Kuala Lumpur - Lake Garden (Wait, you mean you can walk there from KL Sentral!???)

As suggested by the title of this post, yes Lake Garden, or in Bahasa Malaysia, called Taman Tasik Perdana, is as its name suggested, a garden with a lake in the middle, which located in the busy city of Kuala Lumpur.

I was there exploring the area with my friend back in 2002, when we were still university student.  13 years have pass, and I wonder how that place have become now.  So I decide to go for a walk around the area again.  This time of course is with my colleague.

Now there's another reason for this journey.  One day in last month (January 2015), my colleague shared that there was a tourist asking her on how to get to National Museum from our work place, Plaza Sentral, which is just next to KL Sentral.  She didn't know how, so she asked the tourist to take a taxi instead.  I told her that National Museum can be reached from where we are on foot, and she was shocked by it.  She doesn't even know that Lake Garden can be reached from National Museum either.  For one moment I thought...  "Are you really KL resident?".  So in the end we decided to go explore the area together, and asked other colleagues to join in as well, but in the end only the 2 of us, the most enthusiastic out of the bunch to explore the place.

Lake Garden is actually a very nice place to visit.  The surrounding area have a lot of interesting place to visit as well, such as the covered bird park, butterfly park, orchid garden, planetarium, museums, and of course the National Monument.

We started our journey first by one of us drove to the starting point, which is Lake Garden.  She picked me up from office where I parked my car.  Driving from KL Sentral to Lake Garden on a not so busy Saturday morning took less than 10 minutes.  Then, we proceed to walk into the garden to explore the place.  Surprisingly there were people there walking around the garden, be it tourists or local.

The picture above is a view from within the garden.  As in the picture, there are water fountains inside the garden.  It is well kept.

More view on the water fountains.

A tortoise swimming in the lake.

The garden itself is not that humongous as compare to some other garden that I've visited before.  Reaching the other side of the garden, we noticed that there's a tunnel with the gate open for entrance.  This is the first time as well I see this.

The tunnel is not a long tunnel.  Coming out from the other side of the tunnel, it will look like the above picture.  And the other side of the tunnel is...

Yes, the National Museum (Muzium Negara in Bahasa Malaysia).  And yes, I finally step my foot into the museum after living here for 15 years.  That tunnel from Lake Garden connecting to the National Museum lead us to the back of the museum.  The front gate of the museum look like the following picture.

Next to the front gate of the museum is a pedestrian bridge that will link to the other side of the Lake Garden, which is nearer to the Planetarium.  The bridge looks like the following.

So finally we decided to enter the museum to see what do they have for exhibition.  Visiting the museum is like reading my secondary school year history text book again because almost everything on display is what I've read from the text book.

Finally, we head back to KL Sentral from the museum.  There are road signs inside the compound of the museum that pointing to the path leading to KL Sentral.  It is indeed a lot more easier now as compare to my last visit 10+ years ago!

However, from within KL Sentral, there isn't any sign board that pointing the people to go to the museum side, which is quite a shame.  The sign board to the museum will only appear when reaching certain part of the path once outside the buildings surrounding KL Sentral.

So how to walk to the museum from KL Sentral?  First go towards the exit of KL Sentral where the Meridian Hotel is located.  Once come out, walk to the right and proceed to walk along the covered pedestrian walk way, which basically will walk towards the back of Meridian Hotel.  So the key is to walk to the back of Meridian Hotel.  Once behind, there will be sign board pointing to the museum and also to the Lake Garden.

So that's another rushing short trip.  My after thought:  Wow, I should go to Lake Garden for a jog in the morning before going to work...

Sibu (and little bit of Sarikei), Sarawak - My Father's Hometown

Never have I thought that I'll be able to visit Sibu again, my father's hometown.  The last time I visited Sibu was in 1999, when my grandmother pass away.  Fourteen years later, I've finally able to step into Sibu again, which I'm grateful to my church.

