Saturday 6 July 2013

Cuti-cuti "Half" Peninsular Malaysia - Day 2 - Temples Tour in Kelantan

Kelantan housed a lot of Buddhist temples, including the largest reclining Buddha statue in South East Asia, the largest sitting Buddah status in South East Asi, and the largest standing Buddha statue in South East Asia! So, on Day 2, I planned a half-day-temples tour. We covered 4 temples, including Wat Mai Suwankhiri (Dragon Boat Temple), Wat Pikulthong (Standing Buddha), Wat Matchimmaram (Sitting Buddha), and Wat Photovihan (Reclining buddha). While on Day 3, we covered Wat Phothikyan before heading to Kuala Terengganu.

1) Wat Mai Suwankhiri
Dragon Boat Temple
In my opinion, this is the prettiest temples among the 5 temples that we have visited. The original temple was said to have been built 400 years ago but the current structure has been built for over the past 50 years. There is the beautiful dragon boat temple, and the main shrine hall where most the fine artworks are housed.
Oh, and I MUST pointed out that the wax statue of Phor Than Di in the main hall will put any wax statues in Madame Thussauds to shame! (Sorry, for respect reason, I didn't take the photo of the wax statue.) One can simply feel the kindness and humbleness without fail.

The Main Hall


2) Wat Pikulthong 

Wat Pikulthong temple is relatively smaller. However, you won't miss this temple since the Buddha statue is standing tall. Facing the standing Buddha, there is a graveyard and a fish pond on your left while on your right is a school inside the compound of the temple. We had a only brief stop since most of the area is still under construction.


3) Pantai Tujuh
While on our way to search for the other temples (Waze failed to bring us, pointed us to the middle of the main road towards Thai Border), we got lost for a short while, and ended up having a short fun time at Pantai Tujuh.

My aunts went to the loo, my father went chit chat with the locals at the food stalls, while Sonia, Wei and mum examined and investigated the spirally coiled shells that populated the bay area.


Sonia learning the trick of reconstructing the pine leaves



4) Wat Matchimmaram
I forgot to set the location of Wat Matchimmaram in my Waze and hence it was already out of my itinerary. However, when we were on our way to the Reclining Buddha temple, we saw this huge sitting Buddha and we decided to make a stop. How can we not visiting the biggest sitting Buddha statue in South East Asia?

The temple is full with murals of stories from the Sutras. A bit scary for the little girl though.

While we were there, we were please to see the REAL MALAYSIA, the true racial harmony that our ancestors practiced, and still true in Kelantan. Wei Wei got a better picture to demonstrate this.

Another thing that I remembered about this temple, is the beautiful water hyacinth flowers. Despite staying quite near to the river for a few years in Taman Sri Rambai, I have never seen the water hyacinth blossom! This is so pretty.



5) Wat Photovihan
Reclining Buddha

Wat Photovihan must be the most famous temple in Kelantan. This 40m long statue has a long history. It was completed in year 1979. I think I have a few photos of the 5-years-old-me standing in front of the statue hidding somewhere in the old photo albums.

By the time we reached the temple, we were already out in the sun for almost 6 hours. Everyone was exhausted (you know la~ Malaysia weather).

We were so glad to see a few food stalls in the temple compound. After we parked our cars, my parents and aunts rushed to the shady stall for some refreshing fresh coconut juice while 3 of us had fun playing with the puppies.

None of us wanted to walk into the sun and walk towards the temple. It was until we realized it's almost time to go back to Kota Bharu town, and we shouldn't come to the temple compound and not paying respect to the Buddha, we finally dragged ourselves to the temple.


The Reclining Buddha (or we called "Sleeping Buddha" in Mandarin) is as huge as I remembered. The 12 Chinese Zodiac statues are still as eerie as I could remember. I tried my best to explain the stories of Gautama Buddha as per in the drawings but I think I failed miserably.
Before we leave the temple, Si Yi and Sonia made wishes by throwing coins into the huge alms bowl. Si Yi's coin went right into the alms bowl in one throw and that concluded our temple tours.

