City of Cats

 Flying...To the cats...

Moeeewwww...
Greetings from cats!

Kuching...Here I am!






It was a short trip to Kuching, an weekend gateway. Grabbed a ticket to Kuching last minutes, just two weeks away from departure. There were too much surprises in Kuching. I never expected Kuching to be so developed, modern yet tradition. I can see huge bridges, roundabouts and roads in the town. Such development impressed me after I seen the poor in states in East Malaysia. I was expecting that condition Kuching will be almost similar to the capital of another in East Malaysia. Mind my jaws and words that I almost speechless when I swift to the town. There were many aborigines and they were helpful just like the other capital. It was a nice and spacious place to stay and to vacation. Just briefly share what I had done there. I've eaten the noodles, the "highly-recommended" ice-cream, the seafood and the local biscuit. I've gone to the boat ride along Sarawak river, cultural village, oldest Chinese temple, famous beach and China Town. I've seen one of the iconic characters of Sarawak, the 'orang-utans'. What I had not done and will be doing in the future is to continue to explore better food as I've not tried the tomato noodles and belacan vermicelli, bring myself closer to nature and perhaps meet the symbol of Sarawak which is the horn bill. Unable to meet horn bill in person, hence I met its statue. Keep my fingers crossed that I able to recognise them if I ever see them.

The panoramic view of Damai Beach

Independent shoot of sunset view

The night view of Kuching town

The must-try seafood along with...

The must-try ice cream

The horn bill statue, located right opposite
Tua Pek Kong temple

Welcoming message by China Town

The wall of Tua Pek Kong temple, oldest
Chinese temple

Second day, breezy and fun with the ethnicity in Sarawak

I've reached to another district of Sarawak, which is Santubong

The map of culture village

Legendary Mount Santubong, the highest mountain in Sarawak 

Trying to be some "ethinical" 

Mummy and baby of orang-utan

Should learn some acrobatics from him!

Places-to-go, food-must eat and Kuching city guide are scattered and  ready for googled a.k.a "GOD" as quoted from my lecturer. My recommendation to travel in Kuching is to hire a car and drive yourself in the town. Driving is easy and parking is even easier with the spacious parking lots. Least important, but the best is public parking is payable up to 5 p.m. and rests on weekends. Thus travelling in weekends one does not need to worry on the parking fee. One reminder is that I couldn't travel much places as most of them closes at 5 p.m.  

Trip to Hatyai

I love Thailand! This statement seriously portraits my travelling behaviour. It seem that Thailand is a never missed country for my annual travel. The only regret is I did not travel to Bangkok in the year of 2013, instead, I went to Hatyai, which was the Southern Thailand. I went there once when I was 10. But I did not have a single picture that I ever went there. And thus, I followed a local bus there. I traveled almost 15 hours to get there. It was a national public holiday at that time, thus traffic and congestion among people was horribly bad. Customs were loaded with heads and noises. That was my first experience with the Northern custom of Malaysia. To my shock, they were not nicely built like the Southern custom. And so, we were caught in the massive human congestion for about two hours. Lucky though because we went in travel groups so we managed to receive priority through groups. Another bad experience was waiting for the toilet. Comparing toilets in Hatyai and Bangkok, they were far different. The same things goes for the rest of the days due to the massive congestion Malaysian. Overall, it was a fairly enjoyable trip for me. At least I manage to eat the food I wanted, to stroll along the streets of Hatyai, experienced Thai massage, and went to the river market in Songkla. Since I went during the peak period, so there must be something that the trip forgone. The trip forgone the hill top Kuan Yin statue. Supposingly, the scenery of whole Hatyai city can be seen from the hill top. Since I did not manage to get up there, I missed the opportunity to look and even capturing the ironic scenery of Hatyai city. Here are some shoots on Hatyai city!

Scenery of Hatyai town in Day 1

Outside the Sakol Hotel

The must-try samurai pork burger

I'm loving it =)

The view of river market in Songkla

The colorful dim sum sold

The colourful cookies sold

Mum first appearing in my blog!

Scenery of Sadao

My favourite shot with the hatred cat!

Tuk-tuk to the market

Porky craze!!

