Skinny dipping in Gwangalli Beach

skinny dipping

…one cold night, it was decided that a trip to Korea would not be complete without a dip in the famous Gwangalli Beach in front of our hotel in Busan.

Thus, I went in and did it!

The interesting thing was that two other people in our group were also rendezvousing on the beach (they were not aware we were there) and I was told this conversation happened:

Farez: Where are you? I’m at the beach.
Farez: Jun Jye…is that you? Running towards me? Naked?
(It wasn’t – that was me)
Jun Jye: What?
Farez: You’re running towards me. On the beach. Naked.

It’s funnier when you hear it, I’ve got other videos in this series. Heh!

…and OMG, the water is freezing. Autumn in Korea combined with a killer wind chill factor nearly gave me hypothermia.

Welcome to Sri Lanka!

soldier 1

I love the conflict zone ambience!

soldier 2

There are soldiers everywhere…

soldier 3

…wearing different uniforms and carrying assault rifles.

soldier 4

Some were seen at structures like bridges but mostly they’re everywhere – there’s an armed soldier every 100 meters or so.

soldier 5

The car (furnished by Holiday Inn Colombo) had heavily tinted windows at the back, which I wound down to take photos of this interesting phenomenon, much to the consternation of the driver and the Holiday Inn representative. Heh!

soldier 6

It’s like playing I Spy, no wait, like Foto Quest Fishing where you try to take as many photos of different soldiers as you can, preferably in groups.

soldier 7

Congratulations! You’ve just snapped a rare Sri Lankan soldier in desert combat fatigues!

soldier 8

However, it should be noted that most soldiers in Sri Lanka are fond of shouting questions and firing guns with no apparent preference about which order they do this in, so I would exercise caution when taking photos. I’m told the military does not like to be pointed and shot at (even with a digicam).

soldier me

I managed to take one with a decidedly grumpy looking soldier.

soldier last

I also convinced him to let me pose with his rifle. He was apprehensive and put the safety on and won’t let go. I got the impression he was extremely uncomfortable about the whole thing. πŸ˜‰

Prince of Wales Island

trishaw ride

Pulau Pinang. The Pearl of the Orient. Penang comes in many names and it’s only befitting to the rich heritage of the island to take a trishaw ride to Lorong Seratus Tahun to eat some Penang Curry Mee during our last day in Penang!

seratus tahun

The gastronomic adventure never stops!

seratus tahun mee

This is the famous Lorong Seratus Tahun curry mee. It comes with the classic chilli on the soup spoon haphazardly slapped on top of your dish. It’s RM 5.50 per bowl and comes with chunks of congealed blood, clams and fresh prawns. It’s awesome!

penang curry mee

I’m usually not a big fan of soup dishes, but I drank every single drop of the rich gravy in this curry mee.

curry mee

We went back to Lorong Selamat after that for char kueh tiaw. Yes, this is an eating expedition! I really wanted to try BOTH the famous Lorong Selamat CKT (the guy with the sunnies and the aunties) and I just know that I wouldn’t be able to board the plane in peace if I haven’t checked out the second stall.

aunty ckt

This is the Lorong Selamat CKT, aunty version (RM 8.50).

ckt 2

It’s oilier than the one we ate the previous day, which I much preferred. I suggest patronizing the stall manned by Mr. Wraparound Sunnies.

new world park

Next on the itinerary: New World Park Lee Brothers 4-in-1 Ice Kacang!

lee brothers

This place has been featured on Ho Chiak! (the local food show) before and it has certainly EARNED its place there. You wouldn’t expect such good stuff from a stall located in a food court. Not just a food court, but a NEW food court at that.

ice kacang

The Lee Brothers 4-in-1 Special Ice Kacang (RM 3.80) is loaded with four different fruits (mango, honey dew, banana and papaya) as well as the usual condiments found in the shaved ice dessert. It’s topped with a rainbow scoop of ice cream and here’s the best thing about it – it’s not adulterated with sugar syrup or other artificial sweeteners. The sweetness is purely derived from the fruits (and the ice cream of course). It’s great!

snake temple

Having eaten our fill, we checked out of the hotel and went to the snake temple with Valerie (who’s a nurse!). The snake temple is a temple with a twist (which the name pretty much gives away) – there’s a snake farm in there where you can take photos with the resident snakes!

snake photo

I took two (2) photos for RM 30.

snakes

The snake temple also has a mini zoo of sorts, which we paid RM 3 for the entrance fee. There are a lot of rare snakes in there…

huge python

…including this gigantic python that must weigh at least a ton! I managed to see it eat a chicken.

