teleport back to Malaysia. Hehehe.

IKEA was connected to a mall as well just like IKEA Malaysia connected to Ikano Power Centre.

So we had breakfast in IKEA. The breakfast price was cheaper but the coffee was a bit expensive, compared to IKEA Malaysia. It was 5 Dhs to 2 Ringgits, per cup and refillable.

Eventually total bill was more or less the same as in Malaysia.

Worth a try if you are happened to be in Festival City there.

After breakfast of course we went to find HardRock cafe which hadn't open yet due to renovation. Needed to get the HardRock t-shirt for a friend (Partner's close friend's husband) from Penang. So we walked around the whole place, from the mall to hotel.

There was a Ferrari Store in the mall where I purchased a Ferrari cap as souvenir to my best friend. (Well, I really don't buy souvenir for friends but maybe because the night before which friend birthday got a cap as present so I thought of cap as I saw it in the store. After all, my best friend really like to wear cap.)

The store sell cups, clothes, caps, shoes, and other sport stuff.

It just happened like that, that suddenly I fancied with Ferrari. LOL.

Interesting display..look at the dog..haha.

In the mall, I also bought something for myself.

Two shirts branded Verri, color red and blue.

The only thing I love about two was it shines, not to mention it was cheap.

I know everything in Dubai is hell expensive but with 70-80% discount on clothes, I would definitely buy if I have the budget :)

The mall was long and huge. You must go out of the mall and check the yacht area.

You could see Burj Khalifa and all buildings from a far distance.

Our friend brought us to visit InterContinental hotel.

It was another Wow Wow experience.

Especially you can see a lot of business men there!

My eyes was really busy that time.

One thing about Festival City that you must do is that, dining in Jamie Oliver's Italian restaurant!

So we had lunch there, ordered 3 pasta and 1 jug of ginger ale with lemon.

They have small and big of pasta. If you're heavy eater or hungry you can go with big size plate.

Don't waste the food though.

Sometimes it is not about the food quality or how good the food is, or great hospitality of the services, but to combine it all, it makes a perfect restaurant.

In Malaysia, even in a 5-star hotel, you can't get the quality of the food and services as in this restaurant.

Jamie Oliver's staffs know every detail of his work(food) and specialty. They were friendly and helpful. They explained in details about dishes we ordered and know what's the best to suggest to us.

Waiter and waitress were pretty and gorgeous passionately knowledgeable.

Well, hope one day I can enjoy this restaurant in KL town.

If you wanna check out the price, you can go visit Jamie Oliver official website :)

Before we leaving, we dropped by supermarket called Panda Hyper Market.

One interesting fact that I realized was their basket could become luggage.

You don't have to carry the basket, you just pull it like your travel luggage with 2 wheels at the bottom.

Can it be done in Malaysia? Later on, my colleague told me that Carrefour has it! So I did went to Carrefour and check it out.

It was different. Carrefour got 4 wheels basket and Panda got 2 wheels only.

I would prefer Panda basket because it looks trendy and more current.

Let's take a look:

Here is Carrefour 4-wheels basket. (photo from Internet)

Tell me, which one you prefer to use, as a customer?

On the way to WTC there was an mild storm. Check this video I took:

So we headed to World Trade Centre to pay a visit to my colleagues at Gitex.

It happened to be the same week they were there for exhibition.

I just thought of dropping by to see what exactly they were doing there, because I had no idea what product they gonna exhibits there.
It was huge I think bigger than KL Convention Centre hall.
All suited men of course ( ;p )
Our friend dropped us there and my partner sitting in the cafe for a coffee while I decided to go in the event.
It was not free of charge. It was 70 Dhs per person as a visitor/potential buyer.
They give you a free "dog-tag" ( we called it like that in Malaysia ) with a hard-paper printed with your full name and your job position.
There were a lot of branded names that represent their country, so you could look up for a country name or flag, then you would know that section was belong to that country.

(Did you notice one pic above got "Cyberjaya" ? Yes, it was Malaysia's Cyberjaya booth in Gitex! Hehehehe.
I saw my company booth and took a picture with them.
Then my colleague took me look around the hall.
We stopped by at the Panasonic booth.
Panasonic got the largest plasma with full 3D somemore that was 152".
Can you believe that?!

Then they had this giant PC table which allows you to navigate. It's a table touch-screen computer like those we watch in the movies. Here is the video I took:

About 45 minutes I spending in the hall and then we back to Downtown Dubai by Metro train.
From WTC station to Burj Dubai station was about 3 Dhs per person (I forgot the price actually, just agak-agak now) one way. They have a card for daily use and of course like a Touch-N-Go system card which you can top-up the value. But for us, one way ticket was enough. Keke.

