Malaysia: Photo Diary

DISCLAIMER

if you're Malaysian and really miss food from home, this might be slightly painful.

Good food from home! (left out the ones that werent yummy and hence not blog post worthy)

And because I forgot to bring my camera most of the time, these are all from my iphone. Bear with me.

Fresh young coconut

Lemongrass steamed fish

Salted egg crab

Best fruit tarts in the world @ De Pastry Chef, Menjalara 

Appam and curry puffs for less than 1 AUD @ Bangsar

Paper Thosai @ Jaipur Curry House, Taman Tun

Honey Lemon @ Jojo kitchen

Chilli Pan Mee @ Jojo Kitchen

Not so great HK dessert, but the names were hilarious so I had to.

Steamboat, satay and the best chicken wings ever @ Pulau Ketam Seafood, Kepong

Teh C peng that was way too sweet @ Village Park, Damansara Utama

My favourite claypot Loh See Fun @ Mama Kitchen, Taman Tun

Limau Ais, my go to mamak drink! 

My cracked macarons - the ones that survived the monster of an oven.

I had high hopes but - not the best crepe cake

Chinese Wine Chicken we would drive out to Sri Kembangan for

Here it is!

Red Ruby - my fav Thai dessert

Tutti Frutti @ Taman Tun
How does anyone resist the rainbow sprinkles?

Century Egg and Pork Porridge 

SO MANY PAPAYAS ON THIS TREE

Roti Telur (which I proceeded to drown in dhall)

Asam and Cendol flavoured crushed ice

Crazy crispy fried wontons @ Rawang

Watermelon juice

Pandan Chicken

Pai Tee

CHAR KUEY TEOW

Salmon, Tuna and Butter Fish Sashimi at a sushi buffet @ Damansara Perdana
We had so much sashimi that day even until now I dont wanna eat salmon.

Mochi Sweets @ 1 Utama.
The 30 minute wait before you can eat it is excruciating.

Pu Tien @ 1 Utama
Fun Fact: according to my dad it MAY be one of my "long lost relatives" who opened the restaurant because he has the same surname  as I do, and my grandfather was from Pu Tien and one more reason that I cant remember. Sorry dad!

Drunken Cockles @ Pu Tien
I know some people have an aversion to cockles. But these were really good!

Overpriced Strawberry Cheese Cupcake @ The Bakery, Genting
But we still love it because its awesome. 

Kaya Balls that didnt have much kaya in it, much to my disappointment

Maggi Hot Cup Tomyam. HELLO.

The few rare photos not related to food.

Loved this ride as a kid. Still love it as an adult! And there is NO SHAME in lining up for the Flying Elephants okay! 

Except maybe if you did it 6 times in a row.

Which we did.

FYI, the best way to enjoy this ride is to let the elephant drop real close to the bottom then press the button so it goes back up with a sharp jerk, and then let it drop again. Repeat. For maximum awesomeness, you need to pick an elephant that responds really quick to the button. I recommend Elephant Number 12.

Muar Chee @ SS2 Thursday Night Market

Which we spent about 1.5 hours getting to. But thats another story.

Lined up for 10 whole minutes. Only to find out that there was another exact same stall about 10 metres down. Don't ask me why they were not next to each other. I prefer the Petaling Street Muar Chee though! (with Ribena, Coffee, Lychee, and Pandan flavour! YUM)

NYAM NYAM - one of the exclusive treats as a kid

No idea what this biscuit is called, but its another one of my (and im sure, my other peoples) favourites.

How you are expected to eat Nyam Nyam - dip the plastic stick into the chocolate, then dip chocolate covered stick into the rice bubbles so they stick onto the chocolate, then eat.

How everybody eats Nyam Nyam - finish the rice bubbles, then savour the chocolate.

Nobody really likes the rice bubbles. They have always just been an obstacle before you reach the chocolate.

Most hated stall as a kid - the rotan stall.

Super cheap falsies. And to think that about 5 years ago I found some for 5 bucks each and thought THAT was cheap.

Dragon Beard Biscuit which was unfortunately from a packet because we were desperate - but still amazingly crumbly

So after Chatime, apparently now Meet Fresh  has begun its invasion

Teriyaki Cod Fish

Teriyaki Squid

Favourite sashimi of the moment - Scallop. Why have I not discovered this earlier in life?

