This one’s located in Taipan USJ and I think the food + service there was pretty commendable! I visited this restaurant some time ago so you may say I’m recycling old photos to put up here!

Our waiter, a friendly dude named Michael, helped us to cook our food and never left us unattended for more than 10 minutes until everything had been cooked!

I loved the BBQ meat very much. If you visit a Korean BBQ restaurant without ordering any of their BBQ meat you’re not getting the most bang out of your bucks!

These are the standard side dishes (don’t know their names except for the Kimchi!). There were about 12 side dishes in total, and they were refillable anytime.

Entao Duncan flashing his trademark smile. He’s been in Accra (guess which country?) now for three months since this photo was taken (told you these photos are old :p).

Love that Korean-style sitting position. Photo snapped with an UWA lens, without permission of leg owners hehe.

The aftermath. Pretty tight squeeze eh? The table could barely fit everything!

A decent place for a decent meal. Not bad at all, so check it out ;)

Shorttalk: Anyone knows where I can get CD-label stamper (is that what you call it?)? The kind of tool that assists in sticking labels onto CDs quickly?

Well of course I didn’t actually have a windfall, I only attended a durian orgy gathering. It was an RM10 all-you-can-eat durian ‘buffet’ (*burps*… Ahh…). To the uninitiated, ’tis the durian season! All hail the king of fruits!

We were in SS2 for this durian fever and boy I tell you, jiak beh liao*!!! The stall was set up near the basketball court in SS2, and once you sit down and eat, you’ll have to pay RM10, nett.

Other facilities prepared at the venue were huge rubbish bins, and several pails of water for visitors to wash their hands after eating the durians. Basically you just need to sit down at the table and the stall owner will be constantly providing you durians so you don’t stop eating. Hahah.

By the way, I’m sure you’ve heard that drinking water from the empty durian shell will help to lower your body’s level of ‘heatiness’ (like my 1st pic above), and washing your hands with the same water will help prevent unwanted durian smell on your fingers. How far do you think these are true?

Shorttalk: My two tickets to catch the coming Singapore F1 Grand Prix arrived yesterday! The tickets are in the form of a card, with a barcode on one side. Pretty cool! They also throw in a strap for convenience.

I really look forward to this race. Hopefully nothing will stop me from attending the event! Touchwood!

P/s: I just returned from my first-lesson of Level 2 Japanese. Only 5 students! What the #@$! :( But the sensei’s quite pretty and interesting mwahahaha. And she’s from Yokohama! Earlier today I went for quad-biking near the zoo (on all-terrain-vehicles or ATVs) – actually got up at 6:40am for it. Damn interesting experience wei. That entry, of course with pictures, will be coming up next! Sorry for the prolonged inactivity… heheh. You’ll still love me right…? Right??

*Jiak beh liao: It’s Hokkien for ‘eat-cannot-finish’ (that’s the direct translation haha)

Anyway, since I’ve blogged about the touristy stuff in Japan, let’s now take a look at the ‘more ordinary’ stuff – the typical everyday life in Japan. Most of the photos here are, therefore, less impressive because you don’t usually use an SLR camera in your ‘typical everyday life’, do you? I relied heavily on my phone for these pictures. Let’s begin with food. I’ve been having authentic Japanese food everyday. And I love them lots. If you convert into RM, each individual meal here normally cost around RM10~12. That’s if you convert. If you earn in Japanese Yen, 350 – 450 Yen for a meal is normal.

That’s the katsudon I normally eat at the canteen near my office. It’s a small little place, and it’s not meant for profit-making. It’s just a canteen for the workers to have their meals. But I love the food there! I could go back again and again eating the same stuff. That bowl of rice in picture (comes with soup too) costs 320 Yen, that’s about RM10 if you want to compare. That canteen’s menu does not have any graphical illustrations. It’s all in Japanese characters, written on papers slapped onto walls. Usually I go like “Kore, onegaishimasu” (This one, please!). Haha. The two ladies who serve the food there do not speak English, but are very nice and sometimes funny too.

One day I had to go to the eki (train station) to pick up someone. While waiting, I stumbled upon a really small noodle house that could barely fit 10 standing persons inside. It had a noren curtain (shop curtain) outside its sliding door. I was starving at that time so I slid open the door and peeked inside. I saw no chairs, and about 5 persons were either waiting for or eating their noodle (standing). I studied the menu – yes, no pictures or English – and recognized some characters. I could read ‘meat’ and ‘noodle’ but I couldn’t read what meat. I ordered something, and had my breakfast standing that morning. It was faster than fast-food (in McD and KFC you need to take your tray and walk to your table, sit down, grab some sauce and what-not…). In that noodle house, one step was all that was needed to reach the counter.

