TOW SG Camp

This is a video highlight of my church camp that were held recently at Summerset Resort Rompin. We had loads of fun there.

Colours of Phuket

Had these grilled pork along the streets. Tasted like sweet braised pork (Char Siew). Only RM1/ 10 baht per stick, very cheap.

MacDonald here serves pork burger!!! This is Samurai Pork Burger. The taste is OMG heavenly!!! I'll fly to Thailand just for this pork burger. Drool drool...

Initially we thought it was a soft drink vending machine. Upon a closer look it was actually a ATM machine instead.

Personal vehicle by day, just slot a TAXI card and taadaa!!! Instant taxi by night.

All the motorcycle pillion riders here doesn't wear a crash helmet. It is not required by their law.

Whose butt is bigger? Mine or hers???

Err.............!!!!
That's our tour guide by the way. Used to be a hotel chef but now a tour guide.

A very creative way to transport coconuts.

I had this ice coffee at one of the restaurant in Phuket. It has a very unique taste. The coffee tasted as if it was mixed with cincau and black soya sauce. I had two cups of it and I'll say it can kick Starbucks coffee ass anytime.

I got more pictures but it is on my friends camera. Will bore show you guys next time lah.

Places that I stayed in Phuket

Amanta House

Amanta House located just within the walking distance to Phuket's famous Patong Beach.
It costs RM90/900 Baht per night, so it is very cheap. It is very clean and all the rooms custom painted with a strong Zen theme.

Romantic pink painted room

The rooms that I stayed in. All the rooms has their own different wall paint & deco.

I personally doesn't like it as it feels a bit more like a Taoist temple to me, but it is very clean and it is very near to the beach so we decided to stay here again when we return from Krabi Island. They offer free internet access, with a ethernet port & wifi installed in every room. They even have a pc on their lobby your its guest who wanted to go online but without a laptop on their own.

Clean toilets. Very important.

American Breakfast that comes together with the room rates. Taste pretty good too.

The street view from the room balcony.

Breakfast is provided, and the breakfast itself costs RM12/ 120 Baht so I would recommend to anyone who are looking for a place to stay in Patong Beach.


Tonsai Bay Resort, Krabi Island

Located 4 hours drive away from Patong Beach and a 15mins sea ride via longtail boat from Au Nang Beach, Tonsai Bay is one of the cheapest resort on Krabi Island.

Long Tail Boat taxi. The water level reaches to your waist before you can get into the boat.

Tonsai Bay Resort.

The beach at this resort is not that good. It filled with rocks and the beach are filled with dead fishes. I guess there are some fishermen boat which docks there in the morning and throw away all the smaller fish that they do not want there. However for about RM70/ 700 baht per night, the rooms are rather good and comfortable. Nice and spacious rooms. Only problem here that this place is mosquitoes infested!

Not much activities available here, save for some kayaks for rent and rock climbing. There is only one restaurant here, and we are stuck with it. Food are rather expensive for us, but the rooms comes with free American breakfast so we save some money on that side.

Rock hill next to the resort beer bar

The restaurant where we have all our meals. Faces the beach. It has the best view for lunch though.

One of the night the locals performed some fire dance, where they fling those flamed balls on strings around their body. It's more like a favorite past time to them rather than a performance for us.

Fire dance!

Do I recommend this place? Well, if you really like a quiet place with no distraction, or rock climbing, this resort is for you. Otherwise, save your money and stay in Patong Beach instead. Am rather tired now, else would write more. Hhhuuaarrgghhh........zzzzZZZZZZZZZ.....

My Phuket Trip F.A.Q.

1) Did you enjoy the trip?
Not really. I was having a high expectation on this trip. Was hoping the water will be blue and clear. It turned out to be greenish and rather murky. We were not able to snorkel at all due to the monsoon rain & murky water. So am rather disappointed.

View from the plane as we approaching Phuket Island

Sunset at Patong Beach

2) Really? The water is that murky?
Yeah, you would be better off in Redang than here. But the beaches are great and it has strong waves, you can rent a surf board & try to surf. Some of the islands has very clear water but still greenish in colour & no corals.

Some islands the water is clear but still greenish in colour.

3) Where did you stay during your trip?
First night - Patong Beach. Second & third night - Krabi Island. Fourth night - Back to Patong Beach again. Hotel review will come later.

