My own way of helping Japan

Thinking of the tragedy that struck Japan, my purchases today was my own little way of helping them out.  I did not have to work today since Labor Day fell on a Sunday so naturally here in Singapore - Monday is a holiday. So after spending a lazy morning in our new flat I decided to venture down Orchard road for some chores and do a little shopping.

I have been meaning to buy a couple of blouses since some of my clothes don't fit me well anymore. Okay okay I am just reasoning with myself why I had to buy these:

Yeps, my favorite Japanese casual clothing brand -  Uniqlo (Singapore) finally had their Cath Kidston Charity Project shirts available here! I knew they had a  collab with the Europe based store since an online friend was able to buy a few shirts from Hong Kong. So when I saw that they brought it here I just could not resist and pick up a couple myself.

The shirts are made of 100% Cotton, so they are really comfy and cool which is very good since its already summer. I really love the way Uniqlo collaborated with other brands and comes out with products that are so cute and comfy to wear, not to mention their products are reasonably prices. I got the shirts at an introductory price of 19.90sgd each. Not bad right?

It's a day for patronizing Japanese products for me today since after visiting Uniqlo, I found myself heading to another Japanese store I love, Muji ;) I am really amazed with all the practical and 'organizy' stuff I can find from this store. My HK trip is up two Fridays from now and decided to pick up a travel pouch with matching containers (lucky they were at 10% off today :)! ):

The travel pouch is sold separately at 19sgd while the containers range from 1.60 to 4sgd depending on the size and style. For all four items plus a cookie at 1sgd, I paid a total of 27.46 less of discount. What I like about it is the hook. I can easily hang it anywhere. Plus I can it has different zippers so I can put my toiletries in without worrying about the contents going topsy turvy.

I wanted to buy the travel document organizer as well but they did not have it in the Ion Orchard branch so I think I will drop by their Bugis branch tomorrow.

PS. Dinner by the way was at Yoshinoya ;)

Malaysia - Exploring Kuala Lumpur Day 2

Our second day in KL was supposedly Genting Highlands day. 'Supposedly' because we never made it to Genting! Hahaha

Wondering why? Well, we  were warned by our friend that we may not be able to get an early ticket for Genting at KL Sentral since it was Chinese New Year and a lot of people would surely be heading to the popular tourist spot. Still we tried and true enough when we got to the Bus Terminal we were only able to secure tickets for the 12noon trip. If we go the following day it would still be the same.

So after buying the ticket we decided to explore KL Sentral instead. The bus terminal was on the ground floor of  KL Sentral Station. If you go up you will find your self on the train platform levels. KL Sentral Station is actually one of the main stations where 4 of the 6 Train lines of KL meets. There are several fast food shops and other boutiques on the upper levels. They have:

• McDonalds
• Burger King
• Subway
• KFC
• Dunkin Donuts 
• Secret Recipe
• Kenny Rogers

to name the more popular ones. So I'm sure you will never go hungry. :)

After looking around we decided to have breakfast at Burger King. It was okay. Then we went around some more. There was actually little to see except the Malaysian Tourism Center which we discovered the following day.  After going round we ended up at McDonalds to conserve our energy and had ice cream. My sister was actually eyeing on their Prosperity Burger which seemed yummy but we never got to eat for some reason. 

My sister craving for McDo's prosperity burger.

By noon we were on our way to Genting Lower Station. The bus ride was comfortable and allowed us to see another side of KL. The bus ride took almost an hour to get to Genting Lower Station. Here we needed to take a lift to the upper floors to get to the Skyway where we needed to ride on the cable car to get to the Highlands. 

But before we did that we decided to buy our return ticket in fear that we may not be able to get a ride home at the right time since it seemed that there were a lot of people going to Genting on that day. True enough when we reached the upper floors, the line leading to the Skyway was snaking like crazy. And it was going on a turtle's pace. My sister's spirits and I went down. My Malaysian friend already warned us that there will be a lot of people going to Genting. But we didn't expect the lines would be so slow. 

