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| Sunday, 12-Apr-2009 13:30 |
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Bandar Baharu River Seafood Restaurant
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Picking our seafood
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Lane 8 Seafood Restaurant
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More fishes
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The Lane 8 Restaurant
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group foto before meal
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Steamed Shrimps
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Bamboo fish
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Steamed Bamboo fish
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our riverseafood lunch
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Bandar Baharu, a small town slightly further south from Tambun about 1 hour drive from the busy hectic life in Penang island. If it is not of Chow P.L. we wouldn’t have found the place. We will go extra mile to tickle our tastebuds.
We were brought to this remote restaurant by the name “八条街河鲜” or Lane 8 Riverseafood Restaurant whereby they serve only fresh river seafood product at an affordable price. I guess the name actually give the hint of its whereabout; there is no clear cut road signs around BUT once you are around the area, there will be plenty of road signs to guide.
It was a sunny Saturday afternoon after the ward rounds when we decided to have an impromptu trip – which explains the small crowd. It was only Chow, Justius, Mung and I. It was a leisure drive through the small village of Bandar Baharu.
They are famous for their specialty – steamed Bamboo fish or “招牌清蒸顺壳”. I understand that it is a very expensive fish around this region but they are actually quite cheap – though I couldn’t really remember how much it cost. Apart from the fish, we have river-prawns – spicy and steamed, with an egg dish and some local vegetables – kangkung. In total, we spent around RM40 each for the meal. It was a great fun. After their catch, they actually kept the fish in a special aquarium where the customer can pick and choose what they would like to have.
After we have chosen our share, they will weigh and process it.
This is Justius, too shy for the camera and will look away almost instantly when he hears a click.
This is such a hearty meal, right…
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| Sunday, 5-Apr-2009 14:30 |
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Restoran Kolam Ikan
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The rugged fish pond restaurant
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Look at the state of this plate
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Restaurant at a secluded area
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MS Ready for the Meal
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I'm looking forward for it too
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Too late for lunch but Too early for dinner
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This is another interesting place to go for. It is situated on the way from Kulim to Sungai Sedim. Along that road, there are two nice places to stop for a meal. This is one of it, which is owned by a Chinese family, very secluded area. Further down the road, there is another restaurant owned by a Malay family known as Nasi Ayam Periuk Besar. They prepare nice BBQ chicken and Honey-roasted chicken rice.
The name of this restaurant is Fish Pond Restaurant (鱼塘小食馆 or Restoran Kolam Ikan).
They breed and rear their own fishes in their pond next to a river. Their ponds are compartmentalized to separate the larger fish from the smaller ones. They also rear Japanese carp in one of their compartments. The waters in the ponds are flowing from one to another that drained out to the river. The fishes that they breed, rear and sell are Tilapia, Sultan fish, ikan maung and etc (all fresh water products).
According to Wikipedia, Tilapia is a common name for cichlid genus Tilapia. This is an omnivorous fish which resides in fresh water such as ponds, lakes and rivers. Tilapia comes in many names; one of them is “St Peter’s fish” which was described by Peter in the bible when he caught a fish that carried a shekel coin in its mouth. In Phillipines, they are known as pla-pla or also tilapia. The Arabians call them mushṭ (مشط) (comb) because of the shape of its comb-like tail.
We found out from the daughter of the owner of the pond that the ponds are quite difficult to maintain especially during rainy seasons when the ponds are over-flowed to the river. There was a time that they lost uncountable numbers of fishes, possible hundreds due to this problem. Both her brother and father are still working hard to maintain the place. There was a time when they felt ending their business but due to the demand from the public, they kept on.
Their chef-recommended dish is Triple-flavoured fish.
They have others such as Hong-Kong style steamed ikan lampang, fish fillets fried with ginger and spring onions, sultan fish steeped in oil and ikan maung steamed with tomyam paste. It’s only Mung and I this time, so we only managed one dish of fish and a wok-fried lettuce. The dining experience was not bad; it’s very kampung-type of feeling. The only down-side is the experience with the amount of flies around when the fish dined to the table, it was horrendously shocking. We basically have to fan   and eat (*he *he *he… if you know what I mean). I think it would be different if there should be a crowd eating there.
 