My impression about Sibu back then has always been the wooden house where my grandmother used to stay, motorcycles, geese, mee suah (I called it Long Age Noodle, a direct translation from the actual Chinese word), kuih baulu (not sure if that's the word for it), Sugar Bun, Sarawak Plaza, milk ice-cream, and a few more nostalgia.  The deepest nostalgia, will always be my very strict late grandmother, whom I always addressed her as Sibu Ama.  But, sadly I can't speak Fu Zhou, as a result of that I've never really talk to her at all.

Since I'm a Sabahan, I will need to use a passport to enter into Sibu.  Of course I can still enter into Sibu with IC, but may have to fill up some stuff I think.  It now has a new airport, lesser motorcycles but a lot of cars.  There are a lot of development since the last time I visited Sibu, but even so the uniqueness of Sibu is still retained, which I really like about: food.

The main town of Sibu is located near the riverbank of Sungai Rajang, the longest and widest river in Malaysia.  Above is a picture of the shops and roads beside the riverbank.  The pagoda in the picture is also the center of attraction in Sibu.  I remember my dad used to take us there to see the whole Sibu town and to view the Rajang river from the top of the pagoda tower.  There is not lift in the tower, we have to walk up the staircase.

Since the town is so near to the Rajang river, when there's high tide, Sibu will be affected by it.  When I was there, I noticed a lot of places flooded with water, which according to those who've stayed there long enough, it is a norm.  So how high the tide is?  Well, take a look at the following pictures...

Some pictures of some part of the town near the riverbank.  I used to remember the first time I came to Sibu, the Rajang river used to be red in color, but that was back in the 1980's.  Now the river is really muddy and sad to say, polluted.

The other impression I have about Sibu is the speedboat, which is the only transportation medium to travel to the inner land of Sarawak where most of the indigenous people stay.  I have been on the speedboat for once when I visited Sibu for the first time, and I could still remember that we actually stopped at some place along the river, and have something to drink in a coffee shop (the very old fashion coffee shop, neither Starbucks nor Old Town Coffee), and throwing tantrum because I didn't get the soft drink that I wanted (yes, shame on me).

Till this day, it is still the same.  Even though there are a lot of development nowadays in Sibu, but there still isn't any development been done to build road for the small little town in the inner state to connect to the major town.  This is the first hand information that I got because I knew a few of the indigenous people who still live in the inner state.  Here are some of the pictures of the speedboat parked at the jetty that I've taken.

Here are some more pictures of Sibu that I've taken.

^ The corner coffee shop is where you could get a nice Kampua Noodle

^ The central market building

^ Even by the river you will get foggy weather

^ Opposite of the river from where I'm standing

^ Goose, symbol for Sibu?  What's that over there?  Sibu version of Marina Bay!?

So that's it for Sibu, the food will be introduced later.  Now, about more than 1 hour drive away from Sibu, is a town called Sarikei.  I don't really know much about this place because I have never really walk around in the place before.  I was there because the driver would like to run some errand.  At first we thought of having our dinner over there, but there wasn't any place that suit our appetite.  So we decided to drive all the way back to Sibu instead.  Some pictures of some part of Sarikei that I've taken.

^ Sugar Bun!!!  Used to go crazy for it because back then there was no McDonald

So back to Sibu, and this time, it will be about the food.  Now as most people would know that Sarawak is famous for black pepper, so it won't be surprised to see a lot of the stalls selling them.  I bought one packet of black peppercorn for around RM20++, for 500g for a friend.  It is claimed to be a lot.  However, for me, that's not the major thing for me.

The major thing for me will still be the noodle.  Yes I like noodle very much, and that's why it's very hard for me to live in Kuala Lumpur because there isn't any good noodle meal to eat.  So the famous one will still be the Kampua noodle, which is basically just noodle mixed with either soya sauce, or with sesame oil (if not mistaken).  The other one would be the wet fried noodle, which is basically the noodle to be fried first and then mixed with some sauce (not Cantonese style), similar to the one that I always have in Sabah.  But what's the fuzz over the noodle?  The reason is because the noodle over here taste a lot better, and the texture is a lot better as compare to the one in KL.  It could be because the noodle consumption is very high in Sibu, henceforth the noodle are mostly freshly made?  Well at least I know in Tawau most of the noodle sellers made their own noodle.  Frankly, for noodle, if the tradition is still continue in Tawau, I'd say noodle in Tawau is still the best :p.  However, there's an advantage of eating in Sibu as compare to Tawau, which I'll save it for later.

