Wednesday, July 30, 2008

My Brunch @ Vegetarian Restaurant

After roaming around George Town area, my friend from Penang came meet us. We had our lunch at a vegetarian restaurant. The place was pack with people, it seems vegetarian are widely accepted by most of the people here. I try the Java Noodles, is something like curry, but less spicy. For my friends, they go for the fast food. They have a lot of choices to choose from, from vegetables, to vegetarian lookalike meat. I had tried the fish and the specially made bean curd. And the taste was great.

01
This is the stall where I order my noodles. The Lam Mee, is a local special dish which can only be found at Penang.

02
And this is the fast food, they have a very wide variety of choice to choose from. So you’ll never run out of choices. But I didn’t take fast food, as I like noodles more.

03
My herbal tea. There is still a long day to go, so I need something fresh.

04
My Java Noodles, the taste is not like the usual Java Noodles that I had back at Kuching. And I notice Penang here, they like to mix behun with noodles. But it taste good :)

05
This is the bean curt that I mention, it can only be found at Penang and it cost me RM0.50 per piece. Is very delicious, so no wonder its expensive.

06
This is the sweet and sour vegetarian fish, is delicious too. This is highly recommended by my friend. He’s not a vegetarian, but he like it.

07
My friend had fast food.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Morning Walk George Town Penang

I didn’t sleep well last night, the room temperature are too cold. The reception didn’t give us the remote, and had preset the temperature to 16°C. So my friend and I woke up early, we’re starving.

01

We then roam around the town area to look for a place for breakfast, the shops here only operate at 9am, and some are 10am.

02

If we’re at Kuching now, the coffee shop had start operate from 6am.

03

When at George Town, I was like walking in a history class. Most of the buildings have this British looks, and is like walking in a history class.

04

I’ve walk in some very old temple for photos, and when asked about the history, most of them are over 100 years old. :O

05

Trishaw service are everywhere at George Town, the price range can be around RM5 to RM10 for one trip.

06
The population from what I can see, Chinese had the most, and then Malay and India are even.

07

Most of the Chinese here speak Hokian, but the ways they speak are different from how we speak at Sarawak.

08

My friend and I had no direction, don’t know where are we going.

09
We just keep on walking, we have reach a place where they have many stalls. Is just like Sunday Market at Kuching, but the difference is that they operate everyday.

10
They sell fruits, local delicacy, food, foot wear, clothes, meat, fish, you name it, they have it.

11

Stop here, cause finally we found a place for us for breakfast…

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Day 1 @ Penang - CATHAY HOTEL

I reach Penang around 10.30pm, my friend and I choose to stay at George Town area. George Town was founded in 1786 by Captain Francis Light, a trader for the British East India Company, as base for the company in the Malay States. He obtained the island of Penang from the Sultan of Kedah and built Fort Cornwallis on the north-eastern corner of the island. The fort became the nexus of a growing trading post and the island's population reached 12,000 by 1804. Why do I want to choose George Town, cause on July 8, 2008 George Town, Penang was added to Unesco's World Heritage List.

01
After roaming around George Town with my travel buddy, we decided to stay in this very unique looking hotel, is called Cathay Hotel.

02
Sandwiched between the hectic Jalan Penang and the backpacker strip of Lebuh Chulia, Lebuh Leith is a relatively quiet and unassuming street. The Cathay Hotel here is an old whitewashed colonial-era villa, set a little back from the street in its own little courtyard.

03
Stepping inside is like walking into the past, with many of the building's original features having been restored, including the tiled floors and carved woodwork.

04
It's a friendly place and there are a number of different rooms to choose from; some have attached bathrooms with both bath and shower, others have shared facilities. Rooms are large and simple, but perfectly comfortable and a bargain at these prices.

05
Those on the ground floor nearest reception may be subject to noise however; ask for one at the back.

06
The Cathay hotel is located in a very nice white colonial building. The rooms are big and are very basic decorated. We paid RM 80 for a 3 persons room.

07
That's very cheap and it was value for money. The rooms are clean but not maintained so the bathroom looks definitely 'shabby' because everything turned old.