Mung had a diarrhoea on the next morning. We are still not sure whether it was due to the food as the duration of consumption and the severity of diarrhoea does not really corelates. Anyway, we are planning to go there on our next occasion only if we manage to find a crowd of people who are interested.
Hooray… Another successful food hunt… 
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| Tuesday, 31-Mar-2009 15:49 |
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Our Bowling Experience in Penang
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Four months has passed since I've join Surgical department in Seberang Jaya Hospital. Its been sweet and sour, I guess. Things back in Malaysia are a lot more different than UK. In UK, we have social every now and then. So, as for a change, Basli and I decided that we should fix a date and go social bowling. It was actually an impromptu attempt. We decided it about a few days before the event. Well, it wasn’t as hot and receiving as we thought it would be, due to the short notice.
 
It is our first time to bowl at Megamall Penang. We have been there for so many times and did not actually realize that there is a bowling alley right at the top of the building. Megamall Penang was used to be crowded with people but due to the rapid blooming malls around it, it has slowly become deserted.
We started off the social with a mini-lunch at Old Town White Coffee Restaurant inside Megamall, at Ground floor in between Pacific and Casa-Art. Then, we moved on to the top floor…
Basli a.k.a. Buzz (Bowler No.3) is actually a superb bowler. He is like a pro. It was great to be beaten by someone great… … He strikes 4 times in a row and he claimed that was purely “LUCK”. That was some kind of luck, huh.
Wow, That was Another Strike from Buzz…
After Bowling, we moved on to dinner at Seoul Garden, recommended by Ashraf, who didn’t turn up because it was too early… Lee and Doreen manage to make it with their little princess (Sheryl/Cheryl)… She is so cute… She is a replica of Lee with tinge of Doreen…
 
Check this out… Little Sheryl making faces
I think Seoul Garden is a good place if we wanted to sit around with endless rounds of food and endless ventilations about how great or frustrated work has been for the past few months… We should come again next time. If we were lazy to cook, we should try Tao’s Japanese Fusion Cuisine. The only thing downside of Tao is that they have a limit of their buffet time and slightly more expensive than Seoul Garden.
 
I’m really looking forward to arrange for another social probably at the end of April or May 2009. I hope that we will be able to arrange for Paintballing in our next social. Life is enjoyable with a group of supportive colleagues.
Cheerio…
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| Sunday, 8-Feb-2009 15:30 |
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耶脚鸡仔 Spring Chicken Under the Coconut Tree
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Ong Cheng Huat Restaurant. We found out about this restaurant from Axian788 website. It was highly recommended from Jason for the great taste and its “ambience” environment (under the coconut tree )… The local Chinese calls it 耶脚鸡仔 (Hokkien : è-Ka-Gè-Gia), basically means Spring chicken under the coconut tree. As the name suggested, their famous dish is deep fried Spring chicken. According to Jason’s website, they have actually marinated the spring chicken over 24 hours before deep frying it. No wonder it tastes so succulently delicious.
Ong Cheng Huat Restaurant.
人山人海 Its overcrowded with overzealous people in queue to savour the delicious delicacy introduced by Jason.
 