The experience with the Metro train was that, you could see a lot of police/security guards/army. The station was too pretty for the public to enjoy therefore they keep the standard level. It was very clean and beautifully built.
I was afraid that camera was forbidden in the station, but took one photo of me anyway.

After arrived in Burj Dubai station, I found out Burj Dubai station was the BEST place to take Burj Khalifa photo!
The best! I just love it!

Taken from Burj Dubai station outside.

After arrived in Burj Dubai station :)

From Burj Dubai station to The Dubai Mall will take you about 10minutes walk.

We decided to walk back to Downtown Dubai.

Along the way, there was a black & white statue.

They represent male in white and female in black, in U.A.E.

I like the statue but too bad I wasn't taken with them in the photo.

It was about 17 feet high and it's located nearby Emaar Buildings, in Emaar Boulevard road.

That's a call for the day. Easy going but I was pretty tired after whole day walking.

As for dinner, friends brought us to Grand Hyatt Hotel.

Amazingly interior design with a garden and in fact the garden was huger outdoor!

One of the finest dining restaurant in Grand Hyatt Hotel.

(Panini)

There is a chocolate shop called Panini inside the hotel selling the World's FIRST Camel Milk Chocolate by producer Al Nassma.

First I saw the cube chocolate about 7cm x 7cm x 4cm, it was small bite of a chocolate bar which costs about 15 Dhs! Oh my gosh!

It was too expensive for me to buy that, but I chose the bar type which was slightly cheaper.

It has 3 flavors, Arabic, Macadamia-Orange and Hazelnut. (I'm not sure how many flavors in total)

I forgot to snap the photos luckily i still have one bar of chocolate!

There's the only photo.

So I brought one bar to office and I cut it into piece just like the cube chocolate one, and when I giving to each of them I told them this was 15 Dhs chocolate piece you're going to eat. Only that small piece!

Imagine their face!

(But i doubted it that they actually believe it was expensive!)

OctoberFest 2011 in Grand Hyatt Hotel

I love their pool! It was like Dubai Creek. From one to another end.

Small water fountain right infront of Grand Hyatt Hotel door entrance

Dont forget myself been there! LOL

That's how we spent the night and the next day (5th day) the plan was to go Abu Dhabi!

Remember Sex and the City 2 - the movie.

Abu Dhabi DO..! Hehe

So much things to say about Abu Dhabi!

Previous Post:

Main Post: Dubai/Abu Dhabi trip
Post 1: Day 1-2 - Dubai city, museums, and Atlantis!
Post 2: Day 3 - Al Ain city

Next Post:

Post 4: Day 5 - Abu Dhabi

Post 5: Day 6 - Jumeirah beach and Desert Safari

Post 6: Day 7 - Burj Khalifa, Al Souk Bahar and Madinat Jumeirah (relax day)

Fire at G.S.C Mid Valley (1.11.11)

noreply@blogger.com (LazyBun simply write) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 08:48:00 +0000

Photo from starbucks87.

I got this news from The Star Malaysia.

Apparently there was an small fire broke out at the GSC cinema in Mid Valley Megamall at about 1.20pm on Tuesday. (Today 1.11.11)

Everyone was evacuated and no one get hurt.

Now G.S.C Mid Valley is closed for further investigation according to The Star Malaysia:

"The cinema is closed to allow for investigations."

So, just take note no need to go GSC Mid Valley until further notice :D

Dubai (day 3) - Al Ain, Oasis & Museum, Jebel Hafeet, Green Mubazarrah

noreply@blogger.com (LazyBun simply write) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 15:01:00 +0000

Straight to the point, today I'm going to tell you my day trip from Dubai to Al Ain.

The experiences I've got from this particular Al Ain trip are:

1. Driving from Dubai to Al Ain with left-handed drive car for about 120km journey.

2. History of Al Ain, oasis, and extremely hot weather.

3. The difference between Dubai and Al Ain.

4. Hot Springs

After wonderful breakfast by our loving friends, we get ready to go Al Ain.

But heading to Al Ain, we stopped by Dubai Outlet Mall.

This mall has a lot to offer but of course all clothes are out-seasoned.

The best thing is they are cheap yet quality remain best.

They have quite a lot of international brands, just click the link above to see info.

So here, I had to get my hands on the car steering after 20-25 minutes hanging out in Dubai Outlet Mall, heading to Al Ain.

