Month: July 2010

Jeriau Waterfalls @ Fraser’s Hill

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jeriau waterfalls

Jeriau Waterfalls is an incredible experience – imagine the cold hill resort temperature combined with the wind chill factor and a natural waterfall that isn’t heated (obviously). Intense. I couldn’t stop shivering. 🙂

jeriau waterfalls runoff

It’s on the GPS but don’t follow that – ask your resort concierge instead. I brought my Sony Cyber-shot TX-5 along coz it’s waterproof. It’s just a 15 minute drive from Ye Olde Smokehouse where we stayed and the GPS will attempt to take you down a road that you shouldn’t access. It’s a feeder road.

jeriau waterfall

Stop at the Jeriau Waterfalls gate (there are lots of cars parked so you won’t miss it) and it’s a 5 minute walk to the falls. Wikitravel says it’ a 15 minute walk but by my account it’s 5 minutes and we stopped to take interesting photos…

jeriau waterfalls house

…like this hut which has an ecosystem of itself on top of the roof. My travel companion spotted this one. Perhaps the company was good so it seemed shorter so YMMV (pun intended) but be careful coz some spots are slippery. >.<

jeriau waterfalls path

Jeriau Waterfalls is fucking cold. There is no other adjective to describe it. It’s as cold as a frigid bitch brimming with hatred, carrying enough emotional baggage that would cause even AirAsia to decline her wishes to pay 100 times the excess baggage fee.

Did I put you off? smirk

Don’t be, coz it’s worth the trip. Sure, the water isn’t clean. FML I swallowed a mouthful of water and I nearly puked. The spray from the waterfall, the wind chill and the mist at Fraser’s Hill – it’s unforgettable.

jeriau waterfalls frasers

It’s tonic for the soul!

jeriau waterfall me

Yup, I just had to do the traditional sixthseal.com pose. I can’t help myself, my psychiatrist says I need therapy. smirk

Village Park nasi lemak

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village park nasi lemak

Village Park Restaurant is reputed to have one of the best nasi lemak in Damansara Uptown. The first time I went was a couple of months ago with some coworkers after a meeting and I was amazed by the fresh-from-the-deep-fryer chicken and the piping hot rice.

village park restaurant

I was determined to go again during my second meeting there. There is a no photography sign but no one was bothered when I took by Sony Cyber-shot TX-5 out and started snapping away.

village park entrance

In fact the proprietor asked me what I’m writing for and was very eager to please when I went to pay the bill, smiling and asking if the food was good. I think the sign is a remant of the past when social media wasn’t quite there yet.

village park awards

I had the Village Park Nasi Lemak Set (RM 15) which offers you beef, sotong, shrimp and a chicken drumstick cooked rendang style along with all the works that good nasi lemak should have – anchovies, peanuts and half a boiled egg. I neglect to mention the cucumbers coz I’m really not a big fan of vegetables.

village park nasi lemak fried chicken

I also couldn’t resist ordering a fried chicken drumstick (RM 4.70) since I had that during my first trip there and it was pure gold.

It seriously doesn’t make any sense to order this amount of food. The chicken drum (rendang version) is huge and there are plenty of side condiments.

village park offerings

I really liked the prawns sambal – it contains un-deshelled prawns (which I eat wholesale anyway FML) and has a sweet finish.

The beef was a bit too tough for my tastes but some portions was very tender with lots of…er, tendons, so to speak. I love tendons. I have a weird taste for bone marrow and other stuff that has that elusive umami factor.

The sotong sambal was very good as well, spicy with the chewiness of fresh squid.

village park milo dinosaur

Wash it down with their signature Our Special Iced Milo Dinosaur (which is ice blended and comes in a more-than-generous, and dare I say it wasteful concoction full of heaped Milo powder that makes this local Frappuccino a great energy boost) for RM 5.20.

village park fried chicken

The best thing about Village Park nasi lemak is more than the sum of its parts – is it the piping hot santan infused rice? The crispy anchovies and crunchy peanuts? The oh-so-delicious-but-sinful fried chicken? It’s more than that – it’s the entire package.