Apart from the Spring chicken, they have other “home-made” dishes too. They are equally exotic and stimulating such as the boiled octopus with fried garlics, deep fried prawn poh-piah, steamed fish-head with teochew-style and so on…
Boiled Octopus with fried garlics
Deep-fried Prawn Poh-Piah
Steamed Fish-Head with Teochew-style
Wok-fried La-La
They are too good if it should go with a bowl of fried vermicelli (Bi-Hun). The Bi-Hun is actually not so well done as it tasted bland but because of the rest of the dishes, it makes the insipid taste more pronouncedly yummy. Anyway, it’s one of the pioneer dishes when they first started this restaurant.
Yummy Yummy… Good to have tasted another place recommended by Jason… Thumbs up… Keep up the good job Jason…
Cheerio… We are going for more food hunting…
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| Sunday, 25-Jan-2009 08:00 |
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Happy Ox Year 2009
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2009 is the Year of Ox. I guess I would need to work harder this year as the spirit of ox is to work hard. This year has been a very memorable year. Lots of old classmates returning home, even those whom I haven’t met for the past 10++ years i.e. Everlyn Tiong & Chua Yii Kee… Wow, I think the last time I saw them was Primary Six. Time seems to pass so quickly. This is also my first time to meet Linda’s nuclear family (Simon –the husband and Gideon – the son)… Gideon is so adorable, he is the Mini-Simon with tinge of Linda in him…
We were having our reunion dinner at my grandparent's place this CNY eve and we witnessed the rising of the water slowly until it submerged the 1st level of the staircase. Well, just like how my Grandmother put it, it would be a prosperous year… overflowing with water ($Money$)…
The Rising Water $$$
The welcoming of the Ox Year...
On the first night of new year, we had a couple of drinks at Donny’s place  . Pak Tun had a shot of Flaming Lambogini  … almost knocked out when he got home… The rest of us managed to win a lot of chips from him after we got home for a domestic game of MahJong before he finally suggested to turn to bed… …
Just like previous years, we had house-to-house visits and that was really exhausting… worse than my on-calls… … just kidding… what I actually meant was “tiring yet enjoyable”… Started off from my house, we sat around and I showed off our wedding photos – I guess once a life-time, I’m fairly good looking **after digital manipulation**. I’m very glad that it’s done and would highly recommend New York Bridal Shop to anyone who is living around Penang. They provide excellent service and the photographers are all very friendly and professional. I think it would be Pak Tun’s turn any time soon in 2009.
Next is Terrence’, then Tuong Thai, then Yee Huan, Hing Tung and so forth. We manage to visit lots of old classmates… especially Yii Kee, I haven’t seen him for such a long time now and he has already got a 3 months old baby girl. Well done, Yii Kee…
Some of us are born listeners and some are born *lecturers*… …
This is Yii Kee and the Mini-Lady Yii Kee…
 
