Bukit tabur hiking trip

A bunch of us went for a hike at Bukit Tabur located at Taman Melawati. We started out hike at around 7.30am. We hiked about three hours. It was definitely not an easy hike for me. It was fun and it was a good workout. Imagine doing lunges more than the usual sets of 25 in the gym. We parked the car and then took a few steps towards a trackless slope and Jo Lene said "Ok, start climbing" I was like huh climb??!! lol

The first five minutes of the hike made me pant so much already and my thighs were burning. I wanted to stop already but then I was the one who organised the trip. So, basically that was my motivation to move forward ;) Surprisingly the first part of the hike was really tiring but after that it was just more about finding the right parts of the rocks to climb. I did bang my knees on the rocks, bled under my thumb nail because the rocks were sharp and banged my head on a huge rock lol.

-our rocky hiking trail-

-one of out few rest stops-

Aside from my injuries, I loved the hike and i know it would get easier with more experience. It was just my first time afterall. All the panting and sweating was worth it when we were able to enjoy the breathtaking view of the city. On one side it was all green while on the other side was the concrete jungle.

Walking down for me was much more difficult than going up. This was because it could be slippery when stepping on tiny rocks. Also, I think I had to use my brains more while getting down as I needed to watch and choose where to step so I that I didn't trip and fall. I did fall at one time anyway XD Thanks to Jo Lene and her Boyfriend for being awesome guides. I don't think I would have had the guts to hike up without them. I would probably stop hiking after the first five minutes..... Or if I made it up to the peak, I would probably be lost at how to hike back down....

 After the hike, we had rojak mamak. We all wanted cendol but it was too early for the stall to be opened. So, we headed to my house for some mooncakes and chocolate cupcakes while waiting for the cendol stall to open.

Hiking should be the new trend to hang out with friends! It was nice catching up :)

Pappa Rich Express at TAR college

I went to TAR college to try their papa rich for lunch since my sister told me the price is cheaper there. It was true! I was always a fan of the chicken rice at Papa Rich, hence I ordered that again this time to compare. The price of my chicken rice was rm6.80. Normal price at other Pappa Rich would be double that amount. Of course, the price I paid means there will be lesser of something, which was the chicken portion. But, the portion was still satisfying and best of all, it was piping hot when served.

My sister ordered nasi lemak which cost rm2.80. Considering that it was Pappa Rich, the price was reasonable. I do not think Oldtown's nasi lemak cost that cheap. I had a taste of the sambal from the nasi lemak and I loved it because of its spicyness. I am salivating now just thinking about it!

They even have a tapao set special for various days. Just send an sms and we can get a discount of 50cents for the set. I intend to try it next time.

Pulau Langkawi 2012 (Part 2)

After writing about Langkawi Island Part 1, I thought I would continue writing about Part 2 right after. But, it does take time to write and everyday after the Langkawi trip there were so many other things to do. I finally have time to sit down and sort out my photos in my iphone which has reached to 3158 photos! That is probably one reason why my iphone battery cannot last for more than half a day. Unfortunately, after spending 1.5 hours sorting out the photos, I am still not done. It was too much!! I decided to keep the sorting aside and blog about Langkawi Island Part 2....

Where do I begin since the trip was quite long ago....

Part 1 was about:

Getting to Langkawi

Transportation n Langkawi

Accomodation

and Food

Generally, sightseeing in Langkawi is liberally scattered around the island. You will definitely need to rent a bike or car (read Part 1 about renting) to get to the famous attractions. It usually takes 3 days to visit the whole island.

Places of interest

1. Langkawi's Cable Car at Oriental Village

Upon check-in at our hotel, the first place we visited was the Oriental Village. It was just a 5 minute drive from Berjaya Resort, which was where we stayed. Oriental Village appealed to me the first time I went there, but after that, it was nothing great. It was like an expensive flea market for tourist and not for locals. I only walked through Oriental Village to get to the Cable Car. When going for the Cable Car, I always hope that:

-there will be no long queue (The queue can be really long at peak seasons)

-the weather is fine

-everything will be the same as before or even better

Lucky for us there wasn't any queue to buy the tickets. Using the MyKad gives us discount for the cable car tickets. We paid, we went up. The ride up was pretty good. It was 5pm, so the weather was pretty good. The higher we went, the cooler it felt. There are two stops for the cable car. We skipped the first stop as it was just a stop to see the view. We continued on to the second stop, which was higher than the first. The second stop was where the suspended bridge was located.