08
Another downturn is that it's opposite the night market so it does get very noisy.

09
I asked the reception how long is this hotel. Well is over 100 years, and it had been operate as a hotel for over 70 years. But RM80 for one night is kinda expansive, so my friend and I had decided to change to a B&B Hotel tomorrow.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Drink @ Penang night food stall


01
Just when I reach Penang, my friend picks me up at the airport.

02
Then he brings us to our hotel. After checking in, we follow him to the mamak stall which he frequently visits.

03
We stay at Cathay Hotel. It took us around 20 minutes walk to reach the mamak stall. But by the time we reach, most of the stalls are closing.

04
I was thirsty, saw a juice stall. The owner speak hockian, a local dialect at Penang.

05
There’s still many fruits on the basket, I don’t know what to choose.

06
There’s tomato, pear, chestnut, apple, mango, orange, carrot. I order a glass of guava juice RM1.80

07
My guava juice with plum…

08
Banana, hm~~how she make banana juice.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Sunday Market @ Satok Kuching

There will be a worshiping ceremony on the coming weekend at the Buddhist temple, I company my friends to Sunday Market to buy fruits. There is a little boy at the fruit stall helping his mom. He has dark skin, and short hair. His math is good; he can calculate our fruits price without using the calculator. I was impress =O my math sucks.

01
Sunday Market start at Saturday evening 3pm onwards, till Sunday 12pm. The stall are cheap, my friend who has a stall there told me it only cost around a few dollar a day to rent the place.

02
The fruit stall owner dig all the fruits out, and repack into small packing.

03
This is the smart kid. I ask how is the apple? He just smile, then I asked him again, if the apple is not sweet, can I change it with you? He smile, and give me a shy look. Hahaha… is nice to talk to kids.

04
We’ve survey all the pricing first before buying them, Sunday Market at Satok Kuching is the best place to get fresh fruits.

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I'm at Penang now for half month 22July till 06Aug. I’ll miss Kuching :( this is the first time going to Penang.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Vegetarian marathon finale post four of four

07.07.08 – 13.07.08
My last week as being a vegetarian, can’t wait till this is over.

001
07.07.08. Monday lunch time, I had a plate of fried rice, and a tin of Jasmine Green Tea. The boiled drink is not hygiene enough :S so each time when I was here, I prefer tin drinks.

002
07.07.08. Went to jogging, forgot that I had dated my friend for dinner. Hurry bath and pick up my friend, I had vegetarian goat meat rice, and a hot tea.

003
08.07.08. *drooling* This is Jave Noodles, it’s a curry soup mix with coconut milk. And the taste is splendid. I will eat this again :)

004
09.07.08. My lunch, I had a slice of Honeydew, and a plate of vegetarian curry goat meat rice. I like the rice, it taste good.

005
09.07.08. I had vegetables, bean sprout, and bean curd. My friend laugh at me when I ate bean sprout, I don’t like vegetable, and this is like a fear factor challenge for me.

006
10.07.08. Thursday, I had a quick lunch at Ru Lai Vegetarian restaurant, don’t feel like taking rice. I had a big curry puff, and a plate of Jave Noodles. Like the noodles :)

007
11.07.08. Yeah is Friday, like usual weekday food. I had a plate of fast food, with rice, vegetarian egg and sausage, and ginger vegetarian chicken. And a complementary soup by the chef.

008
11.07.08. Night I went a bridal road show at The Spring shopping center, my friend is setting up a booth there, and I’m giving him a hand. Just when I reach, they let me choose a donut by Big Apple donut house. I like cheese, so I choose the cheese flavor.

009

11.07.08. Then, the organizer is kind enough to give us this little cake. I’m starving, so this would make a good dinner for me.

010
11.07.08. OMG!!! The Spring don’t have any vegetarian food stall, so if I stop now then I would not be able to break my one month vegetarian marathon record. I went roam around the mall, and had this delicious wafer. I had mix three flavor, which is Peanut, Butter, and Honey. It cost RM2. Magic Bite, every bite is magic.