My brother’s Salmon Sushi (Sashimi) is everyone’s favourite this year I guess. A few of my uncles were really disgusted by the fact that we were eating raw fish with rice. They think it was rather barbaric, I guess. I think it is really nice. I’m not the greatest fan of Sashimi but I think I can still appreciate them though.
I brought my wife to visit my uncle’s Record collections and his antique grammophones… I’m not sure how many has he got but I think he has collections ranging from the huge stationary one to the portable one. He is the No.1 fan vintage records in my family apart from my wife who is an amateur of these vintage collections. We really hope to be able to grab hold of a Grammophone this year. To our astonishment, or probably more of an ignorant, H.M.V. is actually abbreviated from His Master’s Voice which is printed on a classic antique Grammophone.
Portable Grammophone (a.k.a. Turn-Tables)
Anyway, it has been a brilliant new year. Short but Memorable.
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| Monday, 22-Dec-2008 07:30 |
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Our Wedding Photos
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This page is dedicated to those of my friends who missed our wedding ceremony and reception.
A picture tells a thousand stories...
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| Saturday, 29-Nov-2008 15:30 |
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A.S.I.M.O. is in Queensbay Mall, Penang
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A.S.I.M.O. also stands for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility is a humanoid Robot created by Honda engineers through their robot R&D for the past 22 years. It is said that within ASIMO beats the heart and soul of a Honda engineer. ASIMO is able to walk, run, serve, dance & draw. ASIMO follows simple specific instructions given by the commander. Perhaps this is the starting of the future humanoid maid. The whole R&D dated back to 1986 where Honda first examined the principles of two-legged locomotion. Within 5 years they understood the principles of rapid two-legged walking. In 1991-1993, these persistent wild dreamers who believe in Power of Dreams manage to complete the basic functions of two-legged walking. The completion of an independent humanoid robot was achieved 4 years later. Hence, ASIMO is born in 2000 which is the trademark of Honda for the future of intelligent mobility.
ASIMO is powered by a 51.8V Li-Ion battery back pack and weighing 54 kg. With a four hours charge, ASIMO is able to work and function for the next one hour. The body is made up of magnesium alloy covered with plastic resin which reduces the weight dramatically. Located at the head of ASIMO are the microphones and also two cameras acting as the ears and eyes of the humanoid robot. The body of ASIMO is able to rotates from side to side allowing humanoid movements. With both hands, ASIMO is capable of supporting 1kg of weight. Single-handedly, ASIMO can hand up to 300g of weight. Here comes the most sophisticated and impressed part of the robotic body – the legs. ASIMO is able to walk and run in any direction smoothly with the sophisticated predictive movement apparatus that could automatically shift its centre of gravity whilst moving. I think for the whole body, it is the legs that took up to 22 years to develop. It is not easy to create moving limbs mimicking those of humans that could walk, run and move up and down the stairs. Pretty impressive, isn’t it. This is really the Power of Dreams.
We are really glad to be able to witness the humanoid robot at Queensbay Mall this weekend. It is a superb experience for us. As a child, I always dreamt of the Transformers and becoming the pilot of Macross mechas, but it is always a dream. Witnessing ASIMO, it made me realize that I’m actually moving closer to witness the dream comes true.
With the superb intelligent mobility technology, I think it has opened a whole new world to Orthopaedics world of prosthesis. The cyborg and super mechas that we think only exist in the animation may soon be true. I guess this is only a matter of time. Witnessing the possibility that Honda creates through their Power of Dreams, made me feel insignificant. I always believe a dreamer is a sleeper. But, Honda has changed my perspective of a dreamer. Great are those who bring their dream to the reality.
ASIMO is serving drinks on a tray.
ASIMO also paints Batik & kicks a football.
 
ASIMO is dancing with a group of kids to the tune of “Rasa Sayang”.
Looking from the 1st floor, we envied those who have the chance to get a personal close up look and picture with ASIMO.
Before we leave ASIMO, we manage to purchase a few of the collective goodies that are available. They are selling out really fast.
The next coming event at Queensbay Mall is the Doraemon Adventure. Lots of kids were queuing up to get some tickets for the function. My darling wife managed to join in the queue trying to get a ticket with the lot of the characters…. He He He…
Jolly Good…
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| Monday, 27-Oct-2008 10:00 |
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My Family Penang Trip Day 4
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Due to the special request from Daddy and Pak Tun last night, we woke up a bit late just to get an extra rest. Knowing their taste-buds were not going to tolerate anymore exotic food, I brought them for some Kuay Teow Th’ng, Wan-Tan Mee, and Char Kuay Teow at Raja Uda. I guess due to that extra hour of rest, everyone had fully recuperated. We also had three portions of double half-boiled eggs – very nicely done and fresh. 
After breakfast, I brought them to Penang Megamall as I know Mommy had been asking repeatedly for shopping and shopping. Just the right place, I guess. They shopped and shopped until we have to unload their shopping bags before they could continue again. Here, again we followed the previous tactics – split into two groups – and shop. I brought A-Nuk & Lydia to look out for clothes for them. Finally, Lydia started to accept slightly more feminine clothes  rather than t-shirts all the time. Well Done, my little sister.
At around 1600, we were hungry already and I showed them to 600cc Restaurant. It is slightly costly but a new taste to them – Taiwanese cuisine. Lydia had a bowl of Taiwanese Beef Noodle & Mixed-fruit milkshake; A-Nuk had a bowl of Spicy Taiwanese Noodle & passion-fruit Ai-Yu-Bing; Mung Seong had a bowl of Taiwanese oyster noodle & Red-bean milkshake; and; finally as for myself, I had Spicy Taiwanese Noodle with a Papaya milkshake. 
After the other group finished with their shopping, we moved on to AEON Jaya Jusco Seberang Perai City, another shopping complex. The other group had completely suppressed their hunger for food until now. So, we stopped at Nando’s for a “chicky” meal. Almost everyone had half a chicken apart from Mung Seong and I – we shared half a chicken. Due to the late tea that evening, A-Nuk didn’t manage to finish the other quarter of his chicken, so we asked them to give it a wrap for take away. It was quite a pleasant meal – nice environment and relaxing.
 
