3rd PutraJaya Hot Air Balloon Fiesta

Attended the 3rd PurtaJaya Hot Air Balloon Fiesta for the very first time this morning. This annual event is held for the 3rd time this year at the same old venue, PutraJaya. It was much of a disappointment I must say. I was expecting it to be an event of international standard, but it turns out to be otherwise with many stalls setup to monetize from the innocent crowd.

The skyline of PutraJaya being filled with balloons.

Doraemon, my favourite among the many balloons on display.

Me and Doraemon in the background

Doraemon being suck till death by its owner. jk jk..

Not too sure what when wrong there, but the sky was rather cloudy and wind were quite strong. Left the venue in less than an hour as the entire thing is just a waste of time. I will never come for this event again, unless they have a really attractive WAU factor to woo me.

Al-Amar Express, Fahrenheit 88 @ Bukit Bintang

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Celebrated Christmas eve with a little twist this year. Started with dinner with someone special at The Ship, then followed by the screening of Gulliver's Travels @ GSC MidValley and then Christmas eve countdown at Bukit Bintang.

Everything went on well until me and my date arrived at Pavilion for the countdown celebration. It's was the most horrible countdown that we've been too, a handful of the crowd were terrorising all the innocents people like myself with fake snow spray sold by unscrupulous traders who took advantage of the celebration and make some handsome profit.

To avoid being a victim of the chemical made snow spray, me and my partner had to slip and hide among the crowd commando style. That's when we decides to make Al-Amar Express (Lebanese restaurant) our temporary hideout. Located in an aquarium style designed outlet at the entrance of Fahrenhiet 88, it seems to be the perfect place to hide out while being able to have glimpse of the situation outside, not to mentioned try out some of its menu.

Having had a heavy dinner early, we decided on something light to munch. So we ordered these:

Baked Potato @ RM12 ++

Nothing to shout about, just your regular baked potato stuffed with butter and cheese and served with sour cream. Still love making it myself with chicken mayo. For RM12 ++ its definatelly overrated and overpriced.

Cheese Roll @ RM2.50 ++ /piece

Nothing special, prepared with spring roll wrapper with cheese melted in it. Still prefer the traditional chinese spring roll served with savory seasonings and crisp texture of vegetables.

Bavaria Peach @ RM10 ++ / bottle

As for drinks, my date tried the non-alcholic beer, the Bavaria Peach which she like very much but I still prefer my all time favourite, the Hoegaarden. On the other hand, since this is a halal restaurant and no beer were served, I choose the conventional all time favourite, Ice Lemon Tea.

Ice Lemon Tea @ RM8 ++

Overall, the restaurant has one of of the most sough after location which is strategically located along Jalan Bukit Bintang, couple with its aquarium style design which enable its guest to enjoy the bustling life of Kuala Lumpur. When it come to food, I wasn't impressed at all but this is probably because I've not tried their authentic Lebanese recipe. Will make it a point to visit this place ago to do just that.

Day Trip Around Klang - Yao Yao Ping, Pandamaran.

Our next and final stop after coming back from Pulau Ketam was to this place called Yao Yao Ping @ Pandamaran Klang. Apparently this place is famous for serving one of the BEST fried Chicken in Klang Valley and maybe Malaysia.

Yao Yao Ping with it's rather old sign board.

We ordered about 28 pieces of fried chicken. (RM2.30 each)

I must admit that that really live up to the various recommendation and endorsement for serving the best fried chicken in Klang Valley. I knew I fell in love with it's fried chicken the moment my teeth sunk on its chrispy chicken skin and tender chicken meat. Despite being deliciously frieded, the chicken was still very juicy and it taste far better than the infamous fast food chain called Kentucky Fried Chicken. FYI, Yao Yao ping was once featured in the famous food program HoChak! on 8TV. We only have 2 pieces of chicken each as it was already 5 plus and didn't want to filled our stomach to the max as we had dinner plans.

They also serve roast chicken, but we shall save that for the next visit.

Yao Yao Ping (Delicious Ice) @ RM1.30

Yao Yao Ping is an Ice blended drink comes in a variety of flavour including sour plum, lychee, red beans, mango, and bubur cha cha.

Rating
Ambiance: 6/10 - The Place is air conditioned but lack in term of cleanliness.
Taste: 9/10
Service: 7/10
Price:8/10
Bonus: 9/10
Overall: 78%

Verdict: I will definitely come back for more finger licking good fried chicken. The delicious ice really live up to its name, even 7Eleven's slurpy is no match.

Try it yourself at:
Name: Kedai Kopi Yao Yao Ping
Address: 1503B, Jalan Young, Pandamaran, Klang, Selangor (Opposite SMK Pandamaran Jaya)
GPS Coordinate: N3 00.376 E101 25.243
Contact No: 012-299 9029 / 012-282 2099
Business Hour: 12pm to 7.00pm

Day Trip Around Klang - Pulau Ketam

After breakfast, we head over to the Klang Port to catch the ferry to Pulau Ketam (direct translation: Crab Island), a small little island located southwest off the coast of Port Klang.

