Malaysia – Page 5 – w w w . x e .s . c x

Kota Kinabalu: Food Guide

Kedai Kopi City @ Gaya Street

Tuaran Mee is a special dish that originates from the town of Tuaran, a town not far from KK City. I was told that Tuaran Mee comes in a few varieties – e.g. soup based or in thick sauced. At Kedai Kopi City, they serve Tuaran Mee fried with Chinese Wine. If you like the taste of Chinese Wine, this dish is highly recommended as it’s extremely aromatic.

The other recommendation is their “Wat Tan Ho” (Chinese style fried noodles). I’ve not tried it myself so please don’t beat me up if you don’t find it tasty.

You should also check out their menu. It comes in Chinese and in Engrish.

“Hua Dan Ho” is actually “Wat Tan Ho” and Mee Tuara Wong Jio. Nice..you don’t need to go to China or Japan to read Engrish.

Related Link:
Kedai Kopi City | Gourmet Borneo

Just across Kedai Kopi City, there’s a stall selling “baked buns”. It’s not bad.

Little Italy

When you think of Kota Kinabalu food, the last thing you probably think about is Italy food. But in KK City, there is one famous Italian restaurant by the name Little Italy. When I was there, it was filled with locals and foreigners alike. The place was packed too.

Their loyalty card – comes with Google search keywords!

The 4 of us ordered pasta and pizza. I was told that their tomato based pasta is excellent. I got myself a meat ball spaghetti which tasted good. The other recommendation is their marina spaghetti. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to try that.

Pizza on the other hand is thin crusted and yummy. But it too a little bit time to arrive as the pizza is baked on the spot. Nevertheless, their service comes with a smile – excellent.

Map

Little Italy
Ground Floor, Hotel Capital,
Jalan Haji Saman
88813 Kota Kinabalu
Sabah
Tel: (6088) 232231

Kota Kinabalu Part II: Gaya Street Sunday Market

Gaya Street Sunday Market, as the name explains, is a market held every Sunday. It features local handicrafts, food, plants and even animals.
Actually more than that, they sell
candy floss

mosquitoes repellent plants

grass

tshirts

Looks like Julius the Monkey from Paul Frank.
dogs

The cage is soooo small!
fishes.

Damn, Check out the size of the sucker fish on the bottom.
They also have massages by the blind

and a handicraft store which plays music using their wares.

I saw a man dancing in front of a music stall.

He looks like the d00d from Kennysia’s Kuching Shuffler!.

Kota Kinabalu Part II: KK -> Poring Hot Springs -> Kundasang -> Kinabalu National Park -> KK

Continued from here

We stopped by Pine Resort at Kundasang, a countryside town located at the foothill of Mount Kinabalu. Pine Resort is located up a hill hence it’s a good place to check out the scenery. Many climbers stay in Kundasang before they embark on their journey to Mount Kinabalu. Perhaps the notable bit of Kundasang is the War Memorial, which was built to remember the 2,000 plus Australians and British prisoners who died during World War II.

After lunch, we stooped by the Kinabalu National Park. We drove to the entrance where everyone would enter to climb Mount Kinabalu.

What a name..

At that time, many people had just finished their climb to the peak of Mt Kinabalu. Most people looked extremely exhausted.

We took some pictures and walked some trails before heading home.

Best record so far – 2 hours 39 minutes to reach the peak of Mount Kinabalu!

“Snake Hill” Trail.

Took this picture while standing on a cliff. Can you see a waterfall?
We stopped by a coffee shop for a break. The shop is divided into two parts, one part being the convenient store and the other part being the coffee shop.

Place your cover charge to enter the toilet on the left box.

I spotted one pastry by the name “Biskut Pising” that they were selling. It’s made of banana and it’s green! I tried it. It tasted like crap. Too sweet and too dry.

An hour later, we reached KK City. A one day trip is indeed tiring. Nevertheless, I would highly recommend that one especially photographers drive out of KK City to experience the nature.

On a bridge – the river is almost covering the bridge!

Rock Climbing in Perlis

End of this year, I’ll be off to Raileh Beach, Krabi, Thailand again to climb. I can’t wait!
400km from Kuala Lumpur, the state of Perlis was never known for their rock climbing activities. But last year, the Mammut expedition team set up climbing routes at Bukit Keteri and Gua Kelam. A video of the process can be seen below.

My palms!! My feeet!! They’re all wet!!
Related Links
Rock Trip, Keteri, Perlis 31 Aug-2 Sept 2007 | ARC IIUM Website
Rock Climbing Routes: Asia/Malaysia/Perlis/Bukit Keteri

Kota Kinabalu Part II: KK -> Poring Hot Springs -> Kundasang -> Kinabalu National Park -> KK

The journey to Poring Hot Spring is a long and tedious one. As I’ve said earlier, we had to go narrow and windy 2 lanes roads to get to these places.