The highway wouldn't be a problem.

The problem for a right-handed car driver to "ride on" left-handed car was, somehow the car would go to right, like a magnet. Haha.

Luckily I managed to control the steering well, friend said.

The proof is here, still managed to pose V.

LOL

The drive took about 1 hour, more maybe.

We switch driver when we got there.

There were so many roundabouts in Al Ain.

Really confusing if you don't have a map with you.

And we didn't have one, so our friend drove us round and round. It's like the whole Al Ain we were just driving passing by and look see look see. Haha. But we didn't cover all actually.

We followed the brown color signboard on the road side to go Tourist Destination. There were quite a few spots that we have planned to go, but wasn't sure the ordering, which one we should go first or later.

Ended up we saw Al Ain Palace Museum.

My memory about this museum was that my partner wanted to go pee and went in round the circle and look for public toilet. This is something that he hated. Haha.

And this museum feature the Nahyan family tree. There was a room where they put all the photos of UAE ruler.

There were few quite big green gardens inside.

Amazingly GREEN!

(desert huh? Don't think about it!)

Oh yes, the entry was free of charge and they allow tourist to take photo.

Usually camera is forbidden in museum.

Tell me something that I don't know, does your country Museum allow photo taking?

(I just googled, our country Malaysia national Museum allows photo taking. X.x)

You see, I learnt something.

One important thing about travelling in U.A.E. is that you have to bring your own bottle of water!

Just go to supermarket and buy some.

Put one bottle in the car and one big bottle in your bag.

Don't get dehydrated.

The sun in UAE is so HOT.

We had KFC for lunch. The cheapest meal we had in U.A.E.
The chicken here they put more peppers. Haha.
After lunch we went to look for another museum which is National Museum. It was very tricky to find this museum and we stopped by to ask for direction TWICE. When we about giving up on that, we found Al Ain Oasis coincidentally and Al Ain National Museum was just neighbor. So we went in Al Ain Oasis area with our car and look see look see,
to see how Al Ain Oasis look like.
(I have no idea what is oasis until then, you see, I learnt something.)

Al Ain existed because of this oasis and there were few more in Al Ain.
And if you noticed that bottle water selling in supermarket there is a brand called "Al Ain Oasis".
I wasn't interested in this oasis thing, but it was at least good to know what it all about.
Finally we got into Al Ain National Museum.
Unlike Palace Museum we visited this morning, Al Ain National Museum entry fee was 2 Dhs per person.
Honestly, it was worthy.
The reason I said that was, there were few things you will be surprised to see there.
Personally, the rock piece from the Moon kinda gave me a Wow.
Please click the image for large image so that you can see the description.

Other than that, this small 4 heads pistol was freaking me out.
I mean they had it very long time ago already?
That's another Wow to me.

I took some photos inside, hope you enjoy it.

It was great so far that we've visited Oasis, Palace Museum and National Museum.

There were 2 more places that we would like to go.

They were Jebel Hafeet (rocky mountain) and Green Mubazarrah (hot springs).

So without a map, we still managed to get there. Thanks to our friend.

There was a hotel on the top of the mountain, Mercure Hotel.

It was nicely designed and we noticed there was a water roller-coaster built on the cliff of mountain.

Please take a look:

Well, we not went up to the top just to see Mercure Hotel, but it was more on enjoying looking at the real scenery that we should see in U.A.E like without modern concrete buildings, only desert.

You are lucky cause I had one video I took at some viewing point.

Hot Springs was the topic of the day.
Hehehe. If you know what I meant.
Just for your information, we passed by Al Ain Zoo but didn't go in.
I think it would be interesting. So if you're in that area, might as well just take a look.(I mean go in there!)

Our last tourist destination in Al Ain - Green Mubazarrah.
From the top of rocky mountain all the way to foothill, we struggled to find the way to Green Mubazarrah.
So there again, we went round and round. (Hehehe)
Still eventually we found the entrance!
Unfortunately I thought its gonna be like a real outdoor hot spring, turned out It was indoor, a pool of hot spring water. No, sorry. There were 2 pools of hot spring water in one building and there were 4 buildings ( 2 for men and children, 2 for women only(aged 12 and upwards).
I didn't know so much details until I google it and saw this article (photos as well) explaining in detail about the area. (Thanks mate!)
As recall, I thought it was 10 Dhs per person to get in but it might be 5 Dhs per person as what the writer of the article said. I wasn't the one who paid, you see. LOL.
Men with short pant and topless, of course.
You have to bring your own towels, I must warn you.
The water was pretty hot.
I'm sure you will see a lot of guys if you going on the right time.
I was lucky enough to see TWO hot men at least.
I mean, real HOT, beefy macho type.
And RIGHT THERE, one of them spoke to me like maybe few words.
I was panic a little bit. He was trying to talk to me and I just "hi and bye".
It was the first conversation with local man. And it was the shortest conversation. (Not even a conversation though. )
And then, the forbidden moment happened.
It was forbidden there I think, that he accidentally 'touched' my hand.
For less than A SECOND, maybe 500 milliseconds, I was "thrilled" and after that it was like "oh sorry". Hahaha!
Quite an adventurous experience.