After a hearty meal, we gather our strength and started to shop again inside Jaya Jusco. We walked around for about two hours and left just before it closed.
 
Without asking them, I stopped at Seberang Jaya’s 喂食街 (wai-sek-kai) for Lok Lok supper. I promised them I’ll show them something different. Everyone loves it. They love the variety of sauces available.
At least I could say today we have a fairly good trip. We went home at around 11pm. They packed and ready to get to the airport as early as 0600 in the next morning.
Bon Voyage  . You are welcomed to visit us again. Love  , Pak Kai & Mung Seong.
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| Sunday, 26-Oct-2008 08:00 |
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My Family Penang Trip Day 3
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A spicy start of the day  . We went to Ayer Itam for breakfast. I wanted to show them the curry noodle and also Hokkien Mee. Unfortunately, the Hokkien mee has finished, that left us with no other choice. I don’t recall the Auntie’s curry mee being so spicy. Normally I would have to add additional sambal to my noodle but not today. Not a very good recommendation, after all – too hot and spicy for breakfast.
After breakfast, we drove up to Kek Lok Si to visit the biggest temple in Penang. The Kuan-Yin statue and the Pagoda were all still under renovation. Well, at least they have seen the statue and have a good view of Penang city from top of the mountain  .
After a tiring walk about, we stopped around the small nice hut in front of the Cable car station. There are lots of fishes there. Many visitor actually bought bread-crumbs to feed them. It was an excellent view of fishes swarming towards the feed.
Enough rest. We travel back down from Kek Lok Si for lunch at Fei-Loh Chicken Rice Restaurant. It was not a pleasant lunch for everyone because it seems that a few of us was down with sun-stroke symptoms. Pak Tun was the extremely unwell one among all  . I had advised him to drink plenty of water. He didn’t have much during that lunch too.
The initial plan was to go to the Snake Temple but we have to cancel it as the general consensus was to stop, chill-out and rest for at least an hour. Therefore, we detoured and stopped at Gurney Plaza. Here, we rested for at least half an hour at Secret Recipe before daddy, mommy, Pak Tun & Hui Pei got really bored and decided to continue their shopping spree inside the plaza. As for the rest of us, we stayed on, chilled out for another half an hour enjoying the “fanta-licious” choc mud cake, chololate cheese cake and chocolate indulgence cake. A-Nuk & Lydia really loved it . I don’t it is available in Sibu yet.
 
