What’s with week and something going on every weekend for me. Good stuff though.

MrSmallface Granny’s 80th birthday so we had something traditional yet fancy. The Chinese poon choy!

Celebrating the March Babies birthday in Mt Kiara. Was awesome catching with everyone in such a big group!

Finally had the chance to try out Antipodean cafe in Bangsar. Was really good but too crowded.

Wind up the month with a reunion with ex colleagues at a wedding. Not really much of a reunion as I still see the girls on regular, really regular basis. haha. But whatever

As the title dictated, it’s all about the basic food and accommodation in SiemReap!

We stayed at a really nice hotel – Borei Angkor Resort & Spa, thanks to my kind friend Sophal for hooking up a good deal for us  

One of the grandest in SiemReap, infact. If you are travelling with family, or middle age and above, i will strongly recommend this resort. For group of young people (like us ) I will not as it’s not walking distance to the pubstreet, if you know what i mean. hahaha

Big nice cozy room with very a grand clawfoot bath and separate shower. The chambermaid even place my tiny pillow in the middle after tidying up. A cute surprise when we got back.

Variety of the breakfast is good but the same for the 4 days we stayed there. I always have the same stuff every morning.

Tip: Most hotel are willing to pack your breakfast to go if you inform them earlier. Occasions like you need to go somewhere far for tour or out whole day for Angkor Wat visit.

Since the distance of the hotel is not really far, about 15-20mins away, we returned for breakfast after watching sunrise at Angkor Wat. Omelette with cheese. Really good

Most, if not all, the restaurants are researched by G so thanks to her for all the yummy food! So here goes a long list of Fooooood!!

Blue Pumpkin ice cream!

Not exactly cheap, but not expensive either. You can find a few of this in SiemReap. A nice place to chill and cool off from the dust.

Khmer Kitchen 

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TO ANYONE!!! I think they have a couple of branches as well. The one we went is nearby Pubstreet. I forgot which direction, it’s a corner shop.

So cheap and yummy! The dish in above picture is the famous local dish – Amok Fish. All the amok fish we tried in different restaurant looks and taste different, so no idea what the “real deal” is like -___-

Each dish comes with a bowl of rice. and each dish is like USD2-3 … very worth it.

Another good place to dine is Father’s Restaurant. We went there twice. It’s also next to where we rented our bicycles

Very easy to find as it’s at Central Market. Central Market is also one of the best place to shop for souvenirs! Better than the new market. I think the boys managed to bargain for Tshirt less or US1 for a shirt. Can try the springrolls and amok fish. Price acceptable, not more than $5 per dish

Ecstatic Pizza

Nice pizza, a drunken guy made some drama in the restaurant, funny to watch. Some old Eurasian dude so drunk, he cant talk or think straight. No need to have the “special ingredient” we see haha

As usual, sending a postcard back to myself

Greenstar 

Dinner with my friend Sophal and wife. This is a restaurant with a cause as it claims to be a non-profit restaurant. There’s plenty of such establishment in SiemReap. Some con some maybe not.

Food wise, it was yummy! The fried corn is something like popcorn, must try. Frogs are also one of the yummy dishes we had. I think we ordered everything off the menu and tried everything. Recommended place.

The Touich Restaurant Bar

For the final night, we went to the most “atas” restaurant in SiemReap. Requires advance booking and most if not all patrons are dressed to the nines. I even spotted a guy in a full suit. The whole place is open air so i can’t imagine how warm that fella felt. They are able to pick up from hotel if you inform them earlier as well. In a jeep if you are in luck!

Service was really good. Very attentive as they gave us mosquito repellent hhahaha. Well the story behind was that, the owner will pay for some of the kids education and in return, the kid will have to work in the restaurant after school. In a way, its good as this will keep them out of the streets and provide a good exposure for the kids to practice english with foreigners like us and 99& of the rest of the patrons.

I really love the beef steak and the fish. Infact, i remember we all loved the food there alot! Prices are reasonable around $5 and above.