We also had to go through

Bad visibility,

Slow lorries,

Accidents,

The road was probably built up on a mountain as most of the time we can see a ravine next to us. Further, throughout the journey, Mount Kinabalu is visible.

Poring Hot Spring, as the name suggest, is a hot spring located 3 hours away from KK. I read from somewhere that it was once a Japanese styled hot tubs during the Second World War.

I was looking forward to it as I’ve never been to a hot spring in Malaysia before. The one I visited in Japan was quite interesting and I presumed that it would be the same in Malaysia.

Throughout our journey, we passed by many local villages. The interesting bit is that almost each corner there is a church serving these villages. And all the signboards are identical – except for the name of the church.

Amitaa…aaa Haleluyaaahh

The other common sight is dogs – they are everywhere! Cats are pretty rare as they are eaten by dogs for breakfast.

We stopped by one place by the name Pekan Nabalu for a break. It’s a small town with stalls lined along the streets and even have a section for local handicrafts. We bought some pineapples and bananas. The pineapples look like hand grenades. Perhaps in the future, those who drop by, please purchase something from them to keep the villagers businesses alive.

Mt Kinabalu in the background!

Banana & “Salak”

Hand grenades

After an hour, we arrived at our first destination, Poring Hot Springs! I got off the car feeling excited – my first visit to a hot spring in Malaysia.

We crossed a river vide a suspension bridge. It was indeed a suspense before I step into the place.

But the place is like a bloody Disneyland! The place was filled with kids running around and many of the hot tubs were filled with kids. I bet they peed into the hot tub!

Fortunately, there are some private hot tubs for hire. Perfect place to do naug…I mean relax.

Other than hot springs, the other attraction of Poring is the Poring Canopy Walk. The walkway is around 40 metres off the ground and it’s identical to the one at Taman Negara Pahang. It turned my legs into jelly.

Perhaps the most acceptable hot springs tub is the tub for feet. My feet are dirty hence it doesn’t matter whether it gets dirtier or not. The temperature of the water is adjustable. All you need to do is to turn on the respective taps.

To be continued..

Kota Kinabalu Part II: Kedai Kopi Fook Yuen

Kedai Kopi Fook Yuen (Fook Yuen Coffeeshop) is located in a centralised hawker centre. Each shop has their own area and this can be seen from the colour of the chairs. Once you step into the centre, you’ll find yourself being tugged (verbally) by waitresses to sit on their area. Nevertheless, you can order food from other restaurants and have it on your table but you’ll find it being packed for takeaway.

After hearing so much about Fook Yuen’s roti kahwin, I finally I got to try this coffee shop. Roti Kahwin is a combination of two toasted bread with cold butter and kaya squeezed in between the toasted bread. It’s commonly available in KK and some parts of Malaysia. Some places plainly call it Roti Bakar (Toasted Bread).

However, I didn’t try their Roti Kahwin. Instead I had their normal bread with a thick slice of cold butter and also kaya squeezed in between. The bread is soft and perfectly moist. I must say it is extremely delicious until I wanted to have it everyday!! YUMMYY!! I THINK THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST THAT I’VE TRIED!!

The other main but undiscovered attraction is Teh Madras. When I first heard about it, I thought it was some Indian spice tea. The last time I had a tea which sounded Indian i.e. Masala tea @ Mumbai tasted like curry. But the appearance of Madras Tea is pretty intriguing. It has three layers, the bottom, which is also the substantial part, is white (milk), the layer thereafter is brown (tea) and on top, foam. It’s like latte with tea. I tasted extremely well and not sweet at all! Unfortunately, it’s not widely available at Chinese restaurants.

Fried Dumplings (gyoza) is quite popular in KK. But the one at Damai is so-so.

Map

Damai Plaza PH
4 Jalan Damai
Luyang, Kota Kinabalu
Tel: 088-232.794
Opens 7 a.m. – 1.30 a.m
Closed on Mondays

Sailing Adventure @ Langkawi – Kuah Town

This will be my last entry on Langkawi Sailing Adventure.
On our last day, we dropped by Kuah Town, the district capital of Langkawi, to get some duty free stuff.

In every part of Kuah Town, there is a duty free shop selling all sorts of stuff which includes chocolate, alcohol, electrical items, kitchen appliances and clothing.

Alcohol comes in all sorts of variety. Some colourful and some in weird bottles or packaging.

My titties is on the newspaper – again

Once again, I got picture of my titties on the newspaper. The first time was about 12 years ago when the Star had a picture of me surfing.

Poser maximum.

Recently, the New Straits Times published an article titled “New Straits Times – Sailing the Andaman” on the Sailing Adventure @ Langkawi. This time round, with bigger picture of my titties. In fact, it looks extremely big.

There are more pictures in the hard copy of the article!

Super distorted picture. I look like a hippo having a dip in a river.

Sailing Adventure @ Langkawi – Part VI

Upon boarding the sail boat, we then set sail towards the sea. Our musicians-on-board whipped out their guitar, drums and harmonica and started playing them.