Krabi Island beach

4) What do you actually like about Phuket?

a) Nice beaches & island. Beautiful geography.
There was this place I can't remember the name where the sea is shallow enough that you can cross to the other island by foot. And because of that path, the waves beats the beaches on both sides. I felt like Moses parting the sea while crossing it.


b) Great food.
While in some places the food is expensive, the taste is wonderful! I ate & ate & ate & ate.

c) Very courteous & well mannered people.
Unlike here, Thai traders will never scold you if you do not buy their merchandise. Thais are mostly very polite. There was even one time a motorcyclist nodded at us while we cross the road as a greeting sign to us!

5) Did you try their Thai massage?
Yes, I did. Twice in full view of others so no 'special' services was offered. Hehehe.

6) Got a lot of Ang Moh (white foreingers) with bikini there?
Not many....but more Thai girls are wearing bikinis on the street. So much flesh ...so less cloth...but we had fun guessing whether they are females or shemales in bikinis.

7) How much you spend for the whole trip?
Free air tickets + RM200 (airport tax) + RM160 (accomodation) + RM340 (transport & food) + RM100 (shopping) = RM800.00

8) Would you like to go to Phuket again?
Nah...I'll go to Redang for snorkeling or Chiang Mai for food next year...if my budget allows :)

Greetings From Phuket!!!

Greetings from Phuket!!! Am leaving for home tomorrow. Am typing this post with a keyboard full of Thai letters and commands on blogger are in Thai as well. Great trip. But the beaches in Redang are better than here. Didn't managed to snorkel because we can't see anything in the sea. Will post more later. Now am sipping a coconut shake & munching a delicious deep fried chicken. Yummy...

Melaka Trip Final Pt. - Hin Loong Beef Noodle

On our way back home we stopped to try this famous (we have been told that it is famous among the locals) a beef and pork ribs noodle shop operated by a Taiwanese lady. The name of the shop is Hin Loong Restaurant and it is located not far from the Legacy Hotel. It is a corner shop and the shop were full with customers when we arrived there. The shop is quite small and rather hot and humid in there.

Hin Loong Beef & Pork Ribs Noodle.

Full with people.

We seated down and I decided to try their beef noodle soup and a plate of deep friend pork ribs. Despite of the busy crowd and a chaotic food order system (they seems to be shouting at each other for the food orders all the time) our orders came rather quickly.

The Noodle Making Stall. Business was so good that
this guy was cooking 9 - 12 bowls of noodles at one go!

This is how they prepare the pork ribs. Deep frying it. Actually this hot wok contributes
most of the heat to the dining area.

Pork ribs tastes pretty good but it wasn't really special to me. I've tasted similar deep fried pork ribs somewhere else. But the beef noodle is something special. The soup is spicy, with yummy beefy taste and yet at the same time not overwhelmingly spicy. And the noodles...wow. It's tasty and tangy in texture. Goes very well with the spicy beef soup.

Deep fried Pork Ribs.

Beef Noodle Soup

The verdict? For the price of RM3.80 per bowl of beef soup noodle and RM2.50 for the deep fried pork ribs, this place is would definitely be in my list of places to eat in Melaka.

Trip to Melaka Pt. 3 - Jonker Desert Chendol

One of the must-visit-place in Melaka for me is the Jonker Desert that is located towards the end of the Jonker Walk street. This place to me has the best tasting chendol in Malaysia. The usual chendol that you get elsewhere is basically ice with diluted coconut milk and brown sugar. The chendol at Jonker Desert goes with undiluted thick coconut milk and great tasting gula melaka. A trip to Melaka is not complete without me having this chendol.

Jonker Desert

The Jonker Desert was actually an old shophouse that was built back in the colonial days many decades ago. The shophouses here are narrow in width and long in length. I like the way they decorated the interior of the shop with lots of antiques. Some does brings back old memories while others gives you an idea of the way of like back in the old days.

Dining area

Second dining area, the inner section.

Lots of old antiques

Old drawings hung on the wall.

Antiques placed on the stairs.

I ordered a bowl of "Eight Precious", that's basically chendol with eight different ingredients in it like nuts, atapchi etc and it costs RM3.00 a bowl. A normal chendol minus the ingredients costs about RM1.80 a bowl. It is more expensive than your usual local chendol, but to me it is worth every cent of it. The taste? Excellent.