Thursday 4 July 2013

邮购初体验(续集)

上一回我谈起我的邮购初体验,邮购货物分为两批,第一批收到后我已经兴致勃勃地在这儿分享,却不知好戏在后头。

话说我四月五号已经收到Threadless的电邮,告知我邮包已经寄出,预计我可以在四月尾或最迟五月十日就可以收到了。结果我等呀等,等呀等的,到了五月二十一日我的邮包仍不见踪影,我心想难道死鬼Threadless让我尝一尝甜头后就立刻骗走我的美金40元?

为了印证,我就给他们写了封电邮。他们的客户服务态度一流,工作人员(Threadless Help Ambassador) Crystal二十四小时内已经给我回复。虽然只是普通邮寄(此公司暂时没有提供海外速递服务),但他们肯定了美国邮局已经把邮包寄离美国,并给我一个编号,好让我可以尝试向马来西亚邮政局咨询。

我到POS Malaysia的网站找来找去,就是找不着online tracking的方法,于是最后决定给他们打电话。接听的是一名女士。
我问:“我有一个两个月前从美国寄来的邮包至今仍未收到,是否有什么法子可以查一查出了什么事故?”
她说:"tak boleh"
我说:“美国那方有给我一个编号。”
她说:"Itu bukan poslaju, tak boleh track"
我问:“如果我给你我的名字呢?”
她说:"tak boleh"
我问:“如果我给你我的地址呢?”
她说:"tak boleh"
我问:“我是不是应该去海关局问一问?”
她说:"tak boleh"
我问:“那消费人究竟要怎么样才能问清自己的包裹可有被海关以某种理由扣查或充公?”
她说:"tak boleh"

老天!POS Malaysia何必请接线员当客户服务?让电脑自动回答"tak boleh"就行了呗!我们的邮政和海关系统真是让我百思不解,要是完全没有透明度,要怎么预防害群之马把消费人的包裹占为己有呢?

我在自己国家的邮政局碰了钉子,只好硬着头皮再给Crystal写信,要求他让美国邮局查一查是否卡在大马海关。也不知道是不是他们已经习惯了发展中国家的低效率,还是他们懒得和他国邮局沟通,反正Crystal说:"Oh no! At this point, we have to assume the order was lost in transit."她让我选择退款、Threadless credit或是从新给我寄上我原本订购的T恤。我还是选择了后者。

几天后Crystal告诉我其中一件已经断货,问我可要另选一个款式,或是Threadless credit,或是退款。我还是笃定地另选一件。最终,我在五月二十九日收到了Threadless证实把新邮包寄出的电邮,说Expected delivery is between June 14 & June 28, but no later than July 12,他们还给我送上十元美金的e固本,以示道歉的诚意呢!一眨眼已经是七月,我以为我的邮购包裹应该是“冬瓜水”了。心里暗自嘀咕,当以美金四十元买个教训就是了,什么鬼邮购!


今天回家看见包裹就放在饭桌上,"Smallish Bag. Big Ideas Inside",四十美元失而复反,兴奋得什么似的,赶紧打开包裹,把衣服排在床上拍照。薇和我等了几个月的Life of Pie终于来啦~

这么一来,我对邮购的信心虽没有significantly increased,但我对Threadless这家公司的诚信与服务非常满意,以后应该会成为常客吧?

Tuesday 25 June 2013

Antoni Gaudi


Today is Antoni Gaudi's 161st birthday! I'm glad to see this when I open up Google this morning. It immediately reminded me of the lovely Europe trip that we had 2 years ago, the amazing magical Sagrada Familia, the fairy-tale-like Parc Guell......The works of Antoni Gaudi may seems strange on photos, but they are marvelous when you stand in front of them!

Monday 24 June 2013

Simple Yummy at Chew Jetty

I blogged about Chew Jetty Cafe last year. This is one of the places we frequented. The food is simple, good and cheap.

Besides the normal hawker food, you can also have home-cook-seafood here. The phone number of the home-cook-seafood is written on the blackboard of the coffee shop. You can always call and place order. (Be early though, sometimes the food finished before 7:45pm!). The owner will bring the food from their home at Chew Jetty to the coffee shop.