That’s a shot of the train station after my meal. I had to meet a Singaporean engineer whose plane had just touched down early that morning. If you’re here in Japan as a tourist, it is unlikely that you’ll get to take much train or patronize local Japanese noodle houses like that one I did. Speaking of taking trains, Tokyo has one of the most impressive train networks I’ve ever seen. The population here is very high, so they need a good system to transport people from one place to another. There are so many trains in so many lines, and you have to be sure of the route you have to take to arrive at your destination. You can check online the shortest possible route (including train-switching) to save traveling time. All phones here can surf on 3G!

That’s how a Tokyo train route map looks like. And the subway lines are not even shown here. There is a separate route map for subways. Once you’ve decided on your route, you need to check at which station you need to get off and switch lines. During rush hour, it is normal to walk slightly quicker or even run while you’re in a train station. That is why if you’re not in a hurry you must stand on the left side of the escalators. Also, it is normal to see people squeezing their way into the trains. Such sights, for someone from a less-metropolitan city like myself, was indeed quite interesting. Traveling by taxi is considered as a luxury even to the locals. I work in the outskirts so I’ve taken taxis a number of times. I’ve also been on the expressways twice – each time about 1.5 hours ride – from Kurihama to Chiba.

Traveling in a taxi for long distances is very expensive in Japan. The locals would agree. It’s because of my work I get to experience this. And during those times, the taxi would use the famous Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line, which is the “longest underwater tunnel for cars in the world” (via Wikipedia). The tunnel is about 10km long underwater, and it has a scenic observatory, man-made island at the point where the tunnel starts. Perfect for photography! One can actually drive to this island (gotta pay toll), hang out there and make a U-turn back to where he came from. Inside the tunnel itself, there’s nothing much to see as it’s just like any other tunnel you know. It does not have a glass-enclosure for you to see all the fishes underwater! LOL.

I’ve been visiting the local stores, bookshops, CD/DVD rental stores, and even the pachinko (slot machines) outlets. It’s interesting to note that selling pornographic material is not illegal in Japan, and a walk in any CD/DVD stores will remind you which country you’re in. You can see an entire rack of pornographic DVDs, with assorted titles and various ‘styles’, depending on your favorite fetish preference. In some magazines (non-pornographic), it’s normal to find a few pages (usually glossy) of sexy images of Japanese models – for whatever reason I dunno. Totally unlike what we have (or don’t have) in our Tanah Tumpahnya Darahku.

Normally I’m not interested in the household appliances department. But in Japan, Kim Huey says it’s a must to go check them out. Very interesting products they have. Robotic vacuum cleaners, automatic lift-up heated toilet-seats, toilet flowing-water sound-emitting device (you get the idea – It’s to avoid embarrassing splashing/farting noises LOL!), air-conditioner-cum-heater, washing-machine-cum-dryer, multi-purpose rice-cooker, and alot more. And the information they display on these appliances is kinda headache-inducing. Besides the prices, you’ll also see many other bright-coloured papers stuck on them, detailing the features of the product.

They also have an entire floor dedicated for photography equipments – tripods, bags, lenses, binoculars, cables, etc. This is where I bought a lens case for my 10-22mm. See the photo above, they’re all camera bags! How often can you find so many camera bags under one roof, in Malaysia? But the highlight of the place has got to be the SLR camera section, where they lay out all the latest SLR camera models for shoppers to try and test, which is really helpful if you’re thinking of leaping onto the SLR bandwagon. I spent a lot of time trying out the various brands and models myself. I kinda like the 40D… hehehe…

There are other dedicated floors for Mac products (Apple has a very large market here!) and accessories, computers and laptops, console games, television, CD/DVD players (Blu-Ray technology is mainstream here) and beauty care products. I shall let you come here and experience walking into these stores yourself, because I’m tired of writing already LOL! I wasn’t thinking that I would blog anyway, so I didn’t really take many photos in there. Besides, there were so many people! Shy wei.

P/s. I’ve always wanted to visit my company HQ in Tokyo, and next week, I will have this opportunity! I have work to be done there but it’ll probably take only about half an hour. Now I can say I have a purpose for the visit lol. After that I’m free to go home. Thursday is a good day for flying, no? I can then take Friday off, so I’ll have a long weekend before returning to office on Monday. I haven’t touched my car for two months now. I’m sure I will not look forward to refueling it…

It was also a photography trip of sorts, because, armed with 3 SLR cameras, we snapped almost anything and everything we thought was interesting. Throughout the trip I was very satisfied with my 17-85mm IS USM lens, although there were times when I wished I had a 70-200mm L-series lens. Speaking of which… when will the next digital camera fair be?!?!