Sadly I thought I have taken pictures of the noodle that I ate, but it was neither in my smarty phone nor my digital camera.  However, I did took the following pictures.

Now, this is Chicken Soup Mee Suah.  It is basically mee suah (another type of noodle) in chicken soup, with at least 2 pieces of chicken meat.  The chicken soup is basically a herbal soup cook with chicken, it is good for health.  I still remember my dad used to cook this for us, which I really like.  This is a Fu Zhou dish, and I could still remember that my late grandmother would cook this for us when we arrived Sibu, and then will cook it again with more ingredients for us to eat before we leave Sibu.  Apparently this is a Fu Zhou tradition.  Have I done the same thing when I was there?  Yes I did.  I ate one on the 2nd day in Sibu, and then I have another one in the morning on the day I leave Sibu.

The other unique meal that I have for the first time is a dish called Din Tien Hu, which is basically starch noodle made with rice flour and teared in pieces, cook together with soup.  But sadly due to my nature of not asking what are the ingredients (as sometimes after knowing what is the ingredient, I may stop eating it for the rest of my life no matter how good it is...) so I don't really know what are the ingredients used to cook the soup.  It is something look like the following pictures.

It is nice to eat; clear, not too strong in taste, just nice.  Apparently the shop has been there for a long time, and it is a family business, and is still in the same old place where it is not noticable, with same old fashion coffee shop style, haaa...  How enjoyable (honestly when I was kid I don't appreciate this kind of place :p).  Only the local would know about the place.  Then the other thing that I used to have, would be a soda drink, local made.

It tastes like ice-cream soda.  This is something new to me as well as I didn't know that Sibu has such a drink.  I know that there's a milk ice-cream in Sibu, which is locally made as well, but I haven't have a chance to eat it while I was there.  Of course, not to mention that there are Kompia (a type of bake bun), and also Kuih Paulu (not sure if that's the name), which are all local bakery stuff that still exist until now, which is a good sight.

Now as for the price?  Well, the mee suah that I've shown above, the portion is good enough to fill me up, and it costs only RM4.  The normal Kampua noodle will not cost more than RM3, so it is consider very affordable, therefore although the noodle in Tawau is nicer, but the price is really way too high as compare to Sibu if comparing ingredient to ingredient.  Even all the bake stuff that I've mentioned earlier, they are all selling at a very cheap prices where you could actually buy in bulk.  So next time, I'll know what to do if I'm going to visit Sibu again; fast for few days, save up the money, and eat all I can over there :p.

Apart from the food, here are some treats to the fruit lovers.

^ The local Durian Kampung

^ Buah Tapai & some Rambutan

^ Guava, Langsat, and another un-identify fruit

^ Mangosteen & Rambutan

So for local fruit lovers, at the Central Market of Sibu, there is a corner where there will be a lot of people bringing their harvest to sell it there.  There are Durian, Mangosteen, Langsat, Rambutan, Guava, and Buah Tapai.  I've never heard of Buah Tapai before, and only get to know about it during the visit.  Buah Tapai is quite unique because it has to be soaked in lukewarm water to have it expand before it is consumed.  I personally don't like to eat local fruit (yes, shame on me), so I don't know much about them, and I don't buy a lot of them either.  Frankly in my father's plantation in Tawau, he has planted Rambutan, Langsat and Durian, thus our family can eat these fruits for free, so my family quite fortunate, except for me because I don't appreciate them, shame...  The Durian in my father's plantation, the seed is brought from Sibu as well.  The price for the fruits seems to be reasonable.  Most of the sellers are indigenous people, and most of them are actually staying in the inner state, where they have to travel by speedboat for more than 1 hour to sell their harvest in Sibu, which can be considered as a tough life.  Imagine traveling on the speedboat for more than 1 hour, if strong enough maybe able to survive the motion sickness, but during high tide as well!??  I don't think I can stand that...

