Half day trip to 灵隐寺 Lingyin Temple and 飞来峰 Peak Flown in from Afar @杭州 Hangzhou, China

img_0470We took the advice of the hotel staff and decided to cab instead of bus to 飞来峰 (loosely translated as Peak Flown in from Afar).

Tried out 滴滴出行 Didi Rider app and managed to get a ride quite easily at 7+ in the morning. We arrived around 8am, got our tickets (¥45 per adult), and made our way in. It was rather quiet with only one tour group, and we could take our own sweet time to admire the carvings.

We also spent quite a fair amount of time in 灵隐寺 Lingyin Temple (¥30 per adult), just enjoying the stroll and chatting along the way. We also stopped for a bowl of 罗汉面 (¥18) at the restaurant 十方苑 within 灵隐寺 Lingyin Temple to take a break from the cold and walking. In the midst of walking, we also found the 老酸奶 yoghurt drink that I was so fond of during our Beijing trip. In 2016, we paid about ¥5 per bottle, here it cost ¥15 😮 Because I missed it so much, I paid for it *no eyes to see*
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Categories: China, Hangzhou, Travel | Tags: | 2 Comments

老杭州家常菜 @杭州 Hangzhou, China

It was already past 8.30pm by the time we were done with checking into 如家精选酒店 (杭州西湖吴山广场河坊街店) Home Inn Plus (Hangzhou West Lake Wushan Plaza Hefang Street) and freshening up, so we decided to just grab something nearby.

老杭州家常菜 was still opened, so we decided our first proper meal here would be some local delights, including 东坡肉 Braised Pork Belly (¥14) (very tough!) and 西湖醋鱼 West Lake Fish in Vinegar Gravy (¥58). We also ordered 炒油麦 Stir-fried Lettuce (¥18) to balance the meal.

We thought the fish was quite fresh. It was easy to eat as there were little bones. The vegetable was pretty standard. Unfortunately, the braised pork belly was very tough, and we hoped this was just a poor rendition of the very famous dish 😮

After which, we just strolled around 河坊街 Hefang Street (aka Snack Street) and the street parallel to it. That was when we realised there were quite a few 老杭州家常菜… Not sure if they belong to the same chain?

Note: There was a ¥1 charge for cutlery.

  • Contact:
    • Location: 浙江省杭州市上城区高银街141号 (Baidu Maps)
    • Hrs: 9am – 9pm

Categories: China, Dinner, Hangzhou, Travel | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

Day trip to Johor, Malaysia

IMG_7666Today was yet another day trip to Johor filled with fun and laughter 😀

We started off late around 8.30am today, which turned out to be a good thing, because it was pouring so heavily in the morning. There was a fair bit of jam at customs, but we managed to clear it after an hour or so.

Our itinerary for the day:

Pretty relaxed, and we did spend a bit of time getting lost, but it was always so fun getting lost together 😛 Looking forward to our next trip together, Ms K and Ms T!

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Restoran Chua Kee 蔡記海鮮樓 @Johor, Malaysia

IMG20180904173545Gelang Patah is famous for seafood, and there were quite a few restaurants with good reviews. Today, we decided to check out Restoran Chua Kee 蔡記海鮮樓. Looking at the reviews, we made it a point to reach here before 6pm, where it was mostly empty on a Tuesday evening.

Since we were early, we did a quick stroll around the area. There were actually quite a few provision shops here, and some eateries were already closed by this time.

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Maco Cafe & Bakery @Johor, Malaysia

IMG20180904155406We were back to Taman Sutera Utama 五福城 again! Our gang rather like this place because the Sutera Mall 五福城广场 is definitely less crowded than City Square Mall, and there is this stretch of shops just opposite the mall, for more shopping, and food. Lots of cafe within this vicinity too 🙂

We had tried Just Want Coffee, The Bear and Fish during our previous trip, and today, we decided to check out Maco Cafe & Bakery.