The WORST meal we had throughout the whole trip was on the grounds of Angkor Wat itself. They have stretch of restaurant overlooking a lake and due to some misunderstanding with our guide, he somehow brought us to the furthest restaurant from the entire stretch instead of Father’s Restaurant -_________-

I dont recall any photos from there. It’s just horrible, and overpriced ! It’s also the most expensive meal we from the entire trip and we can’t even manage to finish our food. It’s that bad.

Bars at Pubstreets

The cocktails are all going at $1 for each. Need we say more?

Showing some bromance before wrapping up! hahha

I have to say the pizza at Le Tigre de Papier was amazing. Its located along the pubstreet. Really good.

I believe I can say on behalf that we all truly enjoyed the trip and cant wait to go back again. Like we said on the first night ” SiemReap is the new Bali baby! ”

Hope those who will go in the future will benefit from our experience! Have fun!

I took this photo. Simply because it will make an awesome souvenier for the boys and seems less perverted for a girl asking for a photo from a girl like that compared with asking Mrsmallface to ask for it. haha

Before we had the Arashi Ramen, we already shared a bowl of the famous Ay-Chung noodle. At first we couldnt locate the place and we were wandering around for at least 30mins before someone allow me to ask for help.

We were quite blind for not noticing the crazy queue and crowd. Must be the heat!

Verdict : Okla.. Not a big fan. Tried it once, cross it forever on my “tourist” must-eat list.

http://www.ay-chung.com/en_info.htm

So, 1 fine weekend after paying respect to the biggest King of Hades in BM, we went over to check this place out.

It’s already packed with people when we reached around 7pm. No table available and most table are with drinks only.

Waiting.

and patience is what you must have if you intend to take up the “challenge” of this place.

How this place works is that, you take a small plate at the side, choose whatever ingredient that you may fancy and pass it over to the worker and they will tag your plate accordingly.They have beehoon, maggie noodle and porridge with clear soup base or tomyam soup base.

and the wait begins. The first time i was there, i waited for about 1.5 hours to be served.

the 2nd and 3rd time was around 45minutes. So do not expect any fast food there.

If you are too free, you can slowly trace where had your platter advance from time to time

Finally, food!! I had the tomyam maggie noodle as i wasnt a fan of porridge. It’s more towards the sour side

The ever famous tomyam porridge! It’s really yummy no doubt!

Is it worth the wait ? Maybe not. But when you go with a bunch of friends, you can just idle there or chit chat while waiting. I’m sure no problem there.

Be sure to get the awesome fried fish and extra egg to go with your mains.

Close on Tuesday, open from 7pm till way past midnight. No signboard, but it’s along Jalan Raja Uda, just right after Kwang Hwa School.

GPS Coordinate 5.428403,100.383507

Seriously considering to abandon the project 52, doom to fail from beginning? haha!

The trip initially cost us RM400 per pax for a return trip from KL – TPE. But the genius me forgot the whole part about PG -KL until 1 week before departure and obviously the “most affordable” airline doesn’t seems so affordable anymore -__-

Adding salt to the pain, I forgot about luggage allowance for PG-KL. Who can remember that part ? I always have only 1 backpack with me for domestic flight so that cost Mrsmallface again at the airport – hehe

Tips: Taiwan Youth Club gives free sim card with credits about TWD100 for foreigners which both me and MrSmallface finds handy. You can also apply for a phone loan with no cost.

From Kimmie’s email –

Also apply for 青年卡 (youth card) from the counter, whoever below 30 years old can apply… u will get a lot of discount when u purchase tics to Taipei 101 / 故宫 and most of the tourist spots… ( some 20% some half price )

My uncle and cousin was so nice to wait for us at Taoyuan Airport for more than an hour as the flight was, yes you guessed it, delayed. Pick us up and zoom off to watch the last session of “changing of guard”

Top right corner photo  shows us at Gu Gong which have more China antiques/artifact than China itself. The displays are rotated once every three months, which means 60,000 pieces can be viewed in a year and it would take nearly 12 years to see them all. Talk about collection.

Martyr’s Shrine

Can I strike off China in my to-travel destinations? I feel like I’ve already visited china.

We rented this small room from DayRentKing . It was so difficult to lock down on accommodation because there’s so many nice and creatively designed rooms available to be rent.