011
11.07.08. Meet up a friend from the Buddhist Temple, and she is kind enough to bough me a set of vegetarian sushi from Sushi King, the Japanese Sushi Restaurant at The Spring. I should take the sushi with hot tea, but the bough me a Pepsi…oh, what the hell, thanks for the dinner my dear.

012
12.07.08. Oh…this is the second Saturday, I need to go to work :( well, after my work I went to the San Sheng Buddhist Temple to had my brunch. Ordered a Cup Rice, Vegetarian Pizza, and Jasmine Tea.

013
12.07.08. Night, this is my last day of vegetarian marathon, and I had made it for one month. On my last day of vegetarian meal, I had mini veggie buns, and vegetarian meat buns. After one month didn’t take any meat, wonder will my body get use to it or not when I ate fried chicken tomorrow? Hm~~~let’s find out then.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Sarawak Cheshire Home Charity Sales 2008

Is a Beautiful Sunday morning, again our Buddhist association had participate in the Charity Sales organize by the Sarawak Cheshire Home. Here a little History on the Sarawak Cheshire Home

Although the Sarawak Cheshire Home was officially declared opened in November 1969, its formation went back to 1966. A group of people who had heard of the work of the Cheshire Homes, founded by Group Captain Leonard Cheshire began to make plans to establish a home in Kuching to serve the incurably sick and handicapped for whom there was no special places.

By May of that year - 1966, Group Captain Cheshire himself visited Kuching to see into the possibility of establishing a Home in Kuching. The Sarawak Social Welfare Council gave momentum to the fund raising drive with a generous grant. This grant had been continued annually by the Ministry of Welfare. The hard work and many contributions of interested individuals from all over the State have since made the construction and running of Sarawak Cheshire Home possible.


Back to our salesday. The home organizes the sales every year, and this is the second time I personally participated in this sales. Beside religious association, there are also private firms, charity organization, personnel bodies, schools, colleges, and universities. Is nice to see so many people help out in the charity sales day, but this year it looks like the crowd are not as much as the previous year. Maybe is due to the increasing of petrol price? Increasing of living standard? Maybe the gov know the answer :)

I guess the charity sales is the most happiest day for the disabilities people in the home, today they get to meet a lot of people. Buy food that they like to eat, and share the merry and joyful morning with all of us. We’re all lucky to have a healthy body, and unlike them, they have to work as twice as hard to do what we can do with our normal body. Thank God, and don’t spoil life. See you all on the coming charity sales, bye my dear readers.

01
”For the Relief of Suffering” This is a good tagline.

02
There are all kinds of people in this place, one lady even asked whether I can give her discount on the food :S how ridiculous, this is for charity mam, is not a market.

03
Young College girls now adays are pretty, kind, and sweet.

04
Everyone are trying their best to sell off their food.

05
This is our team, we’re selling Curry Puff, Vegetarian Chicken Bun, Yam Cake, Butter Milk Mushroom, Sushi, and Pudding. We had made a total of RM964.00 is a good result. Thanks to all of my team-mate, they’re the best.

06
Handicraft made by the people at the Cheshire Home

07
Hand made pillows, soft-toys, stationeries, table lamp, and etc.

08
Hairstylist from a very famous salon called The Cutting Edge, giving our free? Haircut.

09
Second-hand clothes for sales

10
Group Photo : L-R: Peter, PaoTed, Wei Liang, Wei Yian, and Wilson Chin (Me)

-----------------------------
Sarawak Cheshire Home Charity Sales 2007

Sunday, July 06, 2008

Vegetarian Marathon, Post Three of Four

30.06.08 – 06.07.08

001
30.06.08, Moving on to my third week of vegetarian marathon. This morning I stay at my office, sorting out my document. I skip my breakfast, so I’m starving :S I went to the coffee shop opposite my office with my friend. There’s a new vegetarian food stall, I’ve try the fried noodles with vegetarian sausage, and the taste is great.

002
01.07.08. On a beautiful afternoon, I had noodles again. I’m craving for noodles, especially fried noodles.

