Snorkeling without seeing bikini girls laying or playing on beach is a sin. We actually arrived at the floating platform which is near to the beach. This post will show guys out there how to get to the beach to see mouth-watering bikini girls.

There are two beaches which are very near to each other. You can reach the first beach by just snorkeling from the platform.

Sadly, not much to see there.

The second beach is at few hundred meters away. There are two ways to reach there. Snorkeling to first beach and walk to the destination…

… or use this “D-Day” boat.

Unless you are state swimmer or used to smuggling illegal things underwater, taking “D-Day” boat is a smarter choice.

I was surprised that nobody is wearing life jacket on boat.

Ahh~ the second beach is a paradise. You can also perform snorkeling there. I noticed that the second beach is operated by another company and when I asked for a mask and life jacket, they were not allowing me to do so. I ended up took the same “D-Day” boat and go back to platform to took my life jacket and the mask. Lesson learned.

There are bridges for you to walk around.

Looks like this boat is out of service…

From another bridge end, you can see the harbor is at the far end.

You can also enjoy jungle tracking there. It had a ball-dropping staircases of 183 steps (should be piece of cake for hikers).

While finding my balls, I snapped some photos as well.

When you reached the top of the hill, you could another side of the sea.

Shxx! Have to walk down again

We still got sometimes left before going back to platform so I took this opportunity to snorkeling. Look ma~ it is a sea cucumber! I hope I can bring one back home for Chinese New Year.

Look! It a baby shark! In Pulau Payar, sharks like this will pass by you quite often. Make sure you didn’t eat KFC in the water or else sharks will eat your drumstick (Guys also advised to hide their sausages and meat balls securely as well). We were told that the “Shark Feeding” session was canceled that day due to the fact that the guards were injured.

I was being chased away at 3pm as it was time to go  back

As a whole, Pulau Payar is definitely a place to visit thanks to its rich corals, fishes, and clean beach. It is hardly to have a clean beach nowadays in which you can see through the soft and crystal clear water as well as playing with salt water fishes. Perhaps the only drawback is that the time is too short to fully enjoy the beach and snorkeling there. Definitely will visit again if got chance.

Related posts:

1. Pulau Payar (Part 2) – Now Eating
2. Pulau Payar (Part 1) – Now Snorkeling

The lunch hour is from 12:30 pm to 2:00 pm. There were about 30 variants of food including appetizer, drinks, and desserts. Note that it is a halal buffet. I was not sure whether or not the items will be the same each time we visit the place but it was an international cuisine which included the following (sorry hah Criz, stealing some of food labeling from your site.):

Western cuisine - fish and chip, fried turmeric chicken, vegetable salad, coleslaw, tuna with French bean salad, jellies, fresh bun and butter, coffee, etc.

Asian cuisine - fried rice, fried rice noodle, fried fruit desserts, vegetable spring rolls, five spice chicken rolls, beef slices stew, braised mushroom with mixed vegetables, tea, brown sugar steamed cake (malai ko), and kuih lompang pandan, etc.

Europe cuisine - spaghetti with bolognese

The food tasted good especially after snorkeling. Don’t forget to steal some buns and go feed fishes after lunch.

I wish I could stop here and but there are still some to share in this amazing Pulau Payar. I will show you the beach and hiking experience in my next and last part.

Related posts:

1. Pulau Payar (Part 3) – Beach
2. Pulau Payar (Part 1) – Now Snorkeling

After living in Penang for a while, I asked myself, is there a beach nearby where I can enjoy crystal clear water? The answer is yes, by paying Pulau Payar a visit. I went there in one of the Sunday. It took me few days to arrange all the photos. As a result, this post will be divided into three parts – “Snorkeling”, “Beach” and “Food”.

Pulau Payar is actually an island in the neighbor state – Kedah. To go there, you can take the cruise from Swettenham Pier in Penang here.

We departed at 8am and it took about 2 hours to reach the destination using the cruise above.

Oh ya, make sure you bring sun block there or else your parents won’t recognize you when you return home.

After 2 hours ride, finally we arrive at the floating platform called Langkawi Coral.

For this trip, I noticed many white guys/girls as well as Chinese from China were there as well.

The platform is quite hygiene. Unfortunately there is no locker so make sure you don’t bring gold bars or diamonds there.

This is the GPS location.

Standing from the platform, you can see the water is crystal clear.

And there are massive amount of salt water fishes beneath it.

Beside the platform there is a staircase in which you can walk down for snorkeling or to play with the fishes.