We were very happy with this one, as it’s SO Convenient!! Less than 5 mins walk from ZhongXiao Fuxing Station, directly opposite the new Sogo Mall and there’s convenient shop just below. The only downside was, the exterior of the studio was quite dodgy, run-down apartment. However, that doesnt bother us much as we were out of the entire day anyway. It even comes with a washing machine. hmm

Here’s a few others which Kimmie and myself had researched on.
http://shidarental.pixnet.net/blog
http://www.y3.com.tw/ –> Very nice but over my budget this trip

Nightmarket #1 – Shilin, so damn humid and hot.

Super famous Big Fried Chicken Chop, i love it!

Long Q as with all the yummy snack! As you Q, they will pass you big paperbag and once it’s your turn, they’ll just shove the piping hot chop into the paperbag. So be alert!

Taiwan Sausage – how could one give this a miss when you are in the birth country. YUMS!!!

Loosely translated will be “Frog laying Eggs” , another version of the traditional bubble tea, this is abit like Penang Lohan Kuo nata de coco, so thumbs up from me! Had this equal times as bubble milk tea throughout the trip. The bubble are white in color and more chewy top with snow ice.

Fried Potato Flooded with cheesseeee top with your desired topping. You can find it in a few of the night market.

I believe this will taste 100x better in winter.

My taiwan extended families which I haven’t seen some of them for close to 10 years! Hospitality are superb and appreciate them for spending time with me

Week #20 - Can’t recall anything significant except that it’s official first day back to same ol same ol. On the first day which is Monday, I actually panicked when I woke up and finds myself in my Penang bedroom instead of KL room -_________-

Life as “newbie” is what true honeymoon period is. Clock in, absorb as much information as possible, clock out. Since it’s also my official first week relocating back to penang, cant miss out the part where I was stuffing my face everyday with the cravings. But truth be told, I crave for snowflakes more. The craving got so bad on the 2nd week, that I actually dream of eating snowflakes and waking up, I had to eat the next best thing, Chatime.

Week #21 - The week was horrible as I was terrible sick for the entire week. Imagine waking at 3AM to vomit. Vomiting continues the next day and diarrhea follow soon after :(   Doc said it was due to gastric problem from eating too much 0_O. I lost close to 4kg that week alone which is the silver lining  :) On the new Penang Hill tram which is so much faster that in my opinion, had lost the novelty of the slow and steady ride up the hill.

Week #22 Finally a weekend back in KL visiting ex-colleagues and friends. Custard Buns!! Singing with superstars! Dinner with 2 rare persons at a restaurant you will rarely see me in - Bitter-gourd Theme restaurant -_- Uncle Cheng’s Beef Noodle, Snowflakes and Bak Kut Teh. Food Galore!

Week #23 MrSmallface left for China but before that, he got me the camera which I’ve been wanting to own since 2 years ago –>  Olympus EPL-2

No, i did not break the rule of no camera for the next 3 years because technically its a present. And although I love my lx3, I think this baby would definitely suit me so much more.  :p

Wow, i really did manage to compress a month worth of life into 1 post

Last weekend and this week is gonna be crazy. That would be another story another post to tell.

But this could be one of my top 3 good enough reason for me to return to Bali over and over again until I get sick of it (never!! )

As we had our spa session before this, we practically had to rush like to mad to get to this small shack before it closes at 10pm. It was a little out of town and we did not expect it to be this far. It was an adventure, riding under a crazy drizzle just relying on a gps device, not to mentioned the road was creepy with much giant trees. Hey, it looks creepy at night with little or no street lamps -_-

At 930pm, we finally got there, so relief that it’s still open and taking orders. Famished, we ordered each a platter of ribs and some sate to go. Not very logical decision which we came to regret later on. Here’s the menu, just 1 for everyone to see and share. No need to wait for it

The whole place smells sweet from the ribs grilling outside the small shack.

A staple for every meal. CHEAP IDR22k / RM7 per mug.

After a short wait, the sate was first served followed by the plates of ribs plonked onto the long wooden table. Wasting no time, we squirt lemon on it and dug in. Definitely worth all the rushing to get to this place. It was so yummy!! Full of flavour especially when you dip into the Indonesia magical sauce, Kicap ABC.

