Get away from it all on Tioman Island

For about half a century of my life, the only island in Malaysia that i have visited was Langkawi and Penang. I did have a yearning to go to Pangkor Island (which we did last year) and some of the other islands, but somehow, never made it.

This year, my cousin sister, Madeline, wanted to go to Redang Island during the school holidays but we could not secure any reservations. So we ended up making reservations at Minang Cove Resort on Tioman Island. That was one of the best decisions made.

The resort is located at the southern most part of Tioman and due to it's remote location, there was no TV reception, so no TV in the rooms. No mobile phone and no internet. There was a little corner on the jetty where some mobile phone signal can be received and we noticed the resort staff tend to spend some time there when they are free.

The sea around the resort is clear and abundant with marine life. You can see at least 10m into the sea and look at live coral and colorful fishes swimming amongst them. Too bad my camera cannot go underwater, or I would have taken a lot of photos of the fishes from inside the sea.

There are other resorts dotting the western part of the island. In many of them, TV, mobile phones or internet is not an issue. The most popular place to go for internet connections is Tekek or Salang. We also noticed that many scuba divers tends to congregate in Salang - making it sort of the scuba diving capital for Tioman.

The Marine Park is another nice site to go to to swim with the fishes and fee them. Unfortunately, there seems to be too many people such that the waters within 20m of the beach is dirty and even at the feeding platforms, the water is not as clear as what we saw at Minang Cove. I had not swam for long durations for quite a long time. The next 2 days, I woke up with sore muscles on my abdominal sides!

Tekek has a duty free outlet which sells liquor at prices similar to Singapore instead of KLIA, making it much cheaper.When they say the shops in KLIA are duty free, they conveniently don't mention that they are not profit free (probably very fat margins if I were to compare their prices with Singapore Changi).

If anyone is looking for a holiday and do not want to be contacted, go to Minang Cove Resort. You won't regret it.

Malacca for a weekend

We had planned to go to Malacca on the Merdeka weekend, but since that was an extended weekend holiday, there were no rooms available. So we opted for the following weekend, which was also an extended weekend holiday but only for selected states.

We?? Who's we?? Essentially it was Elaine C and her family together with my family. After having made the arrangements, my wife tells me that she can't go as she had another dinner that she had committed to that same Saturday. Oh well, as room arrangements were hard to manage, we went ahead. there was Shirley, her 2 daughters and their respective boyfriends in tow. And there was Alex and I.

Elaine told me they will start their journey from PJ at 7am, so I got Alex up by 6.30 so that we could meet up either half way or in Malacca around the same time. Turns out I was a little earlier than them. So we drove around a bit to get our bearings and stopped by at the Santiago gate. This part of Malacca is famous as the area where the Father of Malaysia made the historic announcement on the British granting independence to Malaya. The car which was used to transport Tunku when he made the announcement is on display here.

When the Cheongs arrived, they parked at the Stadhuys, so I re-parked there and from then onwards, we walked all over between Stadhuys and Jonker Walk. Within a short while, we were hungry. First stop was at the Hoe Kee Chicken Rice shop. They serve the famous A'Famosa balled rice chicken. Chee Meng who is a pseudo Malaccan on account that he had spent significant time in Malacca before, says that this stall was good. Hmmmm. I swear the Hainanese chicken rice in Kl and PJ tasted better. In any case, all the Chicken rice stalls in Jonker Walk had long queues after 12 noon on account of the huge influx of tourists!!.

Then it was Chendol time - again on Chee Meng's recommendation. Man!! The Gula Malacca used was so thick and syrupy!. But as we were walking into the chendol shop, some of us could smell something deliciously odorful from the next stall - assam laksa. So after chendol, it was assam laksa. I was having a bacterial infection in my stomach and had to forgo this, but it sure looked delicious.

And we then went off to Batu Berendam to eat coconut jelly. This was a pandanus type of coconut which was processed in such a way that the coconut juice became jelly. Very interesting and the jelly tasted pretty good too.