We were also treated with massage by a masseur.

I knew I made the right choice – leaving work and give my mind a rest. But halfway through the journey, I received a text message from a colleague telling me that my staff screwed up on something -_-

I was told that the boat is constructed manually by our boatman. His cabin consists of, among others, a bed, a kitchen and two toilets. It even comes with a barbeque pit.

The boat is manned by a crew.

And a pirate

The toilet is quite small and to flush, we have to manually flush it by pushing a pump. The pump will then draw water to flush out everything. We had to bend down to push the handle cause the handle is on the floor. I had water from the toilet bowl splashing on my face -_-

We stopped at one point to do some caving. We went through a small tunnel which leads us to a cove. It used to be a cave but after many years, it collapsed.

Our boat..is sinking!!

Used to be a cave..

The ‘cave’ is accessible through a man made pathway

Chic Wern and Nicolekiss on the other hand took the opportunity to try out sea kayaking. They went missing for a while but found them at one cove – collecting rubbish. Bravo!

Lunch was served thereafter.

Some of us took the opportunity to soak ourselves in the sea by hanging to a dragnet that was cast next to our boat. Life jacket is available to those who can’t swim. The experience was like sitting in a Jacuzzi. A salty Jacuzzi. It was the highlight of the day.

Some of us had beer while hanging on to the net. But most of the beer had to be disposed off as sea water got into it.

Francis Cheong, Managing Director of Apxara (Got me drunk on the first night) and Conrad, Business Director (One of the nicest guys I’ve met)

Andy, Me & Tahir

Me & Chic Wern

Despite the rain, it was truly an enjoyable experience. If it’s not for the rain, I would have been baked by the sun. Halfway through our journey, the rain stopped.

Toward the end of the journey, I had no idea where I was. Everywhere was just water, trees and islands.

But we eventually reached the river mouth where we first departed. We got off our sail boat back to our speed boat to head back to Kilim Karst Jetty.

[Taken from New Straits Times]

A full-day excursion for join-in cruise only on the yacht is RM295 for adults and RM195 for child below 12. Group tours are about 18 to 25 persons.

For bigger groups, Apxara can arrange special packages on other yachts, including the Raja Laut and Lily Marlin, for up to 250 persons.
The cruise, from Fridays to Tuesdays, starts at 10.30am and ends at 5pm. A sunset cruise with a barbecue from 5.30 to 9.30pm can be arranged on request.

During the peak season from December to April, a seven-day advance booking is required.

You are encouraged to bring towels, swimwear, extra dry clothing, waterproof sunblock lotion and sunglasses.

Return transfers from selected Langkawi hotels/resorts are available.
Apxara Travel also offers Sailing Adventure Retreat Packages with accommodation at Frangipani Resort & Spa Langkawi, Andaman Resort Langkawi, Meritus Pelangi Beach Resort & Spa and Berjaya Langkawi Beach & Spa Resort.

Rates, based on twin-sharing basis, range from RM568 to RM995 inclusive of two nights accommodation, daily buffet breakfast and a full-day sailing adventure trip.

For details, contact: Apxara Travel & Events Sdn Bhd, Tel: 03-2282 8768 Fax: 03-2284 9768. Email: info@apxara.com. Website: www.apxara.com
[End]

Sailing Adventure @ Langkawi – Part V

Langkawi is an archipelago of 99 islands in the Andaman Sea. Many of these islands are unoccupied and untouched by mankind.

With so many islands, the best way to explore these islands is by boat.
I forced myself to take 3 days off from my hectic schedule to attend this media trip. I clearly needed a break from work – my waist is aching (apparently due to some injury to some soft tissue inside my waist). My eyes needed rest from looking at computer monitors.

The sky was gloomy when we set off from the Kilim Karst Geopark jetty. We started off with a small boat cruising down the Kilim River and rode through a valley of lush mangrove forest and lime stone hills. There were no signs of modernity save for one or two passing boats.

Kilim Karst Jetty

Our boat

We stopped by a floating fish farm to feed some fishes and even to pet stingrays. The platform was made of wood and the walkway is narrow. We had to keep our balance otherwise we would end up as fish food.

Making salty fish.

To prevent the fishes from escaping, nets are placed deep below.
There was a small stall selling tidbits.

We were given a demonstration on how to feed stingrays. They looked a bit scary but they are relatively harmless.

Stingray nom-ing (eating) our boat man’s hand

But this was cut short when it started raining.

We also stooped to feed some eagles. Our boat man injected some air into some dead fish (so that it could float) and few seconds later, an eagle rushed down to grab its lunch. Unfortunately, due to the rain, there were not many eagles on sight.

One of the things a photographer do to protect his baby.

As we were about to reach the river mouth, we were greeted by a sail boat.

To be continued…
Related Links:
Apxara – the people that made this happen
Sailing Adventure @ Langkawi – Part II
Sailing Adventure @ Langkawi – Part III
Sailing Adventure @ Langkawi – Part IV