Needless to say, it comes highly recommended from me. I’ve only had it twice and I’m craving for it already. A lot of places serve cold or semi-warm rice in nasi lemak (a pet peeve of mine) but this one serves it piping hot – just the way it should be. Do ask for extra sambal – it’s their forte.

village park nasi lemak set

It’s guaranteed to induce a post lunch coma. My stomach nearly exploded from the sheer amount of pure win!

Flatuation

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noxious fumes

I was in the elevator just now and my sinuses detected something a bit off in the olfactory ambience.

Is it just me or do you also “double sniff” – as in if you smell something noxious you use your God given senses to sniff again even though you know it would be awful? It’s just that urge that makes you wonder if it’s really a fart or something else and, more importantly, whether it was you who let one rip. smirk

Chai bo

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sibu chai bo

My paternal grandma used to make chai bo when I was 13 or 14 and I loved eating that. My sister, naturally siding against me, claimed my maternal grandmother’s deep fried version is better. It’s hard to describe the taste of chai bo, just like it’s hard to describe the taste of century eggs.

chai bo

It’s sweet for one, but savory at the same time. Umami would be the closest thing to describing it. It’s an excellent appetizer! My grandma makes a mean dish of this and they knew I was coming over for dinner so the staples that I love were there – braised pork, chai bo, two century eggs.

I had two helpings of rice.

chai bo grandma

You just gotta love home cooked meals. You just gotta love family.

Redline!

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ADN_animation

It has been scientifically proven that there is a Racing Gene (TM) in every man’s DNA. Obviously, I just pulled that out of my ass…I mean, exhaust, there is no such thing in our genetic makeup. Heh! However, we love cars and we love driving said cars in excessive speeds.

group

…and let’s not forget our equally amazing female counterparts like Leona Chin. I’m a huge fan of her! Check out her drifting videos:

I love watching Formula One, NASCAR, drift competitions, drag races and such. On the more fictional side of racing, I can’t remember how many times I’ve watched Initial D (the anime) and Initial D (the live action movie).

rain

The Fast and the Furious series brought even more glamour to street racing. The first one was excellent with the tuned and modified cars, the second was rather disappointing but they returned with a third iteration that blew the original first movie away – Tokyo Drift!

honda

I loved the fourth iteration too but what stayed in my mind was opening scene of the first movie – the precision driving with the highly tuned Honda Civics with uber cool green neon lighting under the chassis while hijacking the trucks.

Pure awesomeness!

drift

I’ve even been to a drifting course due to my love for motor sports. The first half was a safety course, which was really useful for me considering the numerous times I’ve crashed my car.

It just feels good to drive at high speeds, it’s…very liberating!

HMRT2

Honda Malaysia Racing Team is participating in the Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race (MME) this 8th August. If you don’t know what the MME is, it’s a grueling 12 hour race in Sepang International Circuit that involves day and night driving.

HMRT3

MME is not just about speed – it’s about finely tuned cars, teamwork and perseverance! Racing has always been part of Honda, I’m sure you’re familiar with their high performance R range. The Honda Malaysia Racing Team has won the Class A Championships 4 years in a row and they will be using the same car they used in 2009 – the Honda Civic Type R!

HMRT4

They’re also holding a Honda Racing Ultimate Challenge contest in conjunction with the MME race. Are you a huge racing fan? Well, here’s your chance to prove it! Just register at http://honda.com.my and answer 5 questions with a slogan. If you’re shortlisted, you get to form a team with a friend and participate in a Go-Kart Endurance Race.

The top 20 teams will proceed to the final challenge at the MME race itself where you compete for cool prizes like Apple MacBooks, iPhones, iPods and Alpinestars racing merchandise!

Honda – Rising to the Challenge!

cert

You know you’re the best, now try at beat the rest! 😉

Registration starts now! Click here for some racing action!

Sibu kampua mee and mixed soup

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sibu kampua mee

I’m a huge fan of kampua mee and we can’t exactly get the authentic ones in KL so I make it a point to eat this whenever I come back to Sibu. It’s actually just noodles tossed with lard and sprinkled with spring onions, shallots and fried onions but it tastes delicious!

sibu kampua mee with mixed soup

I like mine with soy sauce and chilli – you can also opt for an either or if you don’t want the plain noodles. The trick to good kampua mee is in the lard. A lot of places switched to vegetable oil instead. THAT IS NOT KAMPUA MEE! A proper bowl of kampua mee is made with lard.

sibu mixed soup

There are also endless customization options – you can have it in soup, with sliced char siew, with pien nuk (dumplings – kinda like wanton) or with a side order. My favorite used to be a side order of pork liver but today I went for the Full Monty (except for tofu coz I don’t like tofu!!!).

sibu mixed soup pork

It not only has pork liver, but intestines, meat and various innards from this non-halal animal.