After more walking and shopping, it was time to check in to the hotel, take a short rest and recharge for the night.

Dinner was at the Portuguese Settlement in Ujong Pasir. We did talk abut going to the Malay stalls much further out, but since this was the fasting month, we could run the risk of not getting any food at all. The food wasn't too bad. I liked the Portuguese BBQed fish best of the lot. Just right. And this was even as I am recovering from a really bad stomach upset. The crab?? I think I do a better black pepper crab. This one was too salty for my taste.

Then we go back to Jonker Walk again for the night market. After driving around for a bit, we managed to park the car. As luck would have it, it was near the place that Elaine C was looking for - the pineapple tarts place. This shop has freshly baked pineapple tarts - hourly!! They had also won an award in 2004 from the Malaysian Book of Records.

Of all the wares hawked all over the night market that night, Shirley wanted the CD repair kit the most. Even scratched CDs?DVDs could be repaired by this magical kit. I think what the vendor did not say clearly was that the repair MAY be temporary only and a backup should be made.

It was a long day!!

Day 2 started with a quick stop at McD to get Alex his fix before all of us proceeded to a Dim Sum place recommended by Chee Meng, our honorary, pseudo Malaccan. Sad to say, he lost points big time on this one. Never mind, CM. there will be other times to make up for this!!

The Cheongs went back to Jonker street to walk about while I went back to the hotel to do the checkout. Then I rejoined them a little later.

Spent some time in the Cheng Ho Tea House (which I will write about separately later) and finally ended up in Nyonya Suan for lunch before heading home. Had my camera all ready, but when the food arrived, forgot to snap any pictures. WTF!!

Tiring but enjoyable weekend!!

I will be back end of the month as I host 4 visitors from Agilent UK.

Food for the Week (2) - work related

Monday started in earnest!!. 2 of the regional managers were in town - Roger and Sonti. Mr Wong has a large durian plantation and it is now durian season. "Come to my house for D101, D28, D24 and Red Prawn" he said. Due to an earlier commitment to another friend, I declined Monday's binge.

The invitation was still on on Tuesday. Damn!! I must try it. So this time with Roger and Pung in tow, we ended up at Mr. Wong's. I was so busy eating the durians, I forgot to take pictures!! Believe you me, they were really good. On top of that, bats had made their residence in the roof of the patio. So, sticky fingers and all, I just had to snap them and in the process, caught one of Roger and Pung, finishing up by drinking water from the skin of the durian. This supposedly helps to cool you down. If not, you may have a sore throat tomorrow.

We had opened 8 fruits and polished off 7. Then we adjourned to fatty Crabs restaurant nearby and had, spicy sour crabs, steamed fish, roasted chicken wings, satay and drinks. No photos again - too busy eating.

Another burp moment.

Friday, the Marcom team organized an LCMS user appreciation night for selected customers. the event was held in Hilton hotel, KL. Event was to start at 5pm. 2 key lessons learnt from our first evening, outdoor customer event:-
- do NOT start an event at 5pm!! Many customers do not get off work till at least 5pm. then there is traffic jam to contend with.
- do not start at 5pm because the sun is still out and it is near impossible to see the screen when we project onto it. We just cannot compete with the sun. Additional lesson on this is not to position the screen with the sun coming into your audience eyes (even if it is at an angle). I'll also let the photos speak for themselves here.

Food for the week (1) - The Wok

From 13th June onwards, it was like food glorious food, almost every night. I badly need to shed some of the pounds put on over the past 8 days or so!!