It cost us RM7/pax for an approximately 30minutes journey which takes us though a mangrove river and the Straits of Malacca.

Waiting for the ferry was a rather HOT affair as we have to stand right under the hot sun for close to 30 minutes. Learned my lesson well, shall bring an umbrella if I ever plan to visit Pulau Ketam again. Advice to all of you out there who intend to visit Pulau Ketam, PLEASE bring an umbrella.

The interior of the Ferry.

The ferry which has a capacity of about 70 paxs is not well maintained. Perhaps the government could help refurbish the ferries to better promote Pulau Ketam as a tourist.

View from the Ferry via an old tinted window.


Upon arrival, we were greeted with a big seafood restaurant which we later dine at.

Pulau Ketam is village that thrived on fishing activities with majority of its population being Chinese. It's said that Pulau Ketam was lifeless until about 20 years back when some Chinese immigrant landed and decided to call it home. The island is so small that people on the island travel by bicycle only. There were no motorise land vehicle sighted throughout the island.

Fishing Boat

Pulau Ketam volunteer fire brigade.

I just cant imagine how the fire brigade operates with fire bicycles instead fire engines.

Look!!! they have satellite TV too, impressive.

I'm amazed and impressed that they have satellite TV because I'd always thought of Pulau Ketam as a lay back fishing village.

Pulau Ketam Fried Ice Cream

This fried ice cream store which appears to be the one and only ice cream store on the island is operated by an old couple in their 60's. Unlike the wide variety served at Baskin Robin, it comes in 4 flavour only, namely Chocolate, Yam, Vanilla or Strawberry. Each being sold for RM2.20 (USD 0.71)

Pre-prepared ice cream stuff in some sort of pastry are kept in a portable freezer.

The frying process take less than a minute.


After frying, the uncle took it to drain off some of the oil before serving it wrap in serviette


Tadaa..... Fried Ice Cream anyone?

The CHIA 's Descendant Association


This place is packed with local tourist, mostly day tripper.


There is a moderate size temple on the island, indicating Taoism is a major religion on the island.




Table Soccer is one of the local's favourite past time.

After walking round the little island and trying our the variety of street fare, we proceed for seafood lunch at Kuai Lok Hian Seafood Restaurant. Here's some of the dishes we had:

Crabs cooked in Sweet and Sour style

Steam Fish

Steam Lala (clam)

Fried Sotong/Squid (the upper class people call it Calamari)


Fish Ball Soup


Prawns cooked in Asam Style

We spend about RM160 for 8 dishes, rice, Chinese tea, coconuts and few bottles of Guinness. That's pretty cheap for 12 people and the amount of fresh seafood we had. The result:

We left there fully satisfied.

Honestly the food isn't really that fantastic, the it was really fresh and that made up for the taste. Certainly a good place to be at if you are looking for fresh and cheap seafood. We had good companies too, and that made it even more special.

Right after lunch, some of us crave to try the Fried Oyster aka Ho Jian which is being sold at almost every corner of the street, with each of them claiming to the be the best and authentic staff. Almost all of they even have a newspaper cutting to backed their claim. Besides friend oyster, they also have friend lala(clams).

This stall has a news paper cutting which claim that it's one of the best in town

We decided to buy from this uncle simply because it looks the best among all the stalls.


Just to look of this make me hungry.

Though we bought 1 each of the fried oyster and fried lala, we never really had to chance to try it while its hot as everyone was busy yapping away. We ate it together with Yao yao ping fried chicken later in the evening. By the time we try, it didn't taste that good, probably because it already cold.

Next we had egg shaped sorbet which is being sold at a sundry shop right beside Kuai Lok Hian restaurant.

The seller claim that its made from fresh fruit juice. However I doubt so, cause it didn't taste fresh.

The variety of sorbet in the freezer.

and this is my Dragon Fruit Sorbet.

Overall its nice place to visit, a must for everyone who stay in Klang Valley. Basically if one plans to visit this place, please try to control yourself to avoid being con into buying underrate stuff and food just because there is a sign which says its famous or special.

Day Trip Around Klang - Seng Huat Bak Kut Teh.

On the second day of raya, I joined a group of bloggers and tweeples for a day trip around Klang. Thank to Eric Yong for organising and getting everyone together. The goal for the day was to have Bak Kut Teh for breakfast, Seafood in Pulau Ketam and Fried Chicken in Pandamaran. And we are gonna have all this with a budget of not more than RM100.

So we gathered at BHP Petrol Station, along Federal Highway, right after Shah Alam Batu Tiga toll before convoying with 3 MRS to Seng Huat Bak Kut Teh, the Famous Under the Klang bridge Bak Kut Teh @ Klang Town. If you are clueless what Bak Kut Teh (BKT) is, read here at Wikipedia.

Seng Huat Bak Kut Teh

As usual, the place was packed when we arrived, lucky for us, Thomas Yap arrive early to reserved 2 large table for about 21 people. We later added another large table so that everyone can sit comfortably.

Yau Fan (Oily Rice)

Yau Fan or Oily Rice is often prepared by mixing white rice with fried shallots.