Here, something happened again. Lydia had become the No. 1 fan for their washroom – leaving Gurney Plaza lots of sourvenirs…… After about an hour and a half walk, we all meet up again for dinner. We walked next door to Gurney Drive for dinner. It was so crowded and we had to stand along the table which was about to finish just to grab their seat. Pak Tun & A-Nuk does not enjoying this environment. They don’t like it because it was too crowded  . I told them that this is the most happening “makan” place in Penang. The tourist will usually visit here at least once if they come to Penang. Lydia enjoyed it very much. She told me that she wanted to try Chee-Cheung-Fun… I got her a plate of those… She helped to queue for the famous Fried Oyster – took her half an hour to get a plate for everyone to share. I showed them Penang Asam Laksa and the Pasembur too. Most of them were too tired already.They didn’t try much of the delicacies that I bought for them. They also had the Penang famous “Buah Pala’s” juice and they enjoyed the cooling taste of it. This is yet readily available in Sibu, I think.
After Gurney Drive, we went home and rest. 
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| Saturday, 25-Oct-2008 08:30 |
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My Family Penang Trip Day 2
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They have traveled from the bridge to mainland yesterday. Today, we will try the ferry instead. In Penang, there are two ways of traveling to the island – Bridge or Ferry. It is slightly costly if travel by Ferry RM7.70 (while Bridge RM7). We decided to travel by Ferry because we are going towards George Town. The bridge will bring us close to the mid pole of the island while the ferry landed slightly northern to the island.
We have our breakfast at a shop which I’m not sure the name. It is situated close to Mingood Hotel. Their Kuay Teow Th’ng is delicious (Soft rice-sticks in soup). Some of us have curry noodle and Char Kuay Teow (Fried Rice-sticks), a bit heavy for the early morning, really. I’m one of them… …
We drove around GeorgeTown, had a few shots at Keling Mosque & Kuan-Yin Temple – both are one of the oldest religious building around Georgetown. The St. George’s Church is around also but we just drove by and admire its beauty.
We stopped by Fort Cornwallis to inspire the first settling ground for Francis Light when he first discovered Penang. We spent nearly two hours inside the fort just taking photos.
Having fun with the gadget and the statue. This is the statue of Francis Light (they modeled it from one of his descendant’s appearance)
 
This is the initial settlement before the fort is built.
Messing around with the old swing… I’m glad that the branch didn’t break…
This is a Pak Tun… the video-game (“ti-tu ti-tu”) mania… try to simulate someone with a big gun  …
This is Pak Fu, inspecting and giving coordinates to shoot the cannon… Too much “Gunbound” …
The Seri Rambai Cannon was installed here by the British in 1871. It was once owned by the Dutch & Acheen before seized by the British. The local fertility believes that childless woman would bear a child if she places a flower into the barrel and prayed. I guess Penangites are quite fertile as the barrel was fairly empty… …
This is a special sign board barrels that you would not missed during the visit…
 
Opposite to the Seri Rambai Cannon, you could see a tower-like structure simulating the old British’s Ship Watching Tower.
There are also old cellars… There are a few part-time convicts… Look at their vicious facial expression…
 Too Sissy Nuk
 Hardy Cranky Lia
Before leaving GeorgeTown, we shopped for the local delicacies for them to bring back to Sibu – 义香Biscuits(香饼)…
We received a phone call from the airport taxi centre that they have found my brother’s back-pack. It was left behind at the taxi’s boot. Due to the dim light last night, they had missed it as it sat at the dark corner of the boot. I told Pak Tun that he is very lucky to have such an honest taxi driver, otherwise, everything would have gone already. We drove to Airport after that for the collection. Hooray, everything inside, nothing is missing.
From Bayan Lepas, we moved on to our next destination, Queensbay Mall for lunch and shopping. This is where the shopping frenzy starts. We have lunch at Jaya Jusco Food Court… They don’t enjoy it… For me, they are not too bad for a hypermarket food court standard… We divided into two groups – Group 1 (Lydia, A-Nuk, MungSeong & I) and Group 2 (Pak Tun, Hui Pei, Daddy & Mommy) and continue to our respective shopping outlets.
This is A-Nuk’s Plant-picking illusion…
I brought A-Nuk & Lydia to the Borders Bookshop and after that for evening coffee at Roti-Boy coffee shop.
 
This is MungSeong’s Bun-lifting Trick…
We shopped in groups until 1830 then, we moved on to Double Good Restaurant where we have made reservation at 1900. We had our dinner here with Ling Ching, A-Kwong, A-Liang & A-Siong. Nice food. (Highly recommended for their great taste and speed)
After the meal, we went back home, rest and getting ready for the next day.
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err.. selamat pengantin baru! hehe you guys still in penang right?