Let's say cheeezzz to the sea of Songkhla

Morning view of Hatyai

Never to forget...reading!!!

An mid-week break

Melaka state had declared public holiday for the first day of fasting month.Unfortunately, for the year of 2013, the first day of fasting month fell on Wednesday, which was exactly the mid-day of a week. As such, I can't enjoy a long and laid-back of long weekend. Nevertheless, I still had a rather enjoyable public holiday as on that day I managed to pay a visit to my favourite cafe!

It was a long-awaited moment to have a cup of coffee over there. It was almost like an annual visit to that cafe even though it is just located around 10 km from my home. Even though it's near but during the weekends, that area would be overloaded with people, people and people; cars, cars and cars. With its narrow road, that area often has massive congestion with people and vehicles. I even mistakenly bang a lorry when passing through the street. I had a picture to share. The best combination of tea is a piece of local brownie and a cup of "Melaka" coffee.

The local brownie is made from milo which is Malaysian all-time favourite chocolate malt beverage with some chocolate sauce for dressing. It would definitely enlightened one's day with a little sweetness. 

Life goes on in the second half of year 2013 - Stage 2

First half of 2013 ended on 30th of June.

We have moved forward the second half of 2013, so does me. I had completed my first milestone in research career by June 2013. So in the second half of 2013 I need to move on to the second stage of the research. A more challenging and difficult tasks, assignments and encounters ahead, waiting.

It was a blessing that I managed to complete the first stage in the first half. I would like to thank every God, everyone, every creatures and every little substances that helped me, gave me courage and motivation and permit me to go through the first stage. It was a miracle that I able to complete and pass through the stage one within the allocated time frame. Upon completion of the first stage, I should have confidence in pursuing the second stage.

*Credentials from facebook user who shared it 

Snoopy, Kitty and Me!

On the last day of June, a.k.a the last day of first half of year 2013, I had a stroll in Melaka Jonker Street. It was a beautiful yet traditional street. I love strolling and loitering along the streets around there. There are many streets namely; beancurd street, smithman street, seaside street and etc. People must be wondering why are the names so weird. Actually, it was direct translation from  the local Chinese name to English name. Jonker Street symbolises the traditional local Chinese area in Melaka. In fact, we still have other places in Melaka representing Chinese residence such as Bunga Raya and Tengkera. Recently there is a Jonker Street controversy where the night market is forced to close down. The night market had been there for years and it had evolved to be one of the most significant tourist attraction. Many addresses the closure to be a political revenge. "To be closed and not to be closed, that's not your question" (Quoted from an actor from divas in distress). Nevertheless, that was not the main reason I visited Jonker Street. I went there merely for praying. 

After praying, I went for coffee opposite the temple. It is a modern in traditional coffee house. The decorations are styled more American but the coffee house is situated right in the heart of a Chinese traditional old street. The coffee house has a Germany-made Volkswagen van as a coffee parlour and a huge bike located outside the cafe as its signature. Besides than coffee, they also serve sodas and tea. Below are some shots from the cafe with me in snoopy. 

 

 

The next destination after coffee was the famous pork satay at the end of tofu street. The pork satay is extremely nice because it is tender and not very burnt. I simply delighted with the pineapple+peanuts+chili satay paste. The freshness of pineapple taste make me can't stop chewing and munching the meat chunks. I seldom take pork intestines, but the stall offered it. So I just had it. The taste wasn't that bad. Even though it is rather burnt in outside but they manage to remain the juiciness of intestine inside. 

The pork satay and me

I parked my car rather far. On my way to the satay stall, I met these

 

 




Among the encountering, the most dominant and significant and most-awaited stall!

The stall I wanted to eat most and awaiting to eat!!!

This stall is recommended by a food variety show. According to the show, this stall has operated in the street for almost half a century yet I did not know the existence of the stall. What a shame to be born and raised locally. This is a stall selling curry pork rice. I should eat at least once on my entire life!

Finally, the kitty part! There's a kitty theme hotel newly opened located in Jonker Street. Its concept is inspired from Taiwan, rather costly for a stay as it costs around RM400-500 a night. Here goes the entrance of the local kitty hotel. Nowadays kitty craze is around the world, without fail, I'm one of them too!