Yau Char Kwai

Yau Char Kwai is a long deep fried dough known in English as Chinese Oil Stick (just i case you are not know what Yau Char Kwai is click here Wikipedia for more info). What you see in the picture had been cut into pieces and served in bowl.

My bowl of bak kut teh

The bak kut teh is served in bowl just as there were traditionally. As there were so many of us, its rather hard for us to share, so we order a bowl each(with a mixture of pork rib and pork intestine.

After my recent visit, I'm sad to say that the standard @ Seng Huat Bak Kut Teh has dropped tremendously compare to my last visit 2 years back. In fact my regular BKT outlet near Sentosa Klang taste much better (anyway that's another story to share). The soup wasn't as tasty as it use to be that I didn't even ask for more soup. The amount of soup you see in the picture is all that I had for the day. Traditionally people who loves Bak Kut Teh, will never have enough of the soup, and would even go to the extend of soaking the rice into the soup before eating it.

I'm not condemning that the food is not good but the quality drop significantly and I find my regular BKT stall to be better than this. Hope Seng Huat BKT will do something to improve their quality and bring it's BKT back to its glory.

The meal cost us about RM11/person. Affordable by KL standard but maybe a little pricey for some.

If you have not tried it and would love to do so here are the details:
Restaurant Seng Huat Bak Kut Teh
GPS Coordinate : N3 02.612 E101 26.895
No.9, Jalan Besar, Klang, Selangor.
Contact No : 03-3371 2652

Waterfall @ Apek Hill

If one were to ask me what's KL best kept secret, I would probably tell them it's the waterfall @ Apek Hill aka Saga Hill. Want to know why? Read on...

Apek Hill (Old Man Hill) is one of the few rare gems available that is still well preserved in today's over developed Kuala Lumpur. It's like a sanctuary in the middle of a concrete jungle. If it weren't because my friends and I needed some training, I wouldn't have had the chance to discover such a beautiful place to share it here.

Located within the vicinity of Taman Cheras Awana, Taman Segar Perdana and Taman Bukit Hartamas, Apek Hill's entrance can be accessible via several entry point. One of the most popular one which I use is located at the end of Jalan Awana 23, Taman Cheras Awana. If you need to get the direction, try searching for "Jalan Awana 23, Cheras" via Google Maps

This hill is rated between Moderate to Advance level by most hikers who have been there. It's considerable tough even for some who frequent to the gym. So if you have not been working out or done any hiking previously, my advice is to try out easier hill like Bukit Kiara or Bukit Gasing. If you aren't sure how tough Apek Hill can be, let me share with you how I would personally rate it. From the scale of 1 to 10, Apek Hill would be rated 5, while Bukit Kiara and Bukit Gasing will be rated 1 and 3 respectively. If you are

Went up for the second time in a group of 5 including myself. Didn't take much picture through the journey as I forgotten to charged my battery, so I was conserving power for the best part. from the entry point, it took our group approximately an hour to reach the waterfall. From the entry point, there is 5 rest Station with the 5th Station located at the peak(386M above sea level).

Apek Hill is really well maintain in term of Cleanliness and it's actually quite safe because there is acutally a group of volunteers that operates a adhoc rescue team. Just in case you get lost in the hill, be sure to look up for small notes with numbers posted up on the trees. Never tried calling through, but I must say it's still pretty impressive.

Here's the waterfall area which my friends and I chilled at after a long and tiring hike;

Uncle Keith enjoying the water massage.

Don't be fool by the gentleness of the water that you see flowing. It's actually quite hard and painful when the water hit your body. Definitely not recommend for those who are in between the two universal gender(no offense intended).

This is actually my second time hiking up Apek Hill over the past 3 weeks and I must say the feeling just got better the second time, most like because we have got more confident after the first attempt. Hiking up Apek Hill is a real challenge for people like me, as I dont go to the gym and rarely do any exercise. At the same time I was thrill to see so much greenary smack right in the middle of Kuala Lumpur. The crisp cool fresh air that we breath there is simply refreshing. Some old folks(age between 50 to 65) who frequent venture around the hill claim that its the fresh air and challenge that keep them fit and healthy.

It is indeed a rare gem and if you have not visited the place just yet, maybe you should try to visit it one of these days before the government decides to make way for more development in the city.

Here's Uncle Jason Dancing (dancing to the rhythm of the falling water)

During our first visit 3 weeks earlier, we had another 4 friends with us. But they have since given up due to the intensity of the hill. LOL. Actually they were busy burning midnight oil to catch the World Cup 2010. Nevertheless the 5 of us had a great time enjoying nasi lemak panas by the waterfall and playing with water. Brings back good old memory when my late grandpa used to bring me to the waterfall in Taiping.

... and here's Nicole, Me and Adeline

Have been actively training and hiking for the past few weeks in prepare myself physically and mentally for my maiden trip to Mount Kinabalu @ Sabah end of this month. Many people whom I've talk to agreed that Apek Hill is a good training ground for those who plan to go Mt Kinabalu. So watch out for my post about my experience conquering Mt Kinabalu (hopefully I'm able to reach the peak without giving up half way).