While waiting  in line we weighed our options. We agreed that if we get to ride before 3pm then we will push thru but if not then we will just explore the building (there are quite a number of shops here as well). However as we were nearing the the escalator the other tourists became a bit rowdy and started pushing the others towards the escalator. My sister and I got alarmed because there was a possibility that we will get crushed amidst the crowd.

The crowd just before the escalator.

Eventually we gave up and spotted a nearby shop. Tidbits galore! More like Chinese fruit preserves galore! Hahaha I just love kiamoy and stuff. So we bought some then went around. 

When we have finished exploring the place we decided to go back to the bus terminal and waited for our bus ride to Putra Terminal (Gombak Station) which is on the end of the pink line. We were supposed to wait for the 5pm bus but decided to ask the dispatcher if we can take an earlier bus. Good thing he agreed but we had to be placed on the waiting list. 

The cable car that we did not get to ride.

The ride is much shorter. But the ride on the train was longer. We went down Dang Wangi station and walked towards Bukit Nanas (blue line). 

Petronas Towers from Dang Wangi Station

An interesting shop

We had to cross the street to get to the Bukit Nanas stations. Unlike in Singapore or Hong Kong interchanges are located in the same building but in KL sometimes you need to walk across the street to get to the other line.

On our way to Bukit Nanas we passed by the only virgin forest left in the city. From Bukit Nanas we went down Imbi. Walked back to Capitol Hotel to rest. 

My sister wanted to stop by and try the local street food. I think we paid 1 RM for a stick of 3 fish balls. Expensive huh? But the fish balls were so big too.

Dinner was at Berjaya Times Square just beside Imbi Station. I expected a lot from the places since they say there are levels and levels of stores in it but aside for a few good shops it was more like going to Greenhills. Tiange stores left and right. The structure looked grand but the stores I did not enjoy much. Or maybe because some stores were closed due to the holiday.

We went round and ended up eating at Tepanyaki (I know not so local food right?) but our dinner was great. 

Seafood Teppanyaki - my dinner

Chicken Teppanyaki - Cat's dinner

Forgot to post the Maki. See it's in the middle ;)

Malaysia - Exploring Kuala Lumpur Day 1

My sister and I left Melaka Sentral Bus Terminal by 5 in the afternoon and arrived at Bukit Jalil Terminal past 8pm. Unfortunately the rain poured just as the bus parked inside the terminal. It was hard to find the Bukit Jalil LRT Station since it was getting dark and it was raining. The terminal was actually only a car park with make shift tents. So we decided to ask the bus driver who was happy to show us the way. 


So from Bukit Jalil we took the train going to Hang Tua LRT (Malaysia Transit Network Intergration Map) then walked  towards the direction of Berjaya Times Square since our hotel was located near it. It took us a good 10 minutes walk from Hang Tua which was okay since we were sitting for 3 hours in the bus. 


I booked with Capitol Hotel based on a recommendation of an online friend. The hotel was nice and just right for its price since the room especially the bathroom was clean. The location was great too since it was in the center of the shopping district! :) I'll write more about the hotel after I finish with our trip. 


So anyway, check in was okay though the staff needs to go more customer service training. I think she was lucky I used to work in the front desk so I was more patient with her. Other guests would have a hard time. Story later. 


After checking in and settling down, I called up my Chinese Malaysian friend who is an ex - colleague. She and her husband picked us up and droved us around town. First stop was Jalan Alor - a street near by our hotel which was famous for their hawker center. True enough we had mee goreng and chicken and pork satay for dinner. 

Jalan Alor                                              

People from all races can be seen here

the place was really crowded

me with my friend, Angel

but i think my sister loved the pork and chicken satay
there were only two pieces left
when we realized we haven't taken any pics of our food.

we were hungry so we just digged in
i love singapore's mee goreng more though and the thing
looks different too.

After dinner, we went to see the Petronas Twin Towers. It was funny to find out that my friend though she was now based in KL for a few months have never taken a picture with the Petronas Towers as the background at night. She was just like a tourist as me and my sister were! The building was really a site to behold. Lucky we still had time to take pictures before the lights were turned off since my friend's hubby said that they turned it off by 12 midnight.