It started with The Wok. Location Kota Damansara, Petaling Jaya, Selangor
26, Jalan PJU 5/21The Strand, Kota Damansara
The Wok Cafe is located at the newer shoplots across the road from Kayu’s Nasi Kandar. After turning into The Strand from the traffic light, keep left and you will notice a big electrical shop and Alliance bank. The Wok Cafe is just behind.
Cuisine: Penang Style Nyonya

I had arranged for Vincent H and Cheah to meet to discuss a possible business proposal. So Mei's family, Vincent's and mine got together for a meal at the Wok. Suffice to say, the food was in general - authentic Penang fare. I'll just let the photos speak for themselvesFirst - the spread, followed by close up of some of the dishes

After all that, the only word I have left is - BURPPPP!!!!

Another long weekend with longer days

This weekend was for 3 days as the Prophet Muhammad's birthday was on Monday - which is a public holiday in Malaysia.

Saturday - spent some time plucking chikus from my tree. Tail end of this crop now. Would have just left them on the tree, except that squirrels were dropping by and my dogs were barking incessantly at them. While plucking the chikus, one squirrel panicked when the fruit plucker went close to it. It dropped 15 feet to the ground and within 5 seconds, my dogs pounced on it and it was a goner. Sorry squirrel. I did not see you.

Sunday, Elaine C's bro, Allan was planning his house warming. Shirley invited me for 4pm. What I did not know was that this was a house warming party for the families. Well, I have always treated Elaine C like a God daughter, so does that make me family?? Maybe not. But I now consider her as part of my extended family, just like Elaine W.And Shirley was a bit too early in her timing. Me and my family turned up past 4.30pm and were the first guests. Food wasn't ready. Luckily Alex had his PSP to amuse himself. I took some time to have a quick look at what Allan's neighbor (my tenant) did to the house next door. They had put in cameras both front and back of the house. I like what I saw outside of the house. The tenant was out of town, so we never did get to see the inside.

By the time the army came in (I could almost swear they came in a bus as there was suddenly a deluge of people and kids everywhere), the food was hastily laid out and feasting could commence. Another day where my diet just went to pieces. Too much really good tasting food.

After the meal, the kids started their games - hide and seek, AEIOU and so on. Alex had a good time, but we had to call it a day earlier as I planned a trip to Sungkai to indulge in a popular hot spring.

Monday. We had invited Alex's tuition teacher and her daughter along for the trip. As the papers had notified the public of road closures for the day and one of the roads I used was closed, I decided to depart from the Damansara toll that is near the office. Before starting, we stopped at Toast and Coffee for breakfast. Wen Xian (the teacher's daughter) almost cause the trip to crash even before we started. During breakfast, she complained of migraine (11 years old this year!!). She turned pale and her lips were distinctly whitish. We stopped at 7 Eleven to get a carton of eggs and a strip of paracetamol. Wen Xian took a couple of tabs and asked us to continue while she slept. By the time we got to Slim River, she was almost recovered.

The Hot Springs at Sungkai are about a 75 minutes drive from KL. Take the NS Expressway and exit at Sungkai. Take a left after paying toll, and follow the signage for the hot springs. It is located almost 8km inside an Oil Palm estate. Entrance is RM10 per adult and RM8 for the kids up to 11 years old.

It was raining the whole day since we left KL. That put a damper on our tour of the Hot Springs. We managed to try the pool which had a temperature of 43 deg C to 50 deg C. It was so hot that everyone was putting only their feet in the water.

The kids wanted to try total body immersion. So we found another pool that had temp up to 35 deg C. Wunderbar!! The pool was shaded by an attap roof. So when the rain came puring down, it was cramped full of people.

After a while, the kids wanted to try the mountain spring pool - this is a cold water pool. So off they went while I took the eggs to be boiled. takes about 7 minutes to get the eggs hard boiled. You could do more than boil eggs. There was a sign that says you could also try prawns, cockles and other food. Yikes! My mistake - other foods prohibited!Must try that next time.Once done, I took it over to the cold pool. Half an hour later, everybody came out of the pool to try the eggs. They were still a little too hot to touch!!

When we finished with the Hot Springs (rain still drizzling down), we drove up to Bidor to try the famous Duck Thigh soup. We bought some fresh guavas and headed home.

Long day!!