"Chi Ya Hu" is my favorite fish for deep fried. Not a fancy dish but this is no longer a dish that you can easily get. My mum does cook from time to time but she always complain about the price ("This used to be something very cheap, used to be fish for the poor", she has to repeat this every time we have this at home)

"Balitong" too is hard to get now. Ever since the outbreak of Hyperthesis a few decades ago, "Balitong" and cockles share the same faith where they were listed as the high risk food. "Balitong" status dropped from one of the most popular Malaysian seafood to something no one seeks after. So, for Balitong lovers out there, you can always come to Chew Jetty Cafe to practice you sucking skill :)




Sunday 23 June 2013

Cuti-cuti "Half" Peninsular Malaysia - Day 2 - Nasi Ulam Kampung Kraftangan

After our Batik Workshop, we went back to Pasir Belanda to shower and change before we continue our exploration.

Our first stop of the day: Nasi Ulam Kampung Kraftangan (to be very honest, we were aiming for the food, visiting the Craft Museum was just something you do just because you were already there)

Nasi Ulam Kampung Kraftangan

This restaurant serves varieties of food. It is self-service so you could take your own sweet time to explore the food counter while having headache deciding what to take base on your stomach capacity. Dad, who grew up with his nyonya grandmother, was especially thrilled to find the variety of ulam that he could choose from. I was surprise that the sambal, sauces (they even have durian sauce!!), chillies, kuah are all free flow!!

The senior citizens and I, somehow, at some point of our youth, were trained in eating with bare hand. With such simple yet delicious food, we decided to eat with bare hand, just like to locals. I have to say it was really fun in a traditional restaurant like this. Believe it or not, eating with bare hand actually made the food taste better :)


The Ulam

Deep fried ikan keli

Traditional style fried chicken

Hmm.... I don't remember the name of this dish

This is a restaurant that you should never miss if you were to visit Kota Bharu. It serves good and extremely cheap food! With the dishes listed above, a cup of milo ice and 6 cups of teh tarik, lunch for seven of us cost less than RM40!

How to go? Just set your GPS to Kampung Kraftangan :)

of course, we had a brief visit at the Craft Museum too

Saturday 22 June 2013

Cuti-cuti "Half" Peninsular Malaysia - Day 2 - Batik Workshop

After a great breakfast at the White House, we went back to Pasir Belanda.

3 of us enrolled in a batik workshop but the senior citizens wanted to follow. They imagined that they could shop for some nice batik while we learn batik drawing. So, 7 of us followed Pasir Belanda staff, together with an Australian family, walked cross the kampung to the Batik Workshop.

The senior citizens grew up in an environment like this so they were very excited almost about everything. Mama said "take the photo of that beautiful kampung house!" and Wei Wei said "Hey! I grew up in Malaysia too!" haha!

When we finally arrived (actually just about 10 minutes walk), we were shocked!!The batik workshop is just a small hut at the back of a kampung house! All the senior citizens found some excuses and "cabut". They went back to Pasir Belanda to swim, to read, to relax, to have "math class" while we stayed to learn some basic skill of batik drawing.

THIS!! Is the batik workshop

It's literary a sweat shop!! Everyone of us was sweating while drawing. However, it was an unique experience. While we were busy learning, this dilapidated hut was full with visitors. Hen came with her chicks, the cat and kittens wandering around. The two Australian kids had great fun chasing the animals.





The drawing tools

Our masterpiece :)
We were given a white cloth that has been divided into 4 sections. Wei Wei, Sonia and I were responsible for one section each while the instructor drew on the remaining one. Since we came unprepared, we were having headache at the beginning as none of us know what to draw. We had to brainstorm for ideas.

Finally I settled for something cartoonish and easy (mushrooms) while Wei Wei drew some colourful vibrant sunflowers with butterfly. Sonia was the best student. She diligently drew an underwater dolphin accompanied by angel fishes, jelly fishes and corals.

Handling the hot wax was a bit tricky as if you don't hold the tool steadily at the correct angle you will get a line with uneven width or even sometimes a big spot instead of a line. The colouring part was fun. We learnt how to shade and tone.