Unfortunately, the suspended bridge was closed for maintenance. When I asked the person in charge how long will the bridge be closed, he told me about 6 months! I was like wow... and then my dissapointment sets in because the main purpose of forking out money for the cable car ticket was to be on the suspended bridge. The lady at the ticketing counter should have informed us before we made the ticket purchase.

With nothing else to do, we just sat around, enjoyed the weather, fresh air and the fantastic view of the island from above. It did drizzle a bit, but not much to get drenched.

We spent about two hours just hanging out and taking photos.

2. Black Sand Beach

On Day 2, we started our day by visiting the Black Sand Beach. It is always better to visit the beach earlier or in the eveing because it can be a tad too sunny in the afternoon. There are also shops selling beach wear and food near the beach. The black sand beach is another must see when I go to Langkawi. It is afterall a historic place and in Malaysia, the black sand can only be found in Langkawi Island. I usually just spend 10 to 15 minutes looking at the black sand.

There is also a board which tells the folkstale and the scientific explanation about why the sand is black.

Then, as usual, I will have coconut water nearby to quench my thirst. The coconut water there is always satisfying.

3. Eagle Square (Dataran Lang)

The third must go place is Eagle Square, which is noticeable if one comes into Langkawi by ferry.. The eagle represents Langkawi.

It is a good place to get a picture with the word 'Langkawi" just to tell the world that you have been to Langkawi :) Eagle Square is located near the Kuah Jetty.

Besides getting a picture with the Eagle, there is nothing much to do there unless you want to eat good mee goreng mamak at the mamak shop, in the jetty area.

If you go there in the evening, there is a chance you will be able to catch the gorgeous sunset.

;

4. Taman Lagenda Theme Park
This is located about a 5 minute walk from Eagle Square. It is just a scenic park with landscaped gardens. So, if you are not a person who is into greenery, dont have to visit there.

5. Durian Perangin Waterfalls
This is a good place to go to unwind and relax. It is better than Telaga Tujuh Falls.

6. Other places of interest
There were plenty more places of interest but we did not cover all because it was raining most of the time. For more, visit this site.

-At Makam Mahsuri-

.... part 3 next time...... about beaches

Complementary cake at Starbucks

It is my birthday month, so with Starbucks Card, I get a complementary birthday cake! I get to choose any cake I want. There were five choices: Red Velvet, Chocolate cake, Marble Cheesecake, another cheesecake and tiramisu.

I opted for the tiramisu as others looked ordinary.
First bite of the tiramisu made me cough lol... Coz of the cocoa powder. After that, it was all good. Not too sweet, so i likeds it. A huge difference from the Alexis tiramisu.

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GUEST PHOTOGRAPHER: Ed Sweeney

Ed writes: One of the many things I've come to love about Iceland is the architecture. The straight, simple design combined with the vibrant colors makes the perfect combination for me. Because of this affinity (perhaps obsession is a better word) a lot of my photos tend to contain random structures, mainly houses. I saw this lovely blue-green house with the deep red door and stair railings and blue posts as I approached from up the street and began pulling my camera out of my bag in anticipation of the picture I would instinctively take. To my surprise as I got closer, I noticed the equally colorful sock stuck to the post. It seemed to me to sum up my perception of the Icelandic people I'd encountered on my visit : very neat and put together but with a wry sense of humor when you spend the time to get a closer look.

 Ed was born in Boston and has been a resident of Massachusetts his entire life. He's a programmer in an application development group for the health care industry. He's been reading Iceland Eyes for a while now, and sent me a link to his Flickr photo album of his most recent trip to Reykjavik via Twitter. I invited him to choose a few of his photos and be a guest photographer.