Look at those fishes, there are so adorable!!

I hope I can bring some of them back.

If you asked me how I took underwater pictures. Basically I wrapped my camera into a waterproof case called Dicapac. It took some courage to submerge your few K camera into the water. For my case is like taking one PC into water.

Another thing to note is that once you put your camera into the waterproof case, you probably need to set to AF mode as well as Auto scene mode. Operating camera in manual mode underwater is a nightmare. I wasted 50+ photos just to snap those fishes. Already told them not to move but they never listen.

Time for snorkeling!! There are snorkeling gear for you to use there. What you need to bring is your swim suit.  This is my first time doing snorkeling. It took me few tries to fit the mask properly. Sigh~

The coral is great.

You can see fishes of many species wondering around the coral.

I even saw some Nemo (Crown fishes) hidden in sea plants.

Even though that was my first time snorkeling, I was quite enjoying it. At first you may feel scared as the water is somehow deep and some naughty fishes will come and “kiss” you. Eventually you will get used to it. Make sure you wear a life jacket for safety reason. I will definitely do snorkeling in the future again.

That’s all for the first part. For those who can’t wait for 2nd part, here is the Langkawi Coral link in which you can make reservation from them or call them at04-899 8822.

Related posts:

1. Pulau Payar (Part 2) – Now Eating
2. Pulau Payar (Part 3) – Beach

In Malacca we have red houses. In Penang, we have Brown House. Located opposite of Midland (and beside Adventist hospital) is a restaurant called Brown House (previously housing Island Red Cafe) serving a number of cuisines, such as Chinese, Malay and Western. We were invited for a food review last weekend.

First on the building itself. It is a 2.5 storey building with private parking provided. The entrance is at the back so make sure you turn into Brown Road (and hence the Brown House) if you wish to park there.

For each floor, there are smoking/non-smoking areas provided.

On the 2nd floor, there are pool table …

… and performing stage as well. Should be a good place for gathering.

Let’s jump into the food. Note that the food here is non-halal (I can’t find any non-halal sign around). The first dish we tried was the Pork Chop with Lemon Grass Sauce (RM17.90). The dish looked plain at first. Expected it is another “chicken breast” I am going to try, surprisingly it tasted good. The pork was somewhat tender and tasted sweet.

One special thing about this cafe compared to other cafes is that they provide somewhat authentic dishes came with claypots, such as this Puff Pastry Chicken Stew (RM12.90). The puff is crispy and tasted good, especially when dunking it into the soup which was cooked with carrots, mushrooms, potatoes, and of course, the chicken.

Another special dish is Pork Leg with Coconut Juice (RM10.90) served with flat rice noodle (Koey Teow). According to the menu, the use of coconut juice is to neutralize pork fat found in pork leg. Tasted good.

Alternatively, you may try Braised Pork Ribs with Nuts (RM10.90) which is also come with flat rice noodle. Each has different taste of base soup even though they look similar from outside.

Similar to most cafe of this type, they also provide nasi lemak (RM7.20).

This is Ee Chee Loh Fun (鱼翅捞饭) (RM10.90). Tasted average and can’t see a single sharkfin there. More like Hor Fun sauce for me.

Other than main dishes, they also provide some starters, from as simple as a plate of french fries (RM6.90)….

… to Potato Wedges with Paprika (RM6.90) …

… and to Potato Skin (RM11.90) – baked potatoes stuffed with bacon and cheese.

Other starters include hot & spicy chicken wings (RM11.90) …

… honey chicken wings (RM11.90) …

… Arabian Toast (RM3.60) – bread stuffed with Pandan Kaya …

… and Hanoi Rolls - warm and crispy roll of minced meat, mushrooms, egg and greens (RM11.90).

For starters, other than Arabian Toast, Potato Skins, and Hanoi Rools, the rest were quite normal appetizers we have out there. Pricing-wise, some starters could be expensive compared to some rice & noodles dishes.

Some of their drinks are quite special. I am lazy to go through them one-by-one here. You may try their Brown House Special with has a flat price of RM7.20.

They also have set lunch menu (RM12.80) which is only available during lunch hour.

The light set menu (RM7.80) is available throughout the day.

They also have delivery service provided for those living nearby. You can download the ordering list here. Note that the minimum quantity is 15 items per order.

As a whole, Brown House did provide some unique dishes other than traditional cuisine we found in most of the cafes. Other than pork, they serve beer as well. The parking is convenience. The restaurant also provides free WIFI and delivery service around that area. Probably a new gathering place at Pulau Tikus area.