003
For dinner, I had barbeque potato, long beans, ladyfinger, and cucumber. I like the ladyfinger more, if they put less curry power and improve on the barbeque sauce, it will taste even better.

004
02.07.08, Invited my friend to Tian Fu Vegatarian Restaurant for lunch. One of them can’t make it, I had a set of Satay Rice, and Cheese Rice (two thumbs up), my friend had a plate of vegetables.

005
I was to full after that heavy lunch, so I had bread for dinner, and a bowl of green bean soup. Tasty :)

006
03.07.08, I had a busy day today. Not enough time for me to sort out my work, plan to skip my lunch, but was very hungry. So went to the vegetarian stall next to office, had a simple fried noodles, and a bowl of curry. The curry is not taste as good as it looks, cause when cook, they had put in some lemon leaf, which make it taste strange.

007
04.07.08, Not yet finish my work. Went to central park Ru Lai vegetarian restaurant, they have this fast food where we can choose what to eat. I had curry and vegetables.

008
04.07.08. My friend invited me over for dinner. I had mushroom soup, yum~ I like mushroom soup, bean curd, wild vegetable, and vegetarian fish with sweet and sour sauce.

009
My supper :S I must control, I’m taking too much food, I’m getting fat

010
05.07.08. Oh this is the first Saturday of the week, I’m off work today. I love weekend, my friend and I went back to Tian Fu restaurant again, I miss the cheese rice. And this time we had a bean curt, bean sprout, sweet and sour vegetarian meat, bun, and vegetable with soya sauce.

011
05.07.08. Went to a birthday party for a cute little girl, she just reach one year old. Happy Birthday Charlene.

012
12.07.08. This donut is great, I really admire my friend to have good cooking skills. Hm~~but I prefer to be a food taster and cook.
------------- one last week to go -------------

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Vegetarian marathon post two of four

23.06.08 – 29.06.08
Move to my second week of vegetarian marathon, I tough that I’m gonna get thinner, but when I look at my tummy is still the same shape. Round, round :)

001
23.06.08, I went to a vegetarian stall near Central Park Kuching. I had a fried noodles, is tasty, but too oily. If I keep on eating this stuff, guaranty I’ll get hypertension in no time.

002
That night my friend invited me go over for dinner, it was a great meal :) I had steam egg with vegetarian seasoning meat, sweet corn soup, curry *spicy*, steam vegetarian fish, and a glass of sour juice which contain orange, lemon slices, plum, and small lemon.

003
24.06.08, the next day I don’t have much appetite. So I ate two rice dumplings instead of normal meal. And I had a glass of hot maize drink.

004
For my dinner, I settle at home :( no appetite the whole day. I made myself a instant fried noodle.

005
25.06.08
A beautiful Wednesday morning, I went to my friend place. My friend had bough breakfast for me, I had two green

006
I was invited by to have lunch with a very special master at the temple. What I had was vegetarian bun, vegetarian black pepper prawns, vegetarian lemon chicken, and fried wild leaf (which I don’t like) :P

007
For desert we have tang yuan, peanut kuih, and salad

008
26.06.08
Forgot to photo my lunch :( anyway I went to the Tian Chu Restaurant at Central Park, requested them to cook come vegetarian for me and my friend. The both of us had Emperor Noodles, Vegatarian Sweet and Sour Fish, Vegetarian Rolls, and Sweet Corn Soup. It was quite expensive, with a total amount of RM57, and overall I give it a four out of ten for the food. So next time you’re at Thian Chu Restaurant for dinner, please think twice.

009
28.06.08, On a lovely Friday night, I went to barbeque with my friend, but this time is in Vegetarian style. I had a Bean Curd, Long Bean with curry powder, potato with curry power, lady finger with curry power…phew~~~no wonder I had sore throat after my dinner, the curry power is too much :S

010
29.06.08, Sunday I’ve participate a charity sales. After the sales, went dinner at San Sheng Buddhist Temple. I had a cup of hot green tea, potato biscuit, cup rice, and salad bread. Finish my second week of vegetarian marathon. Still two more week to go, hmm~~having vegetarian is not that bad after all :P
-------------------- to be continue -------------------