Since it was Chinese New Year, my friend also took us to the Thean Hou Buddhist Temple. The temple is one of the biggest in Kuala Lumpur and a lot of the locals visit the place during the Chinese New Year. True enough when we got there the place was full even if it was already past 11. I think this is the most red set of photos I have taken to date. A real experience for me and my sister.

As it was already getting late, Angel took us back to the hotel. But it did not stop us from taking more pics. :)

the KLCC Tower from a far

Menara Public Bank which is directly across the Petronas Twin Towers.

Melaka: Malaysia's UNESCO Heritage Site

We never really celebrate Chinese New Year as we are not Chinese. But Singapore do and that means I get additional 2 days off to my regular weekend rest days. So I thought why not go on a trip to Malaysia? I arranged my sister to fly in late on the 2nd of February. Slept a few hours in our flat and at 0645hrs we were on our way to Kovan Hub Station where the Citiexchange Express terminal was located.



Melaka was our first stop in our trip to discover Malaysia. though Kuala Lumpur is our main destination for this trip, I didn't want to pass up the chance to visit one of Malaysia's UNESCO's World Heritage Site. The ride to Melaka Bus Sentral Terminal from Kovan was comfy as the bus we took was actually a coach and the seats were big and roomy similar to a lazy chair. As we were crossing borders we had to go down twice at the Singapore Immigration pass by a long bridge to cross to get to Johor Bahru (the state of Malaysia that is nearest to Singapore). Go down again to get our Passports stamped by the Malaysian Immigration. Here we saw the Malaysian Tourism Center and got a ton of brochures!


Now they say it only takes about 3 hours to get to Melaka from Singapore but our trip lasted more than 4 hours! Later on I found out that this was the case if you go travel to a place where it's a public holiday as most Malaysians who live in the cities and Singapore would go back to their hometown on these days.  It was already 1 when we got to the Melaka Bus Sentral. From there we took a taxi to get to what my sister and I called 'Melaka proper' as the bus terminal was a bit far from where the tourist spots were. We told the driver to take us to Renaissance Melaka Hotel. The facade of the hotel was not that elegant but the exterior was nice.  Maybe because they were located in a tight space with other buildings surrounding the hotel.


After freshening up {courtesy of Renaissance ;) } . We looked around for a place to eat. Lucky we saw the Famosa Restaurant who serves one of the famous dishes in Melaka - the Chicken Rice Ball. So we ordered the Roasted Chicken with Chicken Rice Ball, drinks and Cendol for dessert!

Roasted Chicken with Rice Ball

Famosa's Menu

our cendol in two different angles

The roasted chicken tastes like the Filipino's Lechon Manok - only a bit blant for my taste. While the Cendol is like latik with crush ice and candied coconut. But that's not the reason why our lunch was unforgettable though. It was more because of the drink my sister ordered. She asked for lime juice which sounded pretty much normal until the drink was served and Cat took a sip. My sister's face turned from normal to puzzled. She expected her juice to be sour but found it too salty instead. I took a sip and true enough it was salty. We were both confused haha then she noticed that something was floating inside her drink so she opened the cup and found out that the floating object was actually kiamoy (or salted prune preserve). No wonder it was salty. 


After lunch, we crossed Jalan Munshi Abdullah and walked along Jalan Bendahara until we saw the red buildings which if you search Melaka on the net you will finds pics of. At this point the street name changes to Jalan Laksamana (check google )





























Parallel to the street full of buildings made of red brick walls is actually the Malacca River, where you can ride this boat that takes you to a cruise and see the town from a different angle. 

A few meters up the road and we reached the Christ Church Building another attraction to which Melaka is famous for. From their we walked around and found the other UNESCO Heritage Sites such as The Stadhuys, St. Paul's Church, St. Paul's Hill, and Melaka Islamic Museum .

Christ Church

The most flowery pedicabs I've seen
and they were not even  part of a parade

Rows of souvenir shops.

St. Paul's Church

Melaka Islamic Museum

Museum of Architecture

Cat thought this was an interesting:
 the symbol of Catholicism and Islam in one pillar.
Cool! 

Cat just can't resist taking a pic of our fave fast food chain.

yeps they also still have box type taxi's

By quarter to 4 we were ready to head back to the Melaka Bus Sentral to catch our 5pm bus ride to KL!