The popiah we had at Padang was said to be very popular among the locals, and I could see why. The good thing about Penang was that even on a hot afternoon, people would go out and have a munch at a nearby kopitiam. I think Penangites are among the luckiest people in the world :p

Since some of us had a ‘healthier’ appetite (whatever that means…), we ordered some Char Koay Teow as well. It was good, and not as expensive as the one found in Lorong Selamat (there, they throw in prawn-zillas into your Char Koay Teow, sure la expensive… hehe).

Like typical tourists (with lots of cameras, at that), we visited places where the locals rarely go. This includes the magnificent Kek Lok Si Buddhist temple in Air Itam. Located on top of a hill, the scenery from the temple was breathtaking. I’m sure it was even better at night, because we could see (almost) the whole of Penang island from up there!

And of course, how could we forget the famous laksa stall near the foothill of Kek Lok Si temple? Over the years, the laksa there has become synonymous with the name of the place, Air Itam. Think Air Itam, think laksa. The last time I had my laksa there was many, many years ago.

There was a lot of sightseeing (and photography) along the way, but I’m trying (hard) to just keep focused on food here! We went to the ‘Old Gurney Drive’ later that night for some good seafood. No I’m not talking about crabs and lobsters, but balitong (shellfish?) and houchien (fried oyster). Wah lau eh, it doesn’t get any more health-damaging than this.

After that, we were off to some Jalan Perak (I know it’s one whole long stretch) to eat the critically-acclaimed, highly-recommended Ramli burger. It was just a simple road-side stall where cars would pull over to place their orders. People actually didn’t mind waiting for more than 20 minutes for their burgers! We let our (food) tour-guide, Eric, do the job…

The next morning we attacked the dim sum restaurant near our hotel on Macalister Road. I forgot the name of the restaurant, but it was packed with people that morning. We were told that there were live performances every night – no wonder that place was dimly-lit at night. They also serve ji bao gai (纸包鸡 – wrapped chicken) there besides the usual dim sum.

Next on the itinerary was coconut drinks. I also forgot the name of the place, but it seemed like a popular stop for motorists to have a sip or two. After emptying the coconut, you can have it cut open and enjoy the coconut meat inside. The perfect place to quench your thirst on a hot Saturday afternoon!

We tried the famous roti bakar (toast) in this little road-side cafe (kopitiam? Stall? I don’t even know how to categorize it -_-”) called “Toh Soon Cafe”. Some of us had seen Smashpop‘s blog where he said he visited that cafe during his trip to Penang. We couldn’t help but felt like we were following his trails. Let me assure you we were not! Hahahaha…

Penang being Penang, the laksa must be found in abundance. Kopitiams that serve famous laksa are usually crowded with patrons inside and out. It is not uncommon to stand and wait for a table to be vacated. What more when that kopitiam has been visited by the Ho Chak crew (you know, that programme on 8TV) before.

A couple of hours later we headed down to opposite Pin Hua Girls School for yet another round of laksa! *faints*. At the rate we were going, we could well be suffering from laksaphobia in no time. But seriously, the laksa there was pretty good too. The Pin Hua girls must have suffered from laksaphobia at least once during their schooling years :p

As for dinner, we went to this cozy kopitiam that served only western food. The unique thing about this place was that it had a small temple inside. In fact, the temple had been there long before the kopitiam was set up. Parking was a problem, and we had to wait for a table to become available. They served mouth-watering chicken chops…

Our day was far from over. According to our itinerary, we would still have kali mee (curry mee lor) before finally making our way back to the hotel. At that point, I thought, we had long ditched our ‘breakkie-lunch-dinner-supper’ routine. In Penang, as long as you’re not in bed, it could well be mealtime.

On the final day, Eric took us to this kopitiam called ‘Xin Jing Shan’ cafe for heko mee (prawn noodles). I would do anything to *not* eat laksa that morning. In fact I think I’ll abstain from having laksa for at least one month or so. The heko mee was ho liao (good stuff) I tell you.

On our way back to KL, it was only customary to stopover at Bidor, Perak for the famous duck noodles at Pun Chun Coffee Shop. You can choose to order your duck noodles served dry or with soup. Either way, you can be sure that nowhere else serves duck noodles as ho liao as Pun Chun’s!

That’s how I ended my one-week annual leave last week. I had a great time with my friends, and of course, my camera! I bought some cookies from Bidor for my colleagues in my department as well, since it has become a common practice for those who’ve just come back from holidays or sites.

Have a good weekend, everyone ;)

P/s: A new album titled ‘Penang, Malaysia’ has been added in my Photo Gallery (which had not been updated for more than a year already, lol…). There’re a total of 242 photos in that album.

No I’m not talking about the super-hot Chinese prostitutes parading themselves by the lorongs (more on that in my next post ya… stay tuned!). Instead, I’m talking about the immensely-popular seafood at none other than the ‘No Signboard Seafood’ restaurant.