Ribs IDR75k / RM 25

The ribs are so soft and tender, it was easy enough for me to polish the entire platter all by myself ^_^ I really do love it! On top of that, we ordered Chicken, Pork and Beef Satay which we can’t finish at all. The sate here are different from Malaysia as they come in huge chunk of meat and rice.

Satays are IDR35K but beef are IDR 135k/ RM 45

The beef satay was so expensive! making this the most expensive meal we had in our entire trip. What more, it’s not so delicious :(

The next time I would just stick to bintang beer and my ribs. Yes, I would still order 1 plate all for myself and I miss it so much now!!

Total meal IDR908K / RM310

Jl. Raya Sanggingan (Across the road from Neka Museum)
Ubud, Bali
Phone: (361)977547
8am-10pm daily

To get around town, we rented bikes instead of walking around. I love to ride bikes around during holiday. I find it the most economical and easiest way to see things and get around. Our bikes are less than RM10 each from 3pm to 11pm ( more than half day)

Tips: Negotiate to death for everything!!!

Inside of the place. Impressive or not ~~

Most of the tables are place far from each other. Plenty of space and privacy.

Surrounded by greeneries, it’s no surprise that it’s very relaxing and GREEN while waiting for our food. How often are we surrounded by GREEN during our meals in cities!

Four Season Pizza – IDR 66K /RM23. So So but generous toppings.

Nasi Campur = IDR 94K/RM32 Quite pricey for a fried rice and I think most of us are not used to eating empek empek.

Nasi Mixed Satay = IDR 67K/RM23. This is the best satay ever. It is so tasty and meaty. Must try!!

Waiting for desserts

We read that the Black Rice Pudding (IDR 21K/RM7 ) is yummy but turns out it is just like our “Bee Kor Moi” -_- and ours are way better. But the chocolate cake may look normal. It is anything but normal because it is THE Death By Chocolate cake IDR 32K/RM11)

The cake is just pure evil !!! Ridiculously rich can die. Yummy….!!

After the meal, we zoom around the area before heading back to hotel to wait for our pick up for our heavenly Spa session

Grand Total for the meal: IDR 537K /RM184

Café Wayan
Monkey Forest Road
Phone: 0361 975447

I was out running around the entire day, meeting after meeting and i was starving the whole day! No idea where to eat, I just head to the nearest place on my gps.

This is the classic salty crispy chicken bites. I had all the food by myself ^^

The place is actually run by a Taiwanese lady. The one holding the file/menu

Generous beverage. Most of the drinks now served in restaurant are in small quantity. Drink halfway then only remember to take photo. Haha..

The highlight of the meal, Stew chicken in tea leaf – or sound something like that. The menu is in chinese and I don’t understand. This was recommended by the Taiwanese lady and it was fantastic!!

I will definitely got back again!

Address: 43 Jalan Maju, Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru, Taman Pelangi

Next week………………………….!!!!

Can’t Wait!! Can’t Wait!! Can’t Wait!!

Anyway, I was in JB for an entire week for business and I was seeking for tips on where to eat all the time. Unfortunately, i think the place doesnt really have anywhere super fantastic eateries as the response sounds like silent cricket….  [-_-]

Meet up with Wanster, my twinsie for dinner 1 of the day, and he gave me 3 options. I picked the supposedly ” BEST CHICKEN CHOP IN TOWN” – It Roo Cafe at Jalan Dhoby, somewhere near Jalan Wong Ah Fook.

Love the ambiance of the place. Very old skool.

They have 2 type of chicken chop, the normal batter deep fried or mushroom sauce. We both had the root beer float just cos it’s Root Beer Float wor~!

Comes with laughter and good conversation ^_^

After dinner (they close pretty earlier, about 9pm+) we proceed to chill just few shops down the road – http://roostjuicebar.blogspot.com/

Its a nice vintage place again. But it’s not very well kept. IMHO okay..

Again, ambience + good chat = happy dopes looking forward to next vacay~

Passion Storm is yummss!!

Will share more on some good food i stumble upon in Johor when I finally stop procrastinating or have less work (yea, like that is going to happen +_+ )

toodles..