Once completed, the students had to leave their works with the teacher so that their drawings could go through the other chemical processes before the masterpieces were delivered to Pasir Belanda. (Unfortunately, we were out after the batik class. We reached Pasir Belanda after 10pm so we decided to get back our masterpieces the next morning. When we went to the office to get our drawings the next morningg, the staff went to check with her boss and Harry came to me with a bad news. He didn't know that there were 4 students enrolled in the batik workshop the day before. So when the batik instructor sent the batik, he didn't open to check. He gave the bag to the Australian family when they were leaving. He promised us to try to contact the Australian family after their Taman Negara trip and try to get them to send the batik to my home address when they reach Kuala Lumpur. I'm not sure if he managed to find them, and I'm not sure if they managed to send us the batik. I just hope that we could receive the package before Sonia goes back to US. )

So, What Happened?


We are all born scientists. So what happened?

When toddlers learn by testing hypotheses and analyzing evidence, why not all the supposedly-scientifically-trained-engineers do the same?

Should we blame our education system for promoting robotic learning and total suppression of curiosity? Should we blame the parents for focusing only on exams results and little else? Or should we blame ourselves for letting others mold us into someone we are not?

Friday 21 June 2013

Cuti-cuti "Half" Peninsular Malaysia - Day 2 - Kedai Kopi White House


My dad used to work in Kota Bharu more than 3 decades ago, when I was 4 or 5. I remembered my first flight experience is to visit my dad in Kota Bharu with my mum and my grandma. I don't really remember much of Kota Bharu, except some weird Malay-grammar-hokkien, the flood, my first ever Malay friend who played masak-masak with me every afternoon communicating in an unknown common language, the metal bed at the second (or third) floor of the shop where I secretly throw in a lot of grape seeds hoping that one day I have a vine bed (the idea still sounds cool to me to date though it never happened), the banana leaf Indian Restaurant (that none of us could recall the name and failed to find the restaurant during this trip), and, THE Kedai Kopi White House. Some how, the half boiled eggs stayed vividly in my memory.

Wei Wei taking picture of the signboard of The White House

My dad missed the nasi dagang, and both my parents confirmed that this shop serves one of the best coffee in Malaysia. So, planning a breakfast at The Kedai Kopi White House is inevitable.

We were lucky to find a table when we arrived. This White House is almost always full house. We ordered 7 sets of half-boiled-eggs, kaya toasts and coffee. While waiting, we grabbed almost every single types of nasi that the shop sells. All of these nasi were good! Unfortunately, the nasi dagang was no longer the nasi dagang that my dad remembered, he missed the one cooked with "red rice". I have no memory of that and I still think the one we had was very good :)

When we almost done with our nasi, the half boiled eggs were served. To appreciate how good the half boiled eggs were, first, you must understand that these were cook simply by adding boiled water into the traditional iron mug (of course, with eggs inside la~). They must have really spent effort in doing their DOE and perfect their RSM. I bet they have their own high standard in selecting their raw material too. The results: marvelous!



The half boiled egg and the aromatic coffee make a perfect breakfast combination! Oh, and that toast!! The bread is toasted with charcoal (that explained why you have to wait and wait and wait), crispy outside, fluffy inside. And, the kaya is the kill. I am never fancy of kaya but I have to admit that their homemade kaya is good. Not too sweet, not too lemak, not too thick, just nice for me.


Thursday 20 June 2013

Cuti-cuti "Half" Peninsular Malaysia - Day 1

31st May 2013 (Driving route: Bukit Mertajam --> Pulau Banting (brief stop) -> Kota Bharu)
Tasik Temenggor
Wei Wei flew back on 30th May 2013 evening so that she can joined this road trip. We planned to start as early as 6:30am, but with a huge group, we ended up departed around 7:30am. We drove 2 cars, the senior citizens in one car, while the younger ones (including me, haha!) were in another.
It was a nice drive, and Banjaran Titiwangsa is as pretty as I could remember. The brief stop at Pulau Banting was very refreshing too.

