Genting Trip June 2009

Went to Genting on past few days, with my folk and cousin... Last trip was last September... I really looked forward to this trip, and I am not disappointed at all!

Day #1
Reach hotel at abt early 4 am plus... after checking in luggage, we went to have breakfast... original intention was the prata at the lobby cafe, but then saw they have soup noodles, so changed our mind... Very delicious wanton mee!!! Big serving too... Soup is tasty, not too salty... satisfying breakfast...


Went over to casino, and play... lose badly, as usual, hahaha... Then go for lunch after checking in hotel rooms... Lunch was at the "Kopitiam"... It is a food court type of place, and one of the stalls sells "ze-char" (煮炒) chinese style and thai style food... Absolutely fantastic!!!!!!! Lemme recall to my best memory can serve:
#1 Fried Kangkong (not bad, just a little sweet)
#2 Coconut (plant) stem fried with prawns (Awesome!!!!)


#3 Chicken stir-fried with basil leaves (九层塔) (Extremely fragrance, if you like the basil leaves' smell... Tasty....)


#4 Fried Egg with shrimps (Awesome! Best eaten while hot!)


Comes with white rice (unlimited supply, I think) and hot tea.... Satisfying meal again....

After lunch, we went down to Awana by the Skyway cable car... We choose the 1st day (unusual for us) to go down cos I read from the website that the Skyway will be down for maintenance on Wed, so we decide to go down early... Bought some tidbits and snacks... then head back up to shop and then back to hotel for a quick shower, as well as to put the bought stuff... Went over to casino and play...

Went for our late dinner at abt 9pm plus. Dinner was at Old Town Coffee Shop... Yeap, the one that has an outlet in Singapore too.... Ordered my old-time favourite, Rendang Ayam with Nasi... Good as usual! And portion small as usual!!! Hahaha.... so ordered another Pineapple-bun-with-butter (菠萝油), and drown with a cup of Stocking Tea (丝袜奶茶), very smooth... Pity they don't sell the Yat Deng Meen (Instant noodles) (一丁面) anymore...


Did not play till very late, cos very tired, so went back early to sleep...

Day#2
Went over to to have dim sum breakfast at 好友记 restaurant... very poor service, due to lack of manpower and poor staffing (no assigning of responsibilities there, everyone do everything, from taking orders, clearing up tables, putting new eateries, settling bill...) Saw one table's customers get fed-up and walk off without eating... We have some dim sum... just average quality, normal standard.... good enough for us for the start of a new day though...

Pic below (top to bottom): fried carrot cake, egg tart, yam ball


Pic below (left to right): steamed pork ribs, char-siew pao (bbq pork buns)


Har kow....


After the late breakfast, we went back to the casino and continue our play.... Late lunch taken at The Bakery cafe.... Had Subway-styled sandwiches, all sandwiches comes with vegetables... VERY NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pic below: Bagel bread, with smoked ham and mayo-chicken as filling... yum...


Ordered a chicken-pie and a turkey-ham quiche too.... Finish the meal with a nice cuppa cuppachinno....


Took this pic at outside of the casino... very cute God of Fortune (财神)... used the photo as my handphone wall paper... and it worked quite well for the next remaining "battles" in casino, hahaha... ok, still did not win but hey, at least my losing rate are not as high as previous....


Settle for a late dinner inside the casino.... NO, not the infamous chicken rice or counter-food... There is a new Hainanese Express, branched out from the Hainanese Coffee House/Restaurant in near the Genting shopping mall.... Sells CHEAP and nice Nasi Lemak, only slightly less than RM 5! tasty too... and the YunYong (Yin Yong) (鸳鸯), aka coffee+tea, is quite ok too... best is the Teh Tarik is tall glass type, at RM 2.60 only!!!! ... Enjoyed... Then is play time till about 3 plus am... Went back to hotel to sleep, knocked-out in 3 mins after touching bed, hahahaha....

#Day 3
Wake up at about 10am, then is brunch time at the "Kopitiam"... This time we ordered the Japanese food instead. Got eh... lemme think... Chicken-Don (quite nice!), Unagi Bento set, Tempura Shrimp Bento set... nice... and too filling... made worse when my dad ordered 1 plate of Char Kway Teow, quite fragrance to resist, hahahaha.....

Went to casino for the final battle, and won all sorts of game bonuses and jackpots... despite that, overall still lose a few hundred ringgits, hahaha... so, quite fortunate, else I may end up losing thousands... its so true you (usually) won't bring back money from Genting (casino), surely you'll lose some way or another, hahaha.... but who cares, as long as you are happy...

In between the battle, went over to have buffet dinner at the Resort Hotel Cafe (I think)... Wide selection of food... eat at almost all "stations" (each "station" has a theme, eg. chinese, japanese... ) Eat to much liao....


Its back to battle after the buffet dinner... till next day... yes, extremely TIRED at daybreak, hahaha.... Oh yes, had supper at around 1 am plus at the Hainanese Express again, this time try their toasts...had the kaya-butter toasts, and tried out the French Toast with peanut butter... it was so yum!

