Batik Workshop

Attending batik workshop is one of the highlight of our previous trip. However, we had zero expectations and preparations then, causing us couldn't maximize our experience. Besides, our 'masterpieces' were accidentally sent to an Australian family when they left Pasir Belanda Resort. It took months for them to come back to us. By the time we received, the magic and excitement were already faded.

This round, we attended the workshop prepared. I warned everyone to think of what they want to draw, and everyone googled for their favorite pictures / pattern before the workshop.

So as soon as the teacher let us start drawing, everyone immediately jump into action.

The workshop is still at the same old place. Very basic, super hot and humid! As before, I wish I can complete my batik drawing as soon as possible so that I can run away from the heat.

This round, things get even excited! We met the super huge spider. It was just behind me, hanging, while I tried my very best to pretend that it was not there.

We suspected that it is our batik guru'e pet. "If you run out of ideas, you can just watch the spider and be inspired", that's what our guru told us. A totally not useful tip.

Very kind Jass added his hand in this picture to give you better perception of the size of the spider

Here are the tools for batik drawing. As I said, super basic. First, we use pencil to sketch on a white cloth. Once done, you can start to draw with hot wax by using the custom made fixture. It was done by dipping into the hot boiling wax, and slowly let the wax flowing out from the tip and cover the drawn lines. The thickness of the wax can be adjusted by controlling the flow of the wax.  

Step 1: draw

Step 2: cover the lines with wax

This is how it looks like after covered with wax

The final step for the participants is to colour the batik. We had great fun experimenting the colour mixing / layering and various technique.

Photo session with our drawings before the workshop owner process them with chemical

The next morning, we received our end products. We couldn't help but took tons of photos :)

My end product: much better than my first trial

The proud artist

Pasir Belanda

2 years ago, we had a family trip to East Coast Malaysia. We love Kelantan, and Pasir Belanda plays an important role. This lovely resort hide in the middle of Malay kampung, just right at the river bank. We had relaxing time enjoying the simplest happiness here.

So during this recent trip, of course we have to stay at this place again. The couple stay in one chalet and four girls in another. Since you will spend most of your time outdoor enjoying the kampung lifestyle, this room is big enough for us to stay comfortably for 3D2N.

Chalet #1 - room for 4 of us

Orchid at chalet #1

Resort facility including free wifi (top priority for most people), a tiny pool, a pondok in the middle of the garden, a small play ground including a tree house, swing, seesaw and slide. You can use their ping pong table and boat for free. There are bicycles available for rent too, RM 35 per bike.

Terrace by the river

Cute little tree house

View from the terrace

I can sit there for hours......

Here are some of the new stuffs:

For you to relax at poolside

Cute van

To show how much we love this place, when we were leaving, our Selfie Queen insisted to park our car at roadside and took photos at the entrance of the resort.

Zakka

GST 前最后一次淘宝，是到“全新全艺”买了一批摆设品，用来装饰我的宝贝空凤和多肉植物们。我个人对这家的产品非常满意，手工好细腻，非常温馨可爱的。

买了十多只的小动物，给同事们一人一只，让办公室增添一点活力：

买了一个农村小屋门面、一个英式邮筒、一个Mini、一辆怀旧三轮电单车和一个树桐，为家里入门角落增添一点二外国风味：

怀旧三轮电单车还可以载送我的小小空凤。农村小屋摆上空凤也很有家的味道：

两棵空凤就这样在树桐上争妍斗丽：

而最萌的，要数那爬缸小熊们。空凤、多肉都顿时亮眼起来：

Malaysia Best Khao Jam - U-lang Corner

Technically, I'm 1/8 Nyonya. I grow up eating 1/4 Nyonya food, 1/4 Hokkien food, and 1/2 of everything else. Among all the Nyonya food, ulam bui (nasi ulam in hokkien, steamed rice dish mixed with various herbs) is one of my favorite. We always call it 'ulam bui', until my Malay colleague corrected me a few years back. Technically not wrong, but to be more accurate, the one that I love is actuall nasi kerabu, a type of nasi ulam.

To me, my grand-aunt (and my mum master this later) cook the best 'ulam bui' (isn't everyone's favorite dishes from childhood are mum's / grandmas' / grand-aunts' / aunts' cooking?). So if I do think U-lang Corner sell the best Khao Jam in Malaysia, you can tell how high the quality is.

During our previous family trip to East Coast, we arrived at "U-Lang Corner" in late afternoon and the only thing left was the final set of Khao Jam. We 'da bao' the final set and ate at hotel later. Even the dabao one impressed my mum's golden tongue. We came back on the next day and it was closed. My mum and my aunts missed this a lot!

Finally, I'm here. Based on previous experience, the 'dabao' one is very good, so imagine how excited I was, waiting for the hot food to be served.

The first thing you’ll notice about their khao jam is the beautiful, vivid colour of the the greenish rice and the other herbs. Ulang Corner’s khao jam apparently made with the juice of more than 40 blended herbs. It also serves with kerisik ikan, sambal, fish crackers (out of stock when we were there) and raw / fresh vegetables. We ordered a set with turmeric fried kembong and 2 sets of turmeric fried chicken for side dishes. I LOVE the aroma!

Best khao jam!

We also cannot resist the smell of laksam and laksa. Though very full, we have to order one each to prevent we regret later. We had terrible laksam at Kopitiam Kita earlier in the morning. Luckily this amended others' opinion about laksam. I love the Kelantan version of asam laksa too. That colourful bowl, you'll love it even before your first bite.

3 plates of khao jam, one laksam, one asam laksa, one nasi berlauk, 6 glasses of drinks cost us RM41.
 

Laksam

Kelantan asam laksa - everything here is so colourful

Address: 4939-B, Jalan Wakaf Mek Zainab, 15300 Kota Bharu, Kelantan.