There was a Teatime Combo on weekdays 3pm to 6pm (excluding Public Holidays), where you could choose pair a Mille Crepe (usual price RM9.90) with any coffee beverage (excluding Cafe Brulee series, so usual prices range from RM6.90 to RM11.90) or premium tea selections (usual price RM11.90).

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Categories: Coffee/Tea Break, Johor, Malaysia, Travel | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

萬香城餐館 Ban Heong Seng Restaurant @Johor, Malaysia

IMG_7626We had wanted to check out this place for the last few trips but it was always closed (because we kept picking the same day to travel 😡). This time, we especially picked a different day, and called in advance to make reservations.

We found the place slightly before 12 noon, and found the metal gates still locked 😮 However, looking through the gates, it seemed that the back door was open, and we figured that we would just take a peep, as we were not too sure if this was the correct place to be, as there were a couple of similarly-named places found in Google Maps.

Boy, were we glad that we went to the back, for we got to see how 叫化鷄 Beggar Chicken was prepared 😀 The owner was preparing the chicken, and explained to us how it was done, hehe! Continue reading

Categories: Johor, Lunch, Malaysia, Travel | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

Bukit Chagar Roti Canai @Johor, Malaysia

IMG_7623We went on a day trip to Johore again!

And first up was this popular roti canai (or roti prata in Singapore) near the JB custom.

Despite being quite near customs, it took us a little while to find the correct route to this little corner. And it didn’t help that it was raining heavily.

We reached around 10.30am, and split up the work; one went to queue and order, while the rest of us try to secure a table.

We ordered Roti Canai Kosong (RM1 each), and by 10.45am, all roti canai was sold out. We were one of the last few customers, lucky sia!

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Categories: Breakfast, Johor, Malaysia, Travel | Tags: | 1 Comment

Trip to Melaka 2018

IMG_7417We have furthered our explorations with Ms. K! This time, we drove all the way to Melaka 🙂 It was a short but filling trip 😛

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Cafes @Melaka, Malaysia

IMG_7365IMG_7397During our short three day two night trip to Malacca, we still managed to visit 3 cafes 🙂

We had visited a few during our past trips, so we wanted to try out new ones this time.

A quick Google search showed that there were many cafes with good reviews near Jonker Street, so we basically picked based on where was convenient.

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Thong Shui House @Melaka, Malaysia

Though the place mentioned Thong Shui, which literally meant “sugar water”, or desserts, we were actually here for the Golden Mee Hoon Kuih 黄金金面粉糕 (RM6.60 for small, RM9 for large, option of dry or soup). I seldom have good experiences with such hand torn noodles, as they tend to have different shapes and thickness, and the soup version is usually quite starchy. I had stopped eating this for years after having a rather bad experience with uncooked noodles -_-”

I gotta say this was a rather pleasing bowl of Mee Hoon Kuih (or Mee Hoon Kueh, as spelt in Singapore)! Firstly, the pumpkin dough gave the noodles a pretty colour, and the hand torn noodles were of similar thickness. The noodles were cooked just right, without being too soggy, or having parts that were uncooked. The accompanying ikan bilis (small fried anchovies) were very crispy, and the meat were tender. The noodles tasted slightly sweet, and after mixing in the sambal chilli, the entire bowl of noodles took on an extra layer of flavours 🙂 We really enjoyed this bowl of lovely Mee Hoon Kuih.

We also tried the signature <strong>Thong Shui Fried Bee Hoon with Rendang Chicken 招牌米粉和仁当鸡 (RM8), which was not bad, but paled in comparison to the noodles.,

Contact:

  • Location: No. 86, Jalan CB 1, Taman Cheng Baru, Melaka, 75250 Malacca, Malaysia (Google Maps)
  • Hrs: 12pm – 9:30pm
Categories: Lunch, Malacca, Malaysia, Travel | Tags: , | 1 Comment

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