Day#4
Then after battle, went over to have breakfast at Hou Mei Restaurant (好味)... The porridge is not to nice... especially their century egg (皮蛋) is very "chewy"... after that head back to room to shower and change... Check out room and get the luggages to check in so that later no need to carry the luggage around.... Decide to go in casino and play the last time... Then got out and have a quick lunch at Only Mee Stall ... They sell ONLY mee (noodles), hence the name... the green curry noodles have degraded, not fragrance anymore...


Then claimed our luggage to proceed to the Bus terminal... Snapped a few pics along the way...

Bus is fast.... so fast that we reach Yong Peng at around 5.45pm instead of the estimated time of 7pm... And had a nice and worth-the-money dinner, Braised Chicken rice at only RM6 !!!!!!!!!!!! Got VERY generous servings of chunks of chicken, beans sprouts topped with fried shallots, cucumber, and soup... even if convert to S$ only about less than $2.60! ... Nice food too...

Overall extremely enjoyed this trip... looking forward to my next one soon....

Today & Past Shopping... GSS

Great Singapore Sale.... Never realise this can cause such a great impact on me... but perhaps is also because so happen I needed the items... Over the past few days, I spent so much that I could hardly believe it... Bought 1 pair of sandals, 1 pair of track shoes (both bought to replace my damage until cannot repair ones, especially my old track shoes, contact-glued 2 times liao, an the last time I went to IPPT both the soles came off while taking Shuttle Run... imagine the hilarious scenario, hahaha... in the end the 2.4 I got to use the excess length of shoelaces to tie them to the shoe body...) , 2 pairs of Levis jeans (quite cheap, $99 for 2), a 20" luggage bag (cheap, $12 only, with $50 purchase at OG), and many non-KO TFs... plus some other misc expenditures... but overall, if worth it, then ok lah...

Today went over to OG People's Park with mum and 2 cousins... Didn't realised it is so close to CSC... else would probably have drive there... First went to have lunch at the People's Park Food Centre, 2nd floor, (I think is) called ... 口口味... or something like dat... and I made a right choice, go for their 盅仔饭 (small claypot rice)!

Mine mum order the Mushroom Chicken Pot Rice... She say is not bad!


I ordered the 梅菜扣肉饭 (Preserved vegetable Braised pork Pot Rice).... NICE!!!! Piping hot too!!!! (and the weather is cool after drizzling...) ah.... this is life.... Lots of the 梅菜, and braised pork... not too lean, not too fatty... shiok... SHIOK!!!!!!!!



My cousins ordered Nasi Lemak, Mee Siam and steamed yam cake... Mee siam is NOT nice... Nasi Lemak seems ok... yam cake is soft enough to be a favourite for the old folks there... not bad too!

Went over to shop at OG after lunch... Bought older TFs as they are only ones with discounted price... in fact, low low price... Bought a 20" luggage too... After that went over to People's Park Centre (or something like that) and jalan... then went to this place to have 甜品 ...

Ordered black sesame paste... Not bad! Not too sweet, just nice, fragrance just ok, a little less creamy... but overall is good, I'm a bit picky here, heehee...

Overdue picture: Dad made the very very NICE thickened soup (羹)the other day... with a little bit of pepper and black vinegar added before you eat it, it's taste is almost comparable with sharks' fins soup!!!! No kidding....

A Lazy Sunday...

Woke up a little early today... Decided to go down to CSC for a walk, ad see if can pick up any TF I might take a fancy to... Reached Great Eastern Building at around 10.30am, so pop into Hans and had my breakfast...

Hmmm... not too bad... and finally got a chance to enjoy my cuppa coffee leisurly...

Then proceed to CSC... went a few rounds... and met CYQ, hahaha, he also came and jalan jalan... Since couldn't get anything, walk over to Hong Lim Complex and jalan, 顺便get early lunch... Bought a toy motorbike for my baby nephew over there... after that went back over to CSC for a final round of see see... Then went home, empty-handed for myself...

Supper...

My supper tonight... Kee Zhang (alkaline-water glutinous rice-dumpling)... steam the dumpling first, to make it hot... taken with some fine sugar; take care not to dip/coat too much, else it will taste only sweet and nothing else... as well as some chinese tea... I got to like this dumpling and this way of eating it from my Uncle, who also likes to eat it this way... very nostalgic way of food tasting... After eating, don't brush mouth immediately, and you can feel the 甘甜 of the alkaline water mixed with tea... solid...

Tomorrow attending my ex-student's graduation ceremony in S'pore Poly... Proud of him, to do so well in Poly... Last time in sec sch he still not enlightened yet...or perhaps he met his in-frequency subjects in poly bah... My P doesn't want to attend so ask me to attend... though I know I will need to work long into the day today to make up for the lost time tomorrow, I still agree to go.... no matter what, he is my former student... Well done, CQ!