My favorite place closed down but this one is pretty good too – the soup was peppery and yes, the kampua is made with lard. I make it a point to check. smirk

The Dark Triad of personality

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dark triad of personality

I’m interested in psychology and I got a comment just now asking me why girls like bad boys. I’ve done quite a bit of reading about this in the past so I’m quoting from a variety of sources. Well, the first and foremost reason is due the period before their period, so to speak.

Females are attracted to a bad boy persona during their most fertile period, right before their menstrual cycle.

However a more intriguing reason is the personality type dubbed The Dark Triad – Narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy. Some people are cursed/gifted by The Powers Above with this. Most men score highly on this, some more than others.

Yes, the bad boys do get the girls. Trust me, it’s not as fun as is sounds, especially if you want to be a nice guy. Bad boys do NOT get the girls they want to be with except for brief sexual encounters.

It can be a very heavy cross to bear when you want to settle down. You really have to make an effort to counter this. At least that’s what I heard from a friend of a friend. The higher you score on the Dark Triad personality traits, the more sexual partners you have.

It’s just evolution.

Don’t hate the player, hate the game. smirk

Devonshire tea and Welsh rarebit @ Ye Olde Smokehouse

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me at ye olde smokehouse having devonshire tea

A rather dignified looking gentleman who looks remarkably like me having a civilized tea session at Ye Olde Smokehouse, Fraser’s Hill.

menu

It is almost certainly a sin (or at least it should be if it’s not) to go up to a British colonial hillside resort and not have Devonshire tea. The cool highlands breeze caressing your senses as you enjoy the scenic misty view while eating hot scones with clotted cream. Divine!

devonshire tea frasers hill

*record scratching sound*

Of course, it goes without saying that your food gets cold REALLY FAST. *potong stim

devonshire tea

My friend went for the Devonshire tea, which comes with scones, strawberry preserve and clotted cream. It’s RM 18 for the entire set.

tea

I was craving for something savory so I opted for the Elegant Highland Rarebit (RM 20), a fancy name for Welsh rarebit. The Welsh rarebit is served with a side of fries and my monthly quota of vegetables. I really liked it as it used real streaky bacon instead of that beef bacon nonsense.

welsh rarebit

Welsh rarebit is usually made with beer or ale, but I don’t know if they do that over here since I couldn’t detect it. However, this concoction of bacon and hot melted cheese on top of toasted bread tasted delicious!

cream

All photos taken using the Sony Cyber-shot TX-5.

Fraser’s Hill – nothing like a nice little accident to make your day!

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Incident report:

car damage

We were driving down to get some dinner at Hillview Restaurant at Puncak Inn (recommended by Wikitravel for their good hot soup) when we passed by the Fraser’s Hill food court. I made a sudden decision to go there instead and drove into the what I thought was the entrance.

diagram

Please refer to the diagram above. I actually drove half way in – both my front tires were down that cursed curb and I couldn’t reverse out despite a concerted attempt to do so. It was about a FOOT high. It just made a great deal of noise and smoke.

gas tank

Fuck it, you’re either in or you’re out so I drove all the way in, which resulted in a detachment of my rear left bumper. I can see a lot of indecent exposure in there – wires and something which I hope is not my gas tank (it’s on the same side).

driving

People were starting to gather around to look at the idiot who literally drove INTO the food court instead of using the entrance so I nonchalantly opened my door, walked up to them and asked – “Excuse me, how do I get out of here?”

foot long

A lady pointed me in the right direction and I’m glad to report that I didn’t need the car to be towed or anything – I just drove out of the pedestrian path, following it till it merges with the road, which luckily didn’t have a foot high curb on that side.

…and we ate at the very same food court, using the proper entrance this time. smirk