And there was little wonder why people loved to go there. I’m not exactly a man of many words (honest!), so let me let my pictures do most of the talking…

We ordered the two different flavors of crabs…

… plus vege, crayfish…

… and prawns.

I wouldn’t say we can’t find similar-standard of seafood (if not better) back in Malaysia, but since we’re here in Singapore, I’d give No Signboard Seafood a double-thumbs-up.

When you put 5 big-eaters together around a table filled with delicious seafood, you can expect the table to get a little messy.

These shells (they were so large!) did a good job in covering some of the mess we I created…

They say you haven’t really visited Singapore if you’ve not been to Geylang. The place has got the best crabs… prawns… crayfish… bullfrogs… chickens… if you know what I mean…

There were about 15 people in the queue when I decided to join in. It took me more than half an hour to buy them, would you believe it? By the time I reached the counter, the length of the queue had already doubled. Amazing!!!

Now excuse me while I go grab a bite…

Happy Sunday, everyone! ;)

P/s: Lewis Hamilton will take this year’s Drivers’ title… almost surely…

Edit @ 1206hrs: To view photos of the Pavilion Kuala Lumpur, feel free to check out these Narrowband.org-endorsed links:-
1. Pavilion Kuala Lumpur (Undebug.org)
2. The Pavilion Jump (Smashpop.net)

There’re possibly hundreds or even thousands of related entries and photos on the Internet but these links are abit more special. They are taken from my Blogroll! Now who says it doesn’t pay to be blogrolled by Narrowband… lol!

In that tag, I’m supposed to tell you about my favorite food, but let me just say this: I don’t have a favorite food. I down almost anything edible, hehe. I kinda like seafood though, and all the pictures shown here in this entry was taken in a restaurant called Seaview (something like that, I can’t remember), located somewhere in PJ New Town. The picture above shows their Jiu Pai Min, which means ‘Trademark Noodles’ in Cantonese.

This is their Nga Bou Loh Shi Fun (I know, romanized spelling may not be correct but if you would just bear with me…), or Claypot Loh Shi Fun in English. Honestly, these noodles tasted very good, but the restaurant is most famous for their sauce-less satay and seafood. We’re not exactly a fan of satays, so we didn’t order any. I tried once though, in one of my previous visits but I didn’t take any photos.

That’s our lobster, cooked in ‘Butter Cheese’ flavor. Believe me, it was super mouth-watering. The fresh lobster meat tasted even better when dipped in its Butter Cheese gravy, so what we did was hold a piece of the lobster, took a bite and dunked it into the gravy again before the second bite, LOL! Yes, we did all these using our bare hands. That’s the only way to eat lobsters and……

… crabs!! They were simply yummy. Er, I can’t remember what the gravy is called in Cantonese, I think it was something like ‘Shuen Lat’; so if I’m not wrong, the crab was called Shuen Lat Hai. It literally means ‘sour and spicy crab’, hehe. Please correct me if you think I’m wrong, because the gravy is actually pretty common elsewhere too, only difference is that maybe they’re cooked differently lah.

That’s the aftermath. Only in seafood restaurants (that serve crabs) can you find hammers (to break open the crabshells), lots and lots of tissue papers, and a table as messy as that. The restaurant also has a dining area in the carpark in front (outdoor), which is very well-lit with spotlights at night. It is a very popular place, especially during the weekends.

P/s: Counting down to Jacky Cheung’s concert tonight… 11 hours to go!

Addendum (2021hrs@15 Sept): FYI, PJ New Town is also known as PJ State, I don’t remember the exact section what-and-what, but I can show you the way *grins* (I think I’m better at showing directions than remembering names of places. I’m a terrible blogger, I know).

How’s that for directions? The blue arrows are your friends ;)

The Prosperity Burger. It didn’t help that my trip to the outlet was accompanied by Chinese New Year songs and the Si Qian Jing (四千金) interview (omfg they’re on Wiki). Already high on CNY spirits, the incompetent-and-rude-McD’s-trainee was lucky I didn’t talk to her manager.

To date, I still don’t get why Chicken Prosperity Burger had to be released later than Beef Prosperity Burger. While everyone munched away happily, I could only watch and salivate while waiting for the chicken one – made available only on the 18th of Jan.

I could smell it even in its wrappers. Black pepper coupled with the trademark Prosperity Burger sauce, I couldn’t wait to land my teeth on it. Of course, the burger was a far cry from how it appeared in the advertorial posters.

Not very generous with onions huh. So how did it taste like, anyway? Suffice to say, it was filling. Period. Nothing to shout about. I don’t mind taking another bite, though. It’s just another McD’s burger.