python eat

Spit it out!

python me

Getting up close and personal. Touchy feely kind of personal. πŸ˜‰

cobra me

The highlight of the snake temple has gotta be the King Cobra show. The snake charmer was kind enough to let me get within striking distance of this rather poisonous snake.

king cobra

I managed to take a nice photo of the agitated reptile too. Hiss!

cynthia

I managed to successfully rendezvous with Cynthia on our way out. She just arrived in Penang from Perth. It took no small amount of planning, but we did it! πŸ™‚

valerie

Valerie sent us to the airport after the 3D/2N trip. We did Penang with less than RM 1,000 – it’s definitely a food paradise, a veritable Eden of hawker food and all that is good!

photo album

One for the photo frame!

png

Thanks to MAS for the air tickets and spending money!

Planning a value packed weekend getaway? You know where to look. πŸ˜‰

Previous posts:

Penang Day 1: The Pearl of the Orient

Penang Day 2: Saturday in Penang: Penang Hill, Fort Cornwallis, Seri Rambai Cannon and Sup Torpedo

Melaka

“Who goes to Melaka to eat chicken satay?”

christ church

I headed down to Melaka last weekend with Jennifer and Michael. Jennifer is from Melaka and kindly offered to bring me around the place so I picked her and Mike up from Ampang and drove down really early on Saturday.

farmosa

Melaka is not very far from KL actually, it takes about 2 hours if you maintain a decent cruising speed. You might be able to reach there in an hour if you have very little regard for life and limb though. πŸ˜‰

coconut

We headed straight for the old market to grab a cold glass of coconut juice as soon as we got there (the heat is oppressive in Melaka)…

durian

…and indulge in some durians (from a roadside stall). It just tastes better that way. πŸ™‚

lunch

It was around lunchtime by the time we were done so we headed to Jenn’s favorite place for Melaka style char siew rice. I like this place – the patrons come in and either sit on makeshift tables and chairs, or place their plates down on an empty stall nearby and start eating. It’s a very unpretentious and homely environment.

char siew rice

We checked into the hotel after that – we actually went to several hotels before finding one which is not fully booked. Our first choice was Baba House, an authentic Baba/Nyonya (Peranakan) hotel which is set in a converted shop house that harks back to the days where they roamed the streets.

eat us

Melaka is the Peranakan capital of Malaysia, due to some convoluted history of intermarriage between Chinese traders (from China) and local Malays. Unfortunately, Melaka seems to attract a lot of Singaporeans over the weekends so it was full.

cannon

Actually, on hindsight (only saw this later that evening), if you’re just heading there for an overnight stay and you want to try something different, check out the Maritime Museum. There’s an activity packed tour (river cruise, night hiking etc) and you get to spend a night on board the ship for just RM 95. I’m so going for this option on my next trip.

us

Anyway, after checking in and dumping our bags, we headed out to try the pork satay in Melaka.

pork satay

This place is called Ming Sate Hut and it serves satay and satay only. They have pork satay, intestine satay and liver satay (as well as the usual fare, but like Jenn said, who goes to Melaka to eat chicken satay?). The strange thing (strange to me ok :p) is that you order what you want and they serve it up. You eat the amount you want (you don’t have to finish everything) and they just count the sticks when you’re done.

view

The leftovers are probably reheated and served again. πŸ˜‰

baba

I also went for a crash course in Peranakan culture at Baba Nyonya Heritage Museum. The tour was fascinating, mostly coz I’ve forgotten most things I learned about Malaysian history in high school. Heh! Apparently Straits Chinese eat with their hands, so they have small soup bowls with individual soup spoons for the obligatory soup dish at meals (coz you can’t very well drink soup with your hands).

cc me

We headed to Christ Church after that. It’s affectionately dubbed the Red Church due to its fire engine red faΓ§ade and is probably the most photographed structure in Melaka after A Farmosa.

red square

Christ Church, Melaka is actually a still functional place of worship (of the Anglican denomination) and comes with a beautiful square (not the shape, the place people gather) complete with an antique clock circa 1886. The Red Square was teeming with tourists when I was there, which contributes to the gaiety-charged atmosphere. It looked like almost every other person was lugging a dSLR around!

journey

Next stop: St. Paul’s Church!

st paul

The pilgrimage to the top…

paul

St. Paul’s Church is not a cathedral per se, but rather grim looking ruins used as a burial ground for the Dutch. There are a lot of tombstones, so if you’re into stuff like that, you’ll feel right at home!

