Working Trip to Bangi/Putrajaya

 

This is a photo of the serene Equatorial Hotel in Bangi, where Crispy and I put up for 5 nights during my course in Bangi. The hotel was comfortable and spacious but sadly without WiFi! Apa lah.... I believe they should seriously consider giving complimentary WiFi, since the hotel also happens to be in the middle of nowhere.

One of the evenings, we dropped by at Putrajaya to admire all the new government buildings and marvel at their glorious architecture. I must admit i was impressed at the beauty and cleanliness of it all. So much so that we decided to jump for joy in front of Najib's office :)

This view of the road to Putrajaya was taken from the hill where PICC (Putrajaya International Convention Centre) is situated. From here, you can see the man-made lakes that flank Putrajaya. I wonder how much money has gone into the landscape.

I believe that this is the Putra Mosque, the principal mosque in Putrajaya, right beside Najib's office. It has a tall minaret and is absolutely photogenic. I wish that the sun was a little brighter, a pity it was already dusk.

Zen Japanese Restaurant, Sunway Pyramid

One of my first lunches in KL was this Japanese restaurant - Zen in Sunway Pyramid which Kiyaw and Crispy brought me to. If you're not familiar with the shopping center, this would be a challenging place to find. It is tucked in a corner which is only accessible via a hidden escalator on the outside :S :S

The restaurant faces the sun, and so the management thoughtfully shuts the curtains and we dined in absolute comfort :) They also give us thick wet towels once we sit down.

Start off with some fresh salmon sashimi. I shuddered at the thought of eating raw fish just 2 years ago, but now i can absolutely swallow the whole plate without getting the slightest tummy upset. Looks like i've trained myself well!

My sis always orders Edamame , a dish a Japanese peas boiled in water and lightly salted.

Some Japanese fried chicken? This was taken so long ago i couldn't remember what it was. Anyway, i hardly take fried food except KFC.... ! I suppose Ki yaw must've wiped this plate off :)

Ahhh...sushi! MmmmMmmm....although they don't look so nice in this photo, they are pretty tasty. Their vinegared rice for the sushi was very fragrant too, as i recall. Not too bad, can pass!

Our lunch was actually a set which came with side dishes like fruits and chawanmushi.

It also came with dipping sauces and mashed sweet potato ( or was it pumpkin)? Anyway, it was great having all these variety but we later discovered this meal is just not enough for the three of us.

And so, we ordered another extra sashimi salad for poor Ki Yaw to enjoy. Their sashimi salad is fresh and full of flavours, but still way behind if you compare to the one served by Sushi Tei.

Kage, JB (Part 2)

 

 Dragon roll - one of my favourite kinds of sushi. It is rolled with mango and contains fried prawn within the sushi rice. Nowadays, many Japanese restaurants serve this, the other kind of dragon roll would be the one rolled with avocado, but i prefer the mango version. Recently, my friends and I tried one that contains chocolate ice cream inside! It sounds weird, but one of the better experiences we've had with creative sushi!

  

To be honest, the shishamo here were pathetic. The fishes were tiny, has an odour and is soggy, not crispy. Skip!

  

Ahhh, sotong! Haha... looks very appetising and it still retains the Q-ness too!

 

Some mixed tempura for us to share. The batter was not too bad, overall the cooked food at Kage passes the grade :)

  

We ordered yet another plate of mixed Yakitori. Their grilled food was also exceptionally tasty, especially the pork. We ordered several servings, of it, in fact.

  

Boon Choon was especially disappointed with this buffet. The rest of us thought that for the money we paid, it was decent but obviously this place is for quantity, not quality.

Kage, JB ( Part 1)

 

 The gang visited JB some time ago, and Lisa brought us to have ala carte buffet at Kage, a Japanese restaurant. Started with some tempura. I never liked fried food much, hence did not try this. My friends lapped it up though.

  

For us girls, Chawanmushi is a must starter for a Japanese meal. At least the chawanmushi is silky and smooth. Pass!

  

Having Japanese food in JB is definitely cheaper than in Singapore. However, we do feel the pinch due to the lower price. The raw fish is probably from frozen sources. Here you can see the various sushi (Suzuki, Sime, Sake, Maguro, Tataki etc.) were slightly off-colour. 

 

 Fried mushroom - tasted quite crispy and non-greasy. I think the fried stuff fared better at this place, but i am no longer a Japanese-cooked dish fan, I'm more of a sashimi fan these day...ahhh...how things have changed since my first Japanese meal.

  

Tako Balls, or octopus balls. I also left this dish for my hungry friends to wipe off. Their verdict was that it's so-so only :(

 

Everybody ordered a Sashimi platter for themselves. The assorted sashimis were served in an ice big bowl. The fish were fresh, but detected a frozen after-taste and it did not have the 'bounce' of normal sashimi.

 

Hotate (scallop) and Buta Hotate (Pork) grills. The pork was great!! Alas, a good dish we were all singing praises for.... We had too many dishes that lunch, so stay tuned for Part 2. I'm getting lazier and lazier at updating my blog....haha

Famous Phuket Banana Pancake

 

Banana pancake is a famous fixture in Phuket. Most of the stalls selling it are Muslims and they are dotted along the beaches in Phuket. This particular one, is smacked right outside our hotel. We passed by it several times and day, each time reminding ourselves we will patronize it one fine day.