My favorite chendol. Yummy....


Chendol making stall

This place also offeres food like asam laksa and normal laksa. I ordered a bowl of prawn mee (RM3.50). It turns out to be just a normal soup mee with prawns that's all. The taste were so-so only.

Prawn mee ala Melaka style. Cannot fight with Penang style lah!


Mee making stall. Notice the 3 bowls? They were assam laksa & normal laksa.

Conclusion: If you want to come to this place, have your lunch somewhere else first then come here for the chendol as desert. Give it a try. You might get hooked to the sweetness of Gula Melaka!

Next and final part of Melaka trip: A Melaka challenger to the Seremban Beef Noodle???

Trip to Melaka Pt. 2 - The Thong Shui House

We wanted to go for ikan bakar (grilled fish) for supper on the first night but we decided to go somewhere near for some snacks instead. So we drove around the hotel & found The Thong Shui House (Thong Shui = Sweet Desert).

The Thong Shui House

It was packed even though it was near their closing time at 11p.m. so we figured that its must be a worth a try.

Packed with people

So we went in and ordered ABC, Gui Ling Gao and some fries. Our orders comes very quickly and the waiters are very polite. I find Malaccan people are rather polite in their speech. It could due to they speak mostly Mandarin here. But I can't say the same for the drivers that were on the road here. The impatient drivers like to honk at the outsiders who drove a bit slower than usual looking for their way around town. Hey, the road signs here doesn't help either.

Gui Ling Gao

Fries and ABC

Ok, back to our subject. The verdict? The Gui Ling Gao looks more like a CinCau drink than a bitter herb jelly. Overall the drinks are rather alright but nothing special worth mentioning. The cozy atmosphere here makes a good place for drinks and chat with friends. Will I return again? Probably not.

Next: The best chendol I ever had.

Trip to Melaka Pt. 1 - The Legacy Hotel

Left Seremban on Monday for Melaka about 2 p.m. Reached Legacy Hotel about 3.15 p.m. I never knew where is Legacy Hotel is until I reached the place. I passed by this hotel many times before and I never thought that I would one day be staying here.

The Legacy Hotel. Located opposite the already bankrupt Fajar Store.

Once you enter the lobby, you will be greeted with a beautiful ceiling dome with tainted glass. We have wait until 5 p.m. to check in because there were a lot of late checkouts & they yet to finish clearing the rooms. The staff there were pleasant and we waited without much complaint.

The lobby.

The rooms are excellent, with adequate towels and toiletries. And it's clean as well. The room were well-built and well-maintained. It is very quiet in the room and I can get a good sleep there. I hates hotels that is not sound-proofed from the external noises.

Nice & clean toilet.

Cozy room & it's quiet (almost soundproof!) Scream all you want while you are on your coiling act.


Window view of the city of Melaka.

The hotel looked overall very impressive & beautiful. I took a peek at their main ballroom. Though it is a bit small, the main ballroom oozes out class with its roman architecture theme. A big crystal chandelier hung in the center. Unfortunately the main ballroom lights were off so I can't really take any pictures of the ballroom itself.

The main ballroom lounge area

Checked out the facilities and I was rather disappointed. This impressive looking hotel has only a small swimming pool and a pathetic looking lounge/drinking pub. No spa, no sauna, no gym, no tennis or badminton court.

Looks nice & big eh? Actually it is pretty small and it's burning hot to swim here!

We had buffet breakfast & dinner at the hotel coffee house. Served were at least 15 different kinds of dishes, soups, salad & deserts. I find the buffet provides a rather wide variety of dishes for it's patrons, so if you don't like that sambal eggplant, you can always have the salads. And the taste is pretty good, and I had a few round of those delicious food. Yummy. Must double my reps at the gym now.

The coffee house

The fruits and deserts station

Conclusion: While the limited choices of recreational facilities here is a setback for this hotel, it's quiet and cozy environment plus friendly staffs makes this hotel a perfect place for businessmen or individuals who wanted a good place to rest or hold their business meetings. Throughout my two nights here, I enjoyed this place and able to rest well. That's good enough for me to make this hotel in my lists of great places to stay in Melaka.

Next: The food I had in Melaka.