Final thought

Well, I am really grateful again that I could come to visit Sibu.  Sibu to me, although there are a lot of development going around, but the essence of Sibu is still remain; it's like its identity is still there, and it's not just simply to follow the trend, but it's like it will absorb what is good and use it to enhance it's own identity kind of feel.  I really like that.

And this trip has let me to realize that I should embrace some good tradition, i.e. the mee suah.  I didn't know what it means when I was young, even now I don't know what is the significant meaning behind it, but somehow rather I felt that it is of good intention.  Mee suah has another name called Long Life noodle, so it could mean that having a bowl of it when arrived home means thankful that you're able to live until now and back home with the family, and then having another bowl before leaving means may it be that you'll be able to come back again.  Now it may seems irrelevant nowadays, but last time, there are no internet, no handphone, and not everyone can afford a telephone line either, all done via hand writing letter.

So with this, will I embrace it in the future?  Yes I will.  I will embrace it to identify that I am a Fu Zhou, and I am born as a Fu Zhou for a reason.  I always ponder about this where there's a saying said a lot of things have been deemed as old fashion therefore no one is doing it anymore, but I would think otherwise, because by simply following the latest trend and just blindly accepting what is good because everybody say is good and it's fun, and slowly forgetting our own tradition, there will be a lot of good and valuable things become extinct.  The reason can be because we have not been taught of the meaning of all these good traditions, and thus we will not appreciate it and instead will just ignore it.

As I grow older and understand certain thing, I really thank God for teaching me this, where it is very important not to forget my root, my origin.  I'm a Fu Zhou for a reason, and as far as I know Fu Zhou people are very hardworking and also willing to take risk.  There's something about Fu Zhou people that I could learn from.  I'm grateful that even though when I was a kid, I don't really appreciate being a Fu Zhou, but now I do, and I'll embrace the good tradition and the strong point of a Fu Zhou.

Well, that's it for another short and rushing trip, till next time!!!

Tawau, London and Manchester: Part 8

The Last Day in London

And so it was my final day in UK, waking up early in the morning to get myself prepare to go out with my tour guide of the day, my cousin's lovely & helpful daughter.  Our first stop was to Borough Market, which is the oldest British market that has existed for a long time.  The lovely tour guide has something to do on that day morning, therefore I was alone for the first half of the day.

Borough Market

Around Borough Market

Borough Market with The Shard at the back

Agriculture products

Agriculture products

Borough Market

Borough Market

The Shard, viewing from Borough Market

Borough Market entrance

Borough Market entrance building

The market itself has a few sections.  The products that were selling in the market during my visit was cheese product, fishes, fruits & vegetables, and herbs.  There were stalls setup to sell food i.e. sausages, hams, cakes, drinks and wines.  A lot of these stalls would offer food & drink tasting, of which I didn't try any of it because my stomach was not too well.  So all I did was buying a piece of chocolate cake to eat, and I must say that the cake was very nice to eat.  Well, in general the bakery stuff in UK are nice.

Next, I went to  Canaray Wharf, the financial district.  Now, in huge contrast to the old architecture in most part of Central London, the Canaray Wharf consists of modern design buildings.  Most of these buildings belong to banks, like Citibank and HSBC.

Canaray Wharf

Canary Wharf

Garden in Canary Wharf

Underneath the buildings are shopping complex, which is layout in quite a unique way.  I say unique because even though the directory would show the available shops, some of them may be located underneath a different building, where you may have to walk out and walk in again.  I thought I won't be doing any shopping over here because the goods sold here are not cheap stuff.  However, I did able to pick up an item: an Adidas training shirt Olympic 2012 edition on offer, selling at 10 pounds (retail price was near to 30 pounds).  So after finished walking around the shops, I went outside to sit in the garden to enjoy the sunshine before going to meet up with my tour guide.