 

Being a banana + pancake fan, i'm so elated by this snack. All of us ordered a Banana Nutella Pancake. See how much Nutella he's putting on the dough!

 

It is fried on a hot plate, very much like our Roti Canai/Prata back in Malaysia and Singapore.

   

In goes the main ingredient - Bananas!!! The whole car is stocked with bananas...i'm wondering how much sales he generates every day?

  

After the banana goes in, the pancake is folded and topped with butter :)

  

It is crunchy on the outside, sickly sticky and sweet on the inside. I must say i haven't enjoyed a streetfare as much as this for a looooong time. If you ever go to Phuket, do try this, and it's cheap too !

Strolling in Phuket Part 2

 

Since we were rained out that day, there was one place we could finally go - Wat Chalong temple, although walking from the van to the temple was a challenge. Sixian's umbrella got blown away and we almost slipped and fell on the slippery floor just before entering the temple.

  

The interior is just as beautiful as it is on the outside, with pictures depicting Siddharta Gautama on the walls.

    

There were many tourists admiring the breathtaking colours inside. Some ang mohs were warned  by caretakers within the temple not to touch the statues because it was disrespectful. It was slightly dark inside due to the rainy weather so pictures were kinda blurry.

  

The next day we decided we were tired of the rain and headed to the nearest shopping complex near our hotel, Jungceylon Shopping Centre. It's a large mall, filled with souvenir shops, massage parlours and also a big supermarket, which we had fun browsing through for tom yum flavoured potato chips, and thai-made beauty products.

  

The sun came out (finally!) that late afternoon, and we were glad to be able to stroll on the streets of Phuket. The wirings were old-fashioned, still above ground like Malaysia but in a more dangerous manner!

  
And we could hit the beach! Haha...although a little too late lah, cos it was almost night time. Some tourists still insist on doing water sports like jet skiing and para gliding :)

Strolling in Phuket Part I

 

It was a bad mistake to be visiting Phuket during their monsoon season. The rain came and go countless times a day. Our tour guide drove us in a van for most of the day and we stopped by many viewing points including this Karon View Point. This was the only stop at view points that wasn't raining so we quickly snapped a few.

  

The Giant Buddha is still under construction, but we decided to go nevertheless. The statue is already seated on the hill, but its base and the gardens around it were still being constructed. When it is completed, it should be a spectacle.

  

Phuket Old Town reminds me of parts in Chinatown, Singapore, or even Melaka and Penang. These buildings have strong European feel and also local motifs of the 1880's. The shophouses are preserved to its best and painted with beautiful colours.

  

We asked our local guide to drop us at a local food store so that we could get some snacks for people back at home. He promptly brought us to Pornthip, which is a one-stop-get-all kinda place. It was crowded with Japanese tourists, for goodness' sake! Haha...

 

And lastly, on that weekend night, we had a 3-hour long walk at its local weekend market. This huge market sells everything from cheap clothes, to electronics, to spa products and food! Great place to end a day in Phuket, without all the beaches :)

Spa Experiments in Phuket

 

Before i've been to Phuket I've never been to a spa. The girls brought me there to experience so many different kinds of spa at a much cheaper rate than in Singapore. We started off at Venus Spa, tucked Mercure Hotel near our abode in Phuket.

     

We had pre-booked its Green Tea special package before we left Singapore. The package includes a floral foot bath, 15 minutes steam bath, green tea body scrub, green tea aromatherapy massage and lastly a cucumber/aloe vera yogurt mask. 

  

We were there right after our touchdown in the late afternoon and 4 of us were the only customers there. Pretty exclusive and the rooms were comfortable and relaxing.

  

We had initially planned to go Kayaking into a cave full of monkeys and bats on the 3rd day but we got rain-washed out. Sooooo, we went to a highly recommended spa near our hotel - Let's Relax. However it was fully booked for the day and we only made reservation for that same night and went shopping instead.

 

The building looks like a colonial house and on the inside it is nicely decorated with flowers and sofas. Once you walk in you feel so much at home and the service was good too. They didn't allow photography within the building.

 

 We signed up for a package that includes 30 minutes of Thai foot reflexology and 90 minutes hot stone massage. Hot stone massage is particularly expensive in Singapore, fetching more than SGD 200 for 60 minutes, but here, i think we did it for less than SGD 100. The stones are heated , then placed at specific points on the body. The masseuse then applies lemongrass essential oil and uses the same stones to massage the muscles on the body.

 

Just before our flight, we went to another highly-raved spa, this one is Oriental, which specialises in Thai Massage. This one is shiok!! We had a 2 hour Thai massage, 60 minutes manicure-pedicure and 60 minutes facial.The Thai massage was particularly punishing but totally worth it. We got bended, folded and stretched like a rag doll, and i felt like a contestant in a wrestling match but it was really good! Sixian, who has a low threshold of pain, kept moaning and the three of us were so entertained :)