The traffic was quite smooth, except from time to time you have to crawl behind the lorries / buses. The traffic getting worse when we were approaching Kota Bharu. Too many traffic lights to slow down everything.
Khao Jam (Nasi Kerabu) from U-Lang Corner
By the time we reached Kota Bharu is already almost 1pm. We went to a few shortlisted restaurants but most of them were closed! (Friday!! Kelantan!! What was I thinking!?) We finally found "U-Lang Corner" that's still open but the only thing left was the final set of Khao Jam.
We gave up! We 'da bao' the final set (for tea break at hotel later, and the nasi kerabu from was so good that my mum and aunts were planning to revisit for next day lunch), and we went to McD to settle our first meal in Kota Bharu in the Friday afternoon (lesson learn!)
After lunch, we drove to Pasir Belanda Resort. I had the location set at Waze in both my iPad and iPhone so I was very confident. However, after passing through the Malay graveyards and kampung houses, in the middle of the kampung road, the iPhone screen went 100% grey, and on the Waze's map, that's nothing else but a blue dot at the middle of nowhere. We were panic. Wei Wei started to search for Pasir Belanda on her Google Map and it pointed us to Kota Bharu city center which is a few kilometers away. I decided to trust Waze and continue to drive to the blue dot direction even though there's no more map available on Waze. Apparently Waze is correct. Pasir Belanda Resort is so deep in the kampung that you won't see it on the GPS map! You can imagine how glad we were when we finally found this lovely place.
Pasir Belanda

After check in, we had a good rest. We use my yoga map to set up a nice spot at the middle of the garden for free wifi and book reading spot while our mums and aunts catch up on all the gossips for the past 3 years. :)

For dinner, we went for this famous Thai food restaurant "Chengmai" at Wakaf Baru. First of all, the roads are very confusing. How do you read a map where all the roads from every directions of a roundabout are named "Jalan Wakaf Baharu"? So we had to asked for the directions a few times even with the help of Waze. The trick is: look for Kampung Kulim.

Secondly, again, this restaurant is deep inside a kampung. While we were quite stressed out trying to find the way, I guess the senior citizens were getting worried following us too. So you can guess how relieved we were when we saw this lovely sign of "Chengmai Thai Food Restaurant". 

After we parked our car, my aunt said to me "this better be good". Well, it is beyond good! The food is great!!We ordered a plate of pandan chicken, a set of pork knuckle, a tomyam kung, a plate of siam steam la-la, a plate of belacan kangkung (ok, this one is very disappointing), and our favorite: steam prawns with bamboo shoots and coconut milk. This particular dish is sourly and 'lemak' at the same time, and has a very unique after taste that ensure you want for more. In fact we actually had repeated order. The price is quite reasonable too. 7 of us with the food stated above, 1 bottle of sugar cane juice (1.5l) and 1 bottle of soya bean (1.5l) cost less than RM200.

If you were to visit Kota Bharu, this Thai restaurant at Tumpat is highly recommended. 

5D4N "Half" Peninsular Malaysia Self Drive Route


I love family trip, I love road trip, I love Malaysia (especially the beautiful East Coast), I love good food. You can easily tell how much I love this wonderful trip.

31st May 2013 
Driving route: Bukit Mertajam -- Pulau Banting (brief stop) -- Kota Bharu
Activities: Good food, relax, "math class"
Accommodation: Pasir Belanda Resort (RM220 for 3-pax superior room)

Millage of our trip
1st June 2013 
Driving route: Wat Mai Suwankhiri (Dragon Boat Temple) -- Wat Pikulthong (Standing Buddha) -- Wat Matchimmaram (Sitting Buddha) -- Pantai Tujuh -- Wat Photovihan (Reclining buddha)
Activities: Good food, batik workshop (RM30 per pax), kampung kraftangan, temples, night market
Accommodation: Pasir Belanda Resort

2nd June 2013 
Driving route: Kota Bharu -- Bachok -- Kuala Terengganu -- Sungai Lembing
Activities: Drive along the beautiful coastline
Accommodation: Lembing Riverview Resort

3rd June 2013
Driving route: Sungai Lembing -- KL
Activities: Sunrise at Bukit Panorama, Sungai Lembing Town tour, KLCC
Accommodation: My uncle's show-house-like-villa

4th June 2013
Driving route: KL -- Ipoh -- Bukit Mertajam
Activities: Shopping at One-Utama, Dinner at Ipoh  老黄芽菜鸡



Other itineraries:
2017 - Germany: Upper Middle Rhine Valley One Day Tour (Stay tune)