Menu can be downloaded below:

Take-Away Menu: Download

Participating bloggers:

Steven Goh

Criz Food

Viva for Min’s Adventure

Yummy-Station

Gourmet Garden

Related posts:

1. Dim Sum House @ Anson Road

In Thai, we have red shirt protest. In Malaysia, we also have red shirt “protest”…. at Kenny Rogers Roasters. This is in conjunction with Roasters Healthy Eating Day organized by the restaurant. As long as you wear something red, you are entitled for buy 1 free 1 meal. We reached at the Penang Airport branch at 11:40am and the queue already extended out to the restaurant (We ended up eating at McD there). Based on our observation, most customers were from company M. Well done!

No related posts.

During Christmas weekend, I went for holiday and countdown at Malacca (Can you imagine that I actually met Steven Goh there?). I will write a blog about it one day. At the mean time, let’s begin with a small blog about one of the chicken rice ball restaurants there – Hoe Kee Chicken Rice Ball (和记鸡饭团).

The restaurant opens at 8:30am and closes around 5pm or when the food sold out. We saw many customers queued up outside around 2:30pm. When we returned to the same place around 4:30pm, there was no queue and we straightaway walk in

The interior has a classic look.

We asked for drumstick part but sadly they gave me the upper portion The chicken was just average.

Perhaps the only reason you visit chicken rice ball shops in Malacca is to experience its rice balls versus normal rice we have. I can’t make comparison on the rice balls in this restaurant as this is the only shop I visited. However, they taste good to me. I was told by the owner to consume the balls with chili sauce and dark sauce provided. They tasted better that way.

We also ordered cabbage as side order. Also average.

Another side dish we ordered was the curry fish (also known as “Asam Fish” there). The fish is fresh and tastes good.

As a whole, if you are new to chicken rice balls, you should pay one of the restaurants there at least a visit due to its uniqueness. Tasty or not is based on personal perception and experience.

Related posts:

1. Famosa Chicken Rice Ball – A not-so-famous commercialized shop
2. Happy Cafe – Happier with Duck Rice and Fried Rice

About 2 months ago I reviewed Sushi Kitchen, a genuine vegetarian Japanese restaurant in Sungai Ara. It is a place for nice food and relaxation. I re-visited it recently, just to found out that it will terminate its business end of December 2009.

According to the lovely couple, they planned to further travel (I also hope I can enjoy my life like this.)  For those who did not visit it, please do so before next year. If you asked me, “What should I ordered for my first visit?”, I would say try their Happiness Set (皆大欢喜) (RM26.80 big) which combined almost all Sushi available in the menu in one plate. I ordered it every time I visited the restaurant.

During my last visit, we ordered the same Sushi Kitchen Fried Rice (RM6.80). It was a bit small for my big tummy but again it was delicious.

Take a look on their carrots! It even had star and love shapes.

Unless I was sick, I rarely ordered porridge. It was an exception during my last visit in which we ordered Relaxing Porridge (清松之粥) (RM5.80).

It was very unique in which the porridge was further mashed and mixed with various veggies such as cabbage, carrot, “chicken” fross, black sesame, and etc.

Another new dish we ordered was Madam Tan Roll (陈妈妈肉卷) (RM6.80). It is similar to our “Loh Bak” but is stuffed with various vegetables including yam.

Anyone know where to buy this chili sauce?

If you are still reading this, what are you waiting for? Go and make a reservation before next year!

Related posts:

1. Sushi Kitchen – Healthy Vegetarian Japanese Food

(Don’t worry, I am still here. Please add me back to your bookmark.) Last week my friend and I went for Prangin Mall for shopping and dinner. My mind suddenly blanked on what to eat in there as shops over there often came and gone. One shop which stays quite long and successful is perhaps – 涮涮乐 (Shuan4 Shuan4 Le4) which is famous for its Tomyam steamboat. So, we paid it a visit that day. It does not have English name so I just simply gave it one.

It took me half an hour to figure it out that it is not pronounced as “Shua1 Shua1 Le4″. 涮涮乐 means to rinse meat slices on hot boiled soup for just few seconds and consume. Leaving them in steamboat for 30 minutes is not considered as 涮涮乐. It is called “tim th’ng” (炖汤).