Sunday's Brunch At Crystal Jade Parkway Parade

Overdue Post:

Past Sunday went to have breakfast with folks, but was about 10am by the time we reach Parkway Parade, so decides to have brunch instead... Headed over to Crystal Jade after some discussions... hmm... seems the standard has dropped a little... a least for the porridge... it is no longer fragrance... the grains are not 烂 enough... and it is a bit bland than last time (I used to eat the porridge without putting soy sauce and pepper)... luckily, some are still not bad...

(sorry for the dark photos, wasn't really in the mode to take pics that day...)

The above is the XO-sauce Fried Zhu Cheong Fun... Looks ugly, but it tastes GREAT!!!!!!!! (due to the XO sauce too)...

Dinner at Imperial Treasure Restaurant

Went to T3 to have dinner (Sat) with family, cos my eldest brother suggested. I agree to go, although very tired... 1 reason is my folks also long time didn't eat with them liao, and if I go, my 2nd brother's car will not be so packed... finally, I also want to have a good meal, wahahaha....

So drove over to T3's Imperial Treasure Restaurant, at Crowne Royal Hotel. Not my 1st time there, with not so-good experience (standard of food)... but this time round, I am completely won over by the restaurant... They have a nice decor, big tanks of seafood visible in the centre of the restaurant...


Lemme introduce... 1st, the roast meat... it was so GOOD that we have to order a 2nd plate! Crispy skin, very very crispy... meat is tender and chewy, with correct proportion of fat...


Subsequent dishes (not in order) are:
(2) Wasabe prawns - quite succulent prawns, taste fresh, should not be those immerse in soda powder water type...
(3) Crispy noodle with meat and 雪菜 stew - Looks plain, but taste good!!!!
(4) Fried egg with bitter gourd and ... crab meat (I think) - Normal
(5) Broccoli with mushroom - Normal
(6) Peking Duck - TASTY!!!!!!!! First, the traditional way of eating the skin (Man, it i CRISPY! and fragrance too, taste is also good...) with spring onion and cumber slices, wrapped in a flour skin... taste is complete with the sweet sauce...


The remaining duck meat is stir-fried with ginger and spring onions.... Superb culinary skills, as my dad commented, that the plate leaves no gravy after we finish the food... If it is like the ze-char stall, most likely the chef will leave lots of gravy behind, meaning skills not up to standard...
I found the wok-hei (wok's fragrance) to be of a high level, and the taste has actually penetrated into the duck meat... could also be due to the earlier roasting preparation... either or both ways... a piece of meat with a piece of spring onion (sweet taste) really brings out the ultimate taste (of course to my folks, they will add a piece of ginger too, hahaha...)


Ended the dinner with a rich almond cream (tea)... Thick but not creamy; just sweet enough.... Tasty tasty dinner...

Gerald's Wedding @ KL

First of all, CONGRATULATIONS GERALD BRO!!!!!!!!!

We (CYQ, LH, DZ, ZW and wife LL) attended Gerald's wedding in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, taking Transtar's 1st/premium class coach... Initially tot not bad, but in the middle of journey... the air-con broke down... knn... sauna for a few hours... but the seat itself is comfortable though...


This is the on-board meal provided... hokkien prawn mee.... a few strands, hahaha.... the prawns (shrimps) are quite a lot, very springy...in fact overly springy, I suspect they are submerged in the soda powder water...


Massive jam at Singapore custom, and worse at Malaysia custom... extra 2 hours plus spent... so did not make it in time for Gerald's church wedding... we went over to Times Square for lunch instead... my first time to Times Square...


At Secret Recipe, ordered the Black Pepper Chicken meal.... SUPERB!!!!!!!! ... Meat is quite tender and best is it is marinated completely right into the meat! ... olive rice is nice too, quit some butter used, very fragrance... Onions and lettuce are ok.... And the Tropical Smoothie drink is quite rich and delicious too, except for the bitter seeds of orange that is also crushed into it...


Took a taxi to the church, manage to see Gerald and Angeline cut the very special cake, which is a lot of mini cupcakes pierced together with satay sticks, cool.....


... the cool wedding cake... (guess who's behind the cake?? hee hee...)


... "beary" cute pair of bears, on the couple's wedding car... And the group of us are trying to do a "Mark Teo" (posing "professionally" to take photos), haha...


We stayed at the hotel where the couple host their dinner at... Quite a nice hotel... The the wedding dinner.... one funny item on the menu that caught our attention (and pronunciation) : Lin ~ CHEE PAK ~ Hup.... LH was trying to figure out what the hell this is, and our pronunciation leads to a near vulgarity... hahahahahah




AH, so happy for bro Gerald, finally see him getting married liao... Angeline seems so 大方得体， converse well with people.... Gerald really married a good wife... Went for a free welcome-drink by the hotel after the dinner...


Next day took a pic of the beautiful scenery outside room, balcony....


Headed to MacDonald's for breakfast before going back to S'pore... and this time the air-con is ok, but the on-board entertainment screen was faulty halfway along the return trip... anyway... enjoy this trip....