About discovering Iceland, Ed says:

The idea to make the trip in 1999 came about somewhat coincidentally over the preceding New Year's holiday. While at a holiday party, my hostess friend mentioned that her parents had visited Iceland earlier in the year and they raved about it. All I knew about Iceland up to that point was that the capital was Reykjavík, Reagan-Gorbachev something-something, and something to do with chess. It piqued my curiosity, however, as an interesting and exotic place to visit.

After his boss randomly mentioning a great package deal with Icelandair a short time later, Ed decided to make the trip happen, and three months later he was "geared up and mounted on our Icelandic horses for a nice afternoon ride in the mist."

On our first day we witnessed mist, rain, hail, snow, and sun. Then later that night we saw the sun set somewhere around 11:00 p.m., in early April. And with that (and the ensuing, unbelievably fun 3-night stay that followed) I was hooked on Iceland for good. The country is beautiful and the people are as friendly as ever. What's not to love? I finally returned again in June of 2012 and have just booked my third trip, along with a couple of friends who will be first-timers, for April 2013.

It's always fun hearing about how people got here for the first time, and often it's exactly this kind of seemingly random yet serendipitous situation. And most often our visitors, like Ed, can't wait to come back for more : )

To see a few more of Ed's photos with his wonderful descriptions, go to the Iceland Eyes Facebook Page.  If you would like to share your own pics of our lovely island, just let me know ~ Maria Alva

Las Vacas at Jalan Yap Kwan Seng

Las Vacas is a meat shop restaurant. When you enter the restaurant it feels like the raw meat section of a supermarket. The tables and chairs are all brown colour and wooden so its very Aussie like. The meat are from Australia. The restaurant is located along Jalan Yap Kwan Seng, next to Oldtown. It used to be Tony Roma's before this. I saw another Las Vacas branch at Mont Kiara.

My friend recommended me to try Las Vacas because I have been a bit burger crazy lately and so, why not try the burger at Las Vacas.

The cuisine in Las Vacas is Western. You will find normal western stuff like stirloin, beef, lamb shoulders, soup, salad etc. Maybe they are different than other Western restaurants because their meat is fresher.

For appetizers we had steak pie and mushroom soup. It was not too bad. But, still nothing to rave about.

For their burgers, I had a taste of the lamb burger and beef burger. Burgers comes with a side of fries. We had a choice of the size of burger patty we wanted. Size ranged from 150g to 500g. We ordered the 150g patty and it was really filling. The chef told us that there was a western customer who ordered a 500g burger and finished it!

Taste wise wasn't really that amazing. It did not have enough flavour in my opinion. The patties were not that juicy too. The lamb patty was quite oily till eating half the patty gives a 'jelak' aftertaste.... I needed a cup of tea to get rid of the taste. After that i was at BIG in publika and the sight of burgers was a turn off after those two burgers.

The portion of the burger is big. I should not have ordered their mushroom soup coz it definitely filled my tummy and left no room for all the burger.

We requested for the burgers to to cut into four. Sharing is recommended. It isn't very horrible, but it could be better.

We also had beef salad. We wanted grilled beef but it came as boiled beef. This was because all the waiters/waitress were foreigners. The one who took our order did not understand what we wanted. She was like ok ok can grill, but still came out boiled. We requested for the beef to be more brown, but the waitress told the chef that we wanted it more cooked. Then the chef, who is Malaysian, came to our table after our meal to chat and he told us what the waitress told him. He was shocked too coz if it was boiled more, the beed would be tasteless. The salad was tasteless actually. When we were served the salad, we asked the waitress if we should toss the salad to eat since it was tasteless, and she walked away and brought us an extra fork and spoon *really facepalm*

It cost about rm110 for two mushroom soups, one lamb burger, one beef burger, one beef salad and two steak pies and a slice of chocolate cake.

I made spaghetti

Nothing beats homecooked spaghetti for dinner after a long day out!