Business Hour: 11:30am – 2:30pm

Restaurant Kampung Kulim

想要到Restaurant Kampung Kulim，完全是因为看《阿贤人情味》时，看见那独特的椰壳炭烧鸡。那小小的砖位堆满高高的椰殼堆，甘榜走地鸡以铁桶盖着烘烤，好像很美味似的。于是，我们来了……

从LifeStyleMalaysia借来的图片，轰轰烈火中铁桶里的就是烘烤着的鸡

我们在往Cheng Mai Restaurant的途中，把车子停在铁路旁，半怀旧（当中好多人都曾经在铁路旁拍青春照）、半兴奋地跨过铁路找吃去！还有人说自己第一次犯法，真是世风日下。


由于已经决定到Cheng Mai Restaurant吃我们的“好吃到吓吓叫的天下无敌嫩笋椰浆虾”（HT取名，虽然拗口，但点出精髓），所以我们在这家只点了两道菜。


第一道上菜的是budu炒猪肉。味道香浓！猪肉的熟度恰好，鲜嫩得很。

第二道当然是招牌菜（我也为此而来）：椰壳炭烧鸡。皮烤得香、鸡肉仍然香嫩多汁，还用香蕉叶垫底藉此带出另一层香气。果然名不虚传。不过，由于《阿贤人情味》那非常有型的椰壳火堆，我在想象中把这菜肴的美味无比夸大，现实来尝后倒是有一丝丝“仅此？！”的感叹。

以这两道菜的水准来说，好好的吃一顿晚餐应该不错。可惜我们早把心一横决定把在吉兰丹的第二晚晚餐留给“好吃到吓吓叫的天下无敌嫩笋椰浆虾”。下次吧。

价钱如何？以上两道菜和一壶饮料要RM57。你自己评断吧。

Cheng Mai Restaurant

THIS, is one of the reasons I return to Kelantan:

Chengmai Thai Food Restaurant at Kampung Kulim

To be more accurate, THIS is the reason:

Steam prawns with bamboo shoots in curry with coconut milk

I came here with my family in my previous trip, fell in love with this dish, and we repeated order during the same meal. This time, we fell in love with this dish, and we came back on the second night. This is how good this dish is. I cannot understand how this dish is not their signature dish.

First of all, the fresh bamboo shoots are crispy. Secondly, the prawns are fresh. They cooked it so well that the it is still springy. Most importantly, the way they cook the coconut milk curry is very different. It is thin and you can drink as if you are drinking soup, but the fragrant is so thick that you are going to love the after taste!


So, if our favorite curry prawn is not the signature dish, then which is?

Of course is the photogenic flaming volcanic chicken (火山鸡). Almost every table ordered this dish. The chicken is served "standing" and "burning". The flame dance and you will see phones and cameras in action.

The waitress here are not very good in marketing. They don't know how to introduce their dishes and that's why we didn't order this in my previous visit with my family. Until we were almost done, we saw the standing chicken flaming in next table... We regretted for not ordering, and we always wonder how it taste.

Finally, the truth is out: the chicken is well seasoned and juicy. Deserved the flame :)


I'd say their another signature dish is Kheng Som, Thai style asam pedas fish. They know everyone loves the soup so you are allow to refill as many times as you wish, FOC. My gang love sour and spicy food so this dish is one of the more popular ones.

All the other dishes that we ordered were great too. We love all of them. However, our favorite, steam prawns with bamboo shoots in curry with coconut milk, overshadowed the others.

Lime sauce sotong

 Pad ped catfish

Deep fried 'pork hand'

Deep friend kangkung

All of the above, including 2 jars of drinks and rice for 6, cost us RM179. Very satisfying.


As I said, we love the steam prawns with bamboo shoots in curry with coconut milk so much, we returned on the second night.

We arrived late so we suspected the better chef already went home. The curry is still good but we have less bamboo shoots and more mushrooms. Still good, but a bit of disappointment for not having enough bamboo shoots for everyone of us.

We noticed that we didn't order tomyam on the first night. How can one not ordering tomyam at a Thai restaurant? So we tried the tomyam and it was very ordinary. Not bad, but just ordinary. Slightly below our expectations.


Even the lime sauce lala taste bland as compared to previous night lime sauce sotong.

lime sauce lala

The one that surprised us was their signature toufu. Very fragrant, very soft. The garlic and chili bring the best out of the toufu. Lovely!

signature toufu

These 4 dishes, rice for 6, 2 jars of drinks cost us RM92.


How to go?
1. DO NOT follow Google Map. See the big red cross that I marked on google map below? That's where google thinks Cheng Mai Restaurant is. The huge red arrow I marked below is the actual location.
2. Set your GPS to go to Restaurant Kampung Kulim, and Cheng Mai restaurant is just another 2~3 minutes drive away.

Nasi Kak Wok

(Kelantanese, please don't kill me for this post!)

Maybe because Kak Wok already passed away and her heirs' cooking is just a little bit off, or maybe I have set too high of expectations, this meal was not as good as I imagined. Good, but not extra ordinary.

This is a shop without sign. I came to look for it during my previous 5D4N "Half" Peninsular Malaysia Self Drive trip but it was closed on Friday. This round, to make sure we won't miss this place, I got my Kelantan friend to sit beside me and confirmed the shop on Google Street :)

This, is the original Nasi Kak Wok at Kampung Lundang, Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra:

We arrived late, most of the pots are empty. Luckily there were still some pre-packed nasi kak wok asal selling so we quickly grabbed 6 packs!

The curry is slightly sweet and the fried chicken is a bit salty so the taste is layered and fragrant. Good and unique, but not something that can make me return to Kota Bharu :)

Note: their drinks are too sweet for our liking too.