After 30-40 minutes of dipping in the hot spring pool, we decided to call it a day.
It was relaxing after hot spring.
I kinda liked it, or that man...! Hahaha.

Adventurous, exciting, strange, learning, breath taking, and then relaxing...
although there were more tourist spots in Al Ain like Hili Archaeological Park, some malls and Al Ain Zoo, that we didn't visit.
Already I felt grateful with everything we've done so far in Al Ain.
This was my Al Ain day trip on 11th of October 2011.
......
......
In my 4th day of the trip, was a bit relax and easy, visiting Festival City and World Trade Centre,
which I will write about it probably by tomorrow night, not for sure though.

Our plan was to enjoying all the places without a busy and tight schedule and complete in 7 days.
So our friend is good at planning this.
One day goes extreme and one day relax & easy.
Trust me, you will enjoying it even more.

P/S: Special thanks to our friend, Stanley, for some nicely taken photos. :D

Previous Post:
Main Post: Dubai/Abu Dhabi trip
Post 1: Day 1-2 - Dubai city, museums, and Atlantis!

Next Post:

Post 3: Day 4 - Festival City and WTC (Gitet), Grand Hyatt Hotel

Post 4: Day 5 - Abu Dhabi

Post 5: Day 6 - Jumeirah beach and Desert Safari

Post 6: Day 7 - Burj Khalifa, Al Souk Bahar and Madinat Jumeirah (relax day)

Old Town White Coffee (RiverCity, Jln Ipoh)

noreply@blogger.com (LazyBun simply write) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 12:57:00 +0000

I was so upset!

It spoiled my appetite for Curry Mee.

For God sake, they increased the price!

Old Town White Coffee in RiverCity, Jalan Ipoh; has been not my favorite but yet I still going there because of easy find car park excuse and sometimes I feel like eating curry mee.

So this time I went and found out the price has gone up!

The waitress said it was started TWO weeks ago.

Have you gone to any Old Town White Coffee lately?

Did you realize the price has gone up?

Did you notice they have a nice printed menu lately too?

Before I look at the price, I was quite stunned that they change menu AGAIN!

For better quality I guessed.

Then looking at the price, my eyes were popping out! (I got really small eyes you know, can you imagine? LOL)

Curry Mee from RM 6.90 to RM 7.50, total RM 0.60 extra increased.

Then see through the menu pages, all prices gone up, including the drinks!

Mahai! My foot!

I totally cannot accept it.

Part of the reason is quite obvious, the price gone up!

Partially because of the quality has not even increase 0.01 %

The supervisor guy was "ugly" (damn you!), service is still damn bad even though no customers, and the food is never changed.

Aaaahhh!!

Geram betulnya!

Let's take a look at my curry mee with price from RM 6.90 to RM 7.50...I mean look real....look at the quality!!!

The gravy was actually not enough AT ALL...then I kindly asked the supervisor for more gravy.

Common sense: you should add enough gravy for the curry mee!

Then it took him for about 2 minutes (the f*cking kitchen was so near) to put little more of gravy, it came like this:

WTF?

And I found out that my noodle, was lesser by then.

I don't feel anything in my stomach!

Let's take it as my bad luck at that moment.

But wait, please take a look at this dish:

What do you think?

What is this dish name in Old Town White Coffee?

It was Dry Curry Noodle!!

MY FOOT it was DRY!

It was WET!

Then again, look at their popular White Coffee drink!

LOOK!

Increased the price and the drink getting lesser?

BLOODY hell!

Here's their menu page of Curry Mee.

Conclusion: Old Town White Coffee is forever in my BAN list. :D

Welcome to my BAN family list!

p/s: It really got my nerves! And this is not the first time!

Note: I know I shouldn't go there for any meal because I already know it's bad. My bad then...but now, Old Town White Coffee is banned by LazyBun.