Next, I met up with my tour guide at the Waterloo Underground station.  The reason to stop by Waterloo station was to let me walk pass the London Eye.  Frankly, I was not really interested in it because for me it was nothing more than another Ferris wheels.  It all changed when I see it with my own eyes, and I couldn't believe it.

London Eye

London Eye

London Eye

London Eye view from another direction

The London Eye is so huge!!!  The structure, the architecture, and the engineering aspect of it, to me, is truly amazing.  I've never seen such a huge Ferris wheels in my life!!!  Those capsules, I wonder how many people could fit into it.  Anyway, it has been decided that if I'm able to visit London again, I'd definitely want to ride on it.

After that, we went to have some snacks in the form of cakes in a nearby bakery cafe.  The cake was nice and really thankful for my tour guide for the treat.  After we're done, we went to our next destination, the Westminster, where the Big Ben located.

Downing Street

Downing Street

Downing Street

Outside Downing Street

Big Ben

Westminster

Westminster

Before we went to Westminster though, we went to Downing Street to see the place.  Downing Street is where the prime minister of UK stays.  It is guarded by armed officers and the entrance to the street is gated.  There were a lot of tourists outside Downing Street, and some were even able to get inside.

To be precised, the whole area where we were at were full with tourists because you would have the Westminster and the Big Ben, then the Westminster Abbey, and Downing Street.  Not to mention that Buckingham Palace is also not too far away from there.

Again, I was really amazed by the structure of the Westminster building.  The Big Ben, according to my tour guide, has recently been refurbished (not sure if this is the right word), therefore the details on the tower looks very new.

We visited the Westminster Abbey as well, which is just round the corner.  The Westminster Abbey is an old church, a big one, that usually public could at least take pictures of it outside the compound.  However, on that day itself, there was an event going on, which cause us not able to enter into the compound.  We were only able to see the main entrance, and again I was amazed with the architecture of the building.  It was also here that I realized how illiterate I was with my camera because I could not take a good shot, and how powerful an iPhone that could take such a nice picture.

Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey

Taken with iPhone

  Now, after Westminster Abbey, we took the London Underground train to go to our next destination for ice-cream.  The place where we were going is Harrod.  Frankly I have no idea what Harrod is until my tour guide told me.  After we reached our destination, I realized that if I walked further down the road on my 2nd day walking around in London, I'd have reach this place.

Harrod's building

Princess Diana engagement ring

Ice cream

Ice cream

Ice cream

Harrod itself is like the Pavillion, StarHill Gallery, or The Garden in Mid Valley, where it's selling a lot of high end merchandise.  There were a lot of people there, and I did noticed that there were a lot of Chinese shopping in that place.  One of the section inside this building is designed to have the Egyptian theme, and it is here that the engagement ring of Princess Diana is on display for public viewing.

We went to the ice cream shop located inside Harrod because my tour guide recommended it.  There were a lot of people there queuing up to wait to be served.  We were blessed because we didn't have to wait for too long to be seated.  The choices of ice cream over here is vast, and the serving is big.  I wonder how the people over there could finish one big serving of ice cream by themselves.  Oh well, if it's for me, I'd be able to do so too (I think...).

My last take out food in UK

So after we had the ice cream, we have to rush to get to the train station to go back to my cousin's place.  After we reached home, my cousin did a fried rice for me to take to the airport to eat as dinner.  Then, her husband took me to the nearby train station where I could catch a train to go straight to Heathrow airport.

The check in process in the airport was smooth enough for me probably because I was there early.  After everything settled, I finally able to sit down to enjoy my delicious dinner.  And that, concluded my whole trip.


The Conclusion

Overall, the last day was tiring but fun because I was able to explore at least the main attraction in Central London.  Really appreciate my lovely tour guide for the arrangement and her time.  Of course, I'd like to thank God as well for the good weather and all the good timing throughout the day, that we were able to catch the train on schedule.

It was really a memorable trip.  Really appreciate sis and bro-in-law, relatives and friend for the wonderful moment there in UK.  After this trip, I will try to make an effort again to visit.  Hopefully it will not be another long waiting year.

Trip concluded.