Category: Travels

Chilling out at Westin Langkawi.

I took my very first flight on FireFly last weekend to go to Langkawi. Was actually quite scared eventhough I’ve read that propeller planes are much safer than commercial jetliners but there’s still a flimsy attribute to it that gave me the chills.

# – With RedMummy in the plane.

Yes, I’m a nervous passenger. I’m one of those people that would pore through the safety instruction manual and count the number of seats between mine and the emergency exit. I’m not afraid of flying per se, but particularly during taking off and landing. Whenever the plane is getting off or onto the runway, you’d find my hands tucked under my thighs, ready to curl up in a ball in the event of a crash -_-

Anyway, my fears were unfounded. I reached Langkawi in one piece. The flight was pleasant and the seat was surprisingly comfortable.

# – Arrived in Langkawi with all limbs intact.

Westin is only about 30 minutes away from Langkawi International Airport. As soon as we reached the resort, we were whisked off to lunch at one of its restaurants called Seasonal Tastes. The view from the restaurant was beautiful. I wasn’t in the mood for anything heavy so I ordered a soup and a salad. Food were okay, great quality but I think were tweaked too much for a tourist’s taste buds.

# – Seafood bisque. Think the chef got a bit too generous with the salt.

# – Traditional Umai salad with supersized prawns. Was expecting raw prawns but they were blanched :(

After lunch, we checked into the rooms.

# – The welcoming bed.

# – The big TV.

# – The bathroom.

# – The wardrobe mirror :D

We only had a day in Langkawi, so instead of squeezing in some rushed sight-seeing, I decided to just stay within the resort and relax. I hung out at the balcony watching tourists walked by, watched a lot of tv, took a lot of cat naps and watched more tv.

# – Watched a lot of tv.

And before I knew it, it was already dinner time. Our host, Bayer, threw us a BBQ party.

# – Put on a baggy dress in anticipation of a massive BBQ dinner :D

# – Is it me or do all pictures of hotel’s poolside BBQ look exactly the same?

# – Burp!

After dinner, I got back to my room all sweaty and smelling of charred meat. What’s better to do than soaking in a nice, hot bath? :D

# – Drawing a bath.

# – Crackberry, TV remote control and drinking water when it gets a little too hot.

# – P/S I Love You was on and sure enough I was bawling like a crazy person.

After a good cry and a good soak, I felt ready for bed. But not before downing some sleeping aid.

# – Look what I found? Chamomile tea!

# – A hot cuppa to further relax my mind.

And then I was knocked out. Okay not really…

I had to still sneak in a photo :P

# – Goodnight!

Memorable food I’ve eaten while in UK.

Okay, I was looking through my blog drafts. I didn’t realise I have so many unfinished blog postings and some of those posts could have been fun to write if I just had not been so lazy :P So now if I posted also there’s no point as the topics have expired already…not relevant to this time and day.

But there’s always one topic that will never expire. Food!!! Here is the list of memorable food that I’ve eaten during my trip to UK. If you hadn’t eaten, be warned…….

1. Home-made Full English breakfast version one. Mostly grilled, the bf’s mom of course tried to make the dish as healthier as possible but it was still very tasty, hehehe.

2. Home-made Full English breakfast version two. We told the BF’s mom not to worry about our health so she made the full english for us again with a slight variation. With baked beans and the under-appreciated black pudding and bacon.fat.soaked.toasts…..nyahahahaha :D

3. Home-made Pork chop with apple sauce. BF’s mom did it again. The pork was juicy with really crunchy crackling. The steamed runner beans were fresh and crispy and the awesomesauce layer potatoes.

4. Homemade cucumber and pepper/hummus sandwich. We were picnicking at the foot of Malvern Hill. I still remember how blue and clear the sky was with fluffy white clouds. The sandwiches were fresh and refreshing, the company was wonderful, it was a very good day :)

5. Strawberry trifle. Oh..my..lard! Jelly, custard and cream..the English knows their dessert!

6. Chinese takeaway from Wing Sing. Wing Sing in Worcester is owned by the bf’s longtime buddy and also a very popular takeaway in the area, so of course I had to try it. Not to mention, at that point of time, I really badly needed rice in my system lol. True to my bf’s words, Wing Sing does serve fantastic chinese food. A little too greasy than Malaysian chinese food but who’s complaining?

7. Homemade beef steak with grilled tomatoes and mushrooms. A lovely and simple meal cooked with love :)

8. Scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam at Dunster. Orgasmic!!!

9. Summer pudding (pavlova with summer fruits). I can keep eating this. The juicy fruits and creme fraiche soaking into the meringue creating a sweet, crunchy & chewy but refreshing dessert all at the same time.

10. Baked Camembert on crusty baguette with onion marmalade and beetroot. Oh my lard….this dish makes me wish I had a garden overlooking the sea because that was exactly where we ate this lovely snack. Hot, delicious, gooey Camembert cheese spread all over a slice of warm baguette with some onion marmalade for a tinge of sweetness. It was heavenly! Then you clear your palette with a couple of slices of beetroot and start all over again :D

11. Roast duck. This was the 1st dish that BF’s aunt cooked for us when we visited her at the coastal town, Minehead. I felt very honoured as she roasted an entire duck just for us. Needless to say, the duck was delicious…the skin crispy and the flesh juicier at every bite. She served the duck with layer potatoes (see next item), possibly my favourite way of eating potatoes, EVER!