Its nothing but rice noodles and LOADS OF AMAZING SPICY AND TANGY FLAVOUR.
Best Mee Siam ever @ Nyonya Colours

My guilty pleasure - maggi mee goreng

The lovely beauticians
Because there are 3 things that need to be done every trip home. Dental checkup, hair cut, and a facial. 

And these pictures are only one dimension to the amazing time in Malaysia.

As I was sitting at home wondering why I'm craving Tutti Frutti, because theres Tutti Frutti in Melbourne too and I dont really like it, I had a (wonderful) revelation.

Favourite foods are chosen based on their flavour (of course), but what is really craved the most is the fun times with amazing people while eating those foods. Stories exchanged in the comfy air conditioned interior of Tutti Frutti with friends, dad driving us out to all these far away places just for a meal,  Laks driving us all the way up to genting JUST for that strawberry cheese cupcake.

Ahh, good times.

Every time I go back, it seems to get a little harder to leave.  Because now I realise how precious the times are with my family whom I only get to see for a few precious months in an entire year, and with my highschool friends who I get to see for even less than a few months in a year. Skype is never the same. Dislike skype but I have no choice :( Darn it I'm a little homesick.

So lets see, what DONT I miss about Malaysia? Probably the toilets which always seems to be wet and you better bring your own tissue just in case.

Polite Dance Song

My final week of holidays has begun! Oh how dreadful. I know some people might say that they cant wait to get back to work because they feel like they're wasting their time doing nothing, or that they feel very sluggish and bored and unproductive, but even though at times I feel bored, I still haven't had enough (of holidays!) Seriously. Spending time doing things you want to do but never had the time to do during semester, is AWESOME. And there's still tons of things left on my holiday to-do list! Some of them might be carried forward to Spring break I guess.

Things I wanted to do include:
1. Driving.
So much for that. I think I actually sat in the drivers seat less than 5 times this entire holidays. But hey, I might be doing my community a favour.

2. Eat
If you've been reading, you would know I'm doing pretty well in this department. But there are still tons of things I need to eat before I head back to Melbourne! Like Ramli burger, and Maggi Mee Goreng.

3. Bake
Not much time to do that here, because I'm too busy eating, and meeting people. Plus my moms oven is MASSIVE. I baked a batch of macarons for my sister's birthday, but burnt half the batch and I'd like to think its because my mom's oven is much too efficient than what I'm used to (and not just because I messed up heh)

3. Exercise
So far, gym rate is still once a week. Yep. And I did not manage to go swimming (again). My sister has probably given up on my promise to take her swimming one of these days. But Rowena Hong is not a promise-breaker! So I will. Next time I'm back. :p

Just the other day I was thinking to myself: I hate these exercise/aerobics videos. I only like the dance ones. But I even bought a dancercise DVD once and I got bored of the routine after a while. I would join actual dance classes that teach a new routine every now and then, that would be fun, but classes are expensive. If only they had videos that teach actual dance routines and not just those choreographed to "burn those fats" (which are usually boring and consists of repeated kicks, grapevines and box steps, with upbeat techno-ish music)

And last night I went on YouTube and TA-DAH, DS2DIO has posted such a video! With a routine choreograhped by WADE ROBSON.

 WADE.     ROBSON.

Been a fan of this guy since I started watching So You Think You Can Dance, and getting to take a class from him and learn his choreography (albeit through a screen) has got me all excited and even a little bit starstruck. Dramatic, I know.

I've always known that he's amazing, but little did I know, until after I watched this interview.
No formal training, danced with Michael Jackson at 5, choreographed Britney Spears' world Tour at 16 etc etc etc. Crazy.






Spent the afternoon learning the routine. Within the first 5 minutes of the video I was sweaty. So unfit, but it feels awesome to be sweating from dance and knowing that I'm getting exercise and reeeeeally enjoying it at the same time (how boring is jogging?), not to mention using those muscles that I've been trained to use since what feels like forever ago. I miss my ballet days.

So here's part 1 of the masterclass. I've seen his choreography, but never seen him dance. His moves are SO sharp and clean I seriously have no idea how I can ever replicate his moves. Core exercises?

I've only got through part 1 so far. Had a look at part 2 (there's a link at the end of the video, or you can click here), but it requires more sharp head movements and my neck has had enough for a day. SO going to ache tomorrow.



If they keep churning out videos like this, my plans to exercise more might ACTUALLY start becoming a reality.
(Fingers crossed)


On a side note: I am very amused by his double goatee.

Till next time! x