Unlike other buffet style steamboat restaurants, this restaurant provided you fixed raw ingredients. We ordered set B which is good for 1-2 persons (RM33.80. Additional 1 person charge RM1.50). It comes with (take a deep breath): prawn, chicken slice, sotong slice, sotong ball, fish ball, crab stick, vegetable ball, dumpling, chinese mushroom, abalone mushroom, bean curd slice, vegetable, cabbage, egg, inoki mushroom, meat ball, tou ki, and fish wantan. If you asked me whether the quantity will be increased if another person is added, this one I was not sure.

You can choose among instant noodles, Di Wang noodles, Tang Hun, bi hun, yellow noodles, or rice. We picked Di Wang Noodles (帝王面) that day. Don’t look down on its size. The portion is quite big once cooked.

One uniqueness of 涮涮乐 is that the meats are cut into thin slices, so they are easier to cook. You can pick two from beef, mutton, and pork. You can also pick two of the same kind, such as 2 x pork.

You can choose between clear or tomyam soup, or both (add RM2.00). We picked clear + tomyam soup. They use gas to fire up the steamboat.

You can also ordered some snacks. We ordered Eel Roll (RM5.20), which was fried into crispy and tasted good.

Whenever I passed by this restaurant, I saw many youngsters and couples enjoying their steamboat there. This time is not exception as well. Fortunately there are also some families and uncles like me enjoying their dinner there. At first glance, their tomyam is not bad. Perhaps the only concern is whether customers prefer fixed or buffet style.

No related posts.

If you asked me where the hell I went these few days… basically I was busy moving house until balls dropped. Poor slave like me always being kicked out from rented units due to various reasons. Sigh~ Anyway, this is a review which I should post it one month ago – Ke Xiang Klang Bak Kut Teh (巴生奇香肉骨茶) near Megamall, Prai, Penang. A group of floggers including me went there and I still remembered how tasty the dried Bak Kut Teh was.

The restaurant is located behind Megamall. For simplicity, refer to the map above.

You will see a signboard at the end of the road.

We were fortunate that the owner was around when we arrived. He then prepared the food for us.

With the seasoned chef’s help, the main ingredients were ready in just few minutes.

At the mean time, I was preparing the tea. There are basically three types of tea to choose for (Tie Guan Yin 铁观音, Kok Pou 菊宝, and Cha Wang 茶王).

If you like oily parts, this restaurant is definitely for you as it has massive and juicy pork knuckle.

The pork intestines were also delicious.

One big pork family…

The soup version of Bak Kut Teh is good. The base soup is not too thin and not too thick. It is, however, still depend on customers on the kind of soup they like.

This is something I never tried before… dried BKT. The pork were fried with dark sauce, dried cuttlefish, and ladyfingers. Tasted good. It was a bit salty but tasted good once you mixed it with rice.

Of course, if the pork is too oily for you, you can always order some veggies (RM6.00 per plate).

As a whole, if you are looking for the authentic Klang Bak Kut Teh in Penang, you should visit this place. Special thank to the restaurant owner for the nice food.

Here are price list at a glance:

No related posts.

On 10/Oct, a group of floggers did a crazy thing… visited three restaurants in one day (this reminded me of an old video clip in which the crazy guys visited 23 locations in 24 hours for 25 food in Penang… let’s do it one day, floggers). Getting back to business, one of the locations we visited that day was the famous laksa in Kelang Lama, Kulim. Let’s see how’s the laksa tasted like compared to the one in Penang.

Seriously, finding the location is kind of difficult as it is inside a residential area. Basically just turn right after seeing SJK (C) Kelang Lama signboard as shown above. Specifically, good luck.

The owner was trying the best to make the place hygiene. This can be seen from the way they put their chopsticks.

When seeing this container full of crackers on the table, “suah ku” (mountain turtle) like me thought they were free. Who know it is RM0.20 each. Luckily didn’t put them into mouth like eating muruku.

When was my last time taking laksa? Yes, just last Saturday that I had my laksa-steamed argus snakehead fish (乌鱼 or “Goh Hu”) in my hometown, Sg. Petani. Compared to Penang laksa which was at sweeter side (I still remember the one I took in a restaurant… sweet like somebody accidentally poured one bag of sugar inside), this Kulim’s laksa (RM2.40) is at sourish side and is similar to the one in Sg. Petani.

If you ask me which one better – Penang, Kulim, or SP… I guess is still depend on personal taste bud.

Other than special crackers provided, the stall also served Ice Kacang (RM1.70). Personally I didn’t try it that day (reserve stomach for other purposes) but it looked yummy. The price was reasonable as well.

It was heard that the quality of the laksa there is not as good as before. However, the place still draw some crowd even though it was hidden inside resident housing area.

No related posts.