12. Layer potatoes. I worship this dish. I love it so much I intend to recreate it in my own kitchen next time. It’s impossible to fathom how some sliced potatoes, creme fraiche and salt & pepper could combine to become one of the most delicious potato dish I’ve ever had. It’s slightly crispy, slightly soft and very tasty.

13. Sunday carvery lunch (roast pork and Yorkshire pudding). We had this while visiting the garden centre. The garden centre is kind of like our plants nursery but with great food and a retail outlet for middle-aged people :P Anyway…man it was decadent! Best Yorkshire pudding I’ve ever had. It was fluffy and buttery and went so well with the gravy. I do miss it…

14. Venison patty and Mediterranean vegetables. Not my favourite cause the venison patty tasted more or less like Ramly burger patty but it was still a very fulfiling dinner.

15. Pickled eggs with crisps. I really loved this! I never had pickled egg in my life and thought it’d be nasty but the sourness of the egg went really well with the salty crisps, I couldn’t stop eating!

16.Pork scratchings. The number 1 snack in my life. I would rather kill a kitten then have no scratchings in my life ever again. Okay kidding. Okay, maybe not. It’s hard, very salty and very crunchy. I believe it’s an acquired taste and I certainly have acquired a passionate liking for it. Not the healthiest snack in the world either…but life is short :P

There were more food than the ones listed here that I found really delicious but most times I didn’t manage to take pictures because I was too pre-occupied with eating. I guess you can agree that the BF’s mom & aunt are very good cooks too :)

Really can’t wait for my new kitchen to finish so I could re-create some of those food!!

One night in Bangkok

We found ourselves in Bangkok for one night after a whirlwind time in Northern Thailand. Seeing I only had one night, I ditched the women who wanted to go shopping and hung out with my male friends for food and sleazy fun :P

Moving around in Bangkok is so easy. Of course you can take the MRT, but the best transportation for me were the quirky, multi-coloured taxis. They are so cheap too!!

Got Burberry seats one, don’t mess.

Our first stop was Scirocco at State Tower. At first I was hesitant to visit some building’s rooftop for drinks having had particularly unremarkable experience in KL itself with Luna Bar. Thankfully, my friends managed to persuade me and I was so glad I did!!

The view from Scirocco was out of this world. I think the relatively flat Bangkok city helped with the view a lot. In KL, there are so many buildings that obstruct your view from say Sky Bar or Lunar Bar that it just isn’t that impressive anymore.

With my my friends at Scirocco. In the background is The Dome.

I didn’t have a decent camera with me, so all I can do is to rip off someone’s picture of Scirocco to illustrate how beautiful the place was :P

Borrowed from: at-bangkok.com

After Scirocco, we went to Chinatown, to a location specifically across the road from White Orchid Hotel. A row of stalls dotted the road and as I exited the cab I could smell of sorts of tasty.

Bangkok Chinatown.

Rows of stalls on one side of the road.

We sat down at a particular stall with a big basin of delicious smelling braised pork. At this point I had gotten really excited.

My friends did the ordering and before I knew it, a plate of unassuming rice and braised pork had arrived at our table.

Rice with preserved mustard cabbage (mui choy), braised pork and a half of a juicy salted egg.

Oh my lard it was so good. If you like eating pork, you would understand what I’m saying. Perfectly braised pork that melts in your mouth with piping hot rice, occasionally broken by the sweet-sour vegetables and salted egg just to keep things interesting. I’m missing it already!!!

And then more dishes came.

Anti-clockwise from bottom: Fish maw soup, roast pork, glutinous rice balls and the aforementioned braised pork rice.

The fish maw soup was great – flavourful and packed to the brim with the rather luxurious fish maw. The roast pork was definitely not in the same league as Pudu’s siu yuk but could definitely hold its own. Glutinous rice balls were ordinary, I prefer the ones I made…hehehe.

After the meal, we moved on to a different stall for something more soupy to wash everything down.

Can you tell what he’s making??

Kueh Teow soup with roast pork and hot & spicy pork gut soup.

Can’t describe my happiness in words. Only the following picture can paint a clearer picture of how good the food were.

So unlady-like :P

With my friends. Left to right: Terence, Alex’s friend, Nigel, Alex’s Friend 2 and Alex.

After a good feast, we adjourned to Soi Cowboy, a famous red light district in Bangkok.

At the entrance of Soi Cowboy with Nigel and Alex.

We went to an agogo club, which name has already escaped me. We sat on the upper floor, drank Hoegarden while watching a dozen pre-pubescent Thai girls dancing in super tiny miniskirts and topless. Then I went downstairs for the ladies’ room, looked up and realised that the dancefloor upstairs was transparent. So I saw labias, a lot of different kinds of labias :D

Pictures were not allowed in the club. I did try to take one but was reprimanded by a waitress and had to delete the picture on the spot. Was told that if I pulled that trick again, I would be thrown out :P

In the end, all I managed was this picture of me in the toilet of a Bangkok’s agogo club.

The novelty of breast and vaginas finally wore off and we decided to head back to the lovely Montien Hotel, our accommodation for the night.

Back in my room, I popped out the bird’s nest soup that I had bought earlier, surfed the Internet a little while enjoying my bowl of bird’s saliva and finally retired to one of the best sleeps of my life.

And that ladies & gentlemen, was my one night in Bangkok.