tomb

The path we went through is actually a walk that brings you to the Big 3 in Melaka – Christ Church, St. Paul and Fort A Farmosa. Our journey ends right at A Farmosa, which is not as impressive as I had imagined…

a farmosa

Fort A Farmosa looks exactly like what a fort built in 1511 should look like – crumbly and worn. It’s nice to stand beside this Β½ millennia structure though…and you can’t say you’ve been to Melaka until you’ve been to A Farmosa.

squat

Come to think of it, you’ve probably seen A Farmosa in Melaka…but you’ve never experienced it until you’ve done the Ah Beng squat in front of A Farmosa! πŸ˜‰

excavation

You can opt to take a scenic stroll to the many excavation sites after that…there’s a huge excavation going on around the city to unearth the old fortress walls around Melaka. Take a peek.

Other not-to-be-missed stuff:

jonker

Jonker Street. Jonker Walk is only open on the weekends and it’s like a huge pasar malam (bazaar) on the streets. It’s festive, it’s crowded, and it’s a lot of fun!
 

satay celup

Satay celup

rice balls

Chicken rice balls

portuguese

Portuguese settlement

menara

Menara Taming Sari

gyro

This gyro tower ride is much better than the overrated Eye On Malaysia. Enjoy the 360 degree view of Melaka from 80 meters up for just RM 10.

dodol

The Tan Kim Hock dodol shop – just so you can get some souvenirs home. πŸ˜‰

Melaka

teaser

I just got back from a weekend getaway in Trisara Luxury Beach Resort, PhuketΒ with Jenn and Michael. It was fantabulously fun! Melaka has changed a lot since the last time I was there (a good 20 odd years ago). It’s now super tourist-y and there’s HEAPS of Singaporeans there. Almost half the cars we saw had Singaporean plates (both regular and “weekend car plates”).

rice balls

Nevertheless, I enjoyed myself. I remember being there when I was 8, but the details escape me so it was good to take photos and experience Melaka all over again. It’s a UNESCO world heritage site now and a lot of effort has been put into historical sites, which was fun for me. I did the eating expedition thing too, full post up tomorrow coz I’m damn tired and sleep deprived.

vodka

Jennifer kindly contributed to the sixthseal.com alcohol cabinet by giving me a bottle of Wyborowa vodka (from Poland).

jenn

She also bought some Melaka stuff for you guys (er…not everyone la, that’s impossible with the size of the company – just the team I’m working with) so I’ll be coming to work tomorrow bearing gifts. πŸ™‚

kiss

Don’t you just love girls in uniform? πŸ˜‰

Pyrotechnics – Fire twirling, fire eaters, fire dancers

fire performance

I caught a rather remarkable street performance at Gurney Drive on the first night I was in Penang.

The fire performance by the duo was pretty impressive – they had swirling flames galore and an impressive fire breathing portfolio that had the crowd cheering.

fire twirling

I just can’t figure out how the dude can put so much gasoline in his mouth and not get high.

I could smell the gasoline fumes from a meter away…

fire eater

Oh wait, I know. He was high. πŸ˜‰

I finally found out why I’m so lucky in Penang.

cheryl

Today was a very productive day – we managed to visit a lot of places, thanks to Cheryl and her soon-to-be-husband Kah Weng who kindly drove us around Penang to visit all the heritage sites. Cheryl has been a long reader of sixthseal.com (since 2003) so it’s great to finally meet up with her. One of the places we did today was the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion in Georgetown.

covert

The mansion does not allow photography inside the premises, but I discreetly (okay, blatantly, sixthseal.com does not do subtle :p) roamed around the interior and snapped a lot of photos. Simon followed suit when he saw me doing that and he was reprimanded by the tour guide. I’ve always wondered how I managed to get away with a lot of shit (probably broke more than a few rules today) and the revelation came during the 1 hour tour.

sulk

I finally found out why I’ve been so lucky. My car license plate is QAG 4114. The tour guide at Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion mentioned that the address of the mansion is 14, Leah Street. 4 is considered an inauspicious number for the Chinese coz it’s a phoneme for “death”. However, 1+4 is 5. 5 is considered lucky coz it represents “wu fu ling men” meaning “five kinds of luck entering your door”. Heh! That explains A LOT of things. πŸ˜‰

lucky buddha

Another thing I picked up during the tour is that six is associated with the phrase “lu lu wu cheong” which is literally translated as “road road no poverty”. It’s a couplet articulating that you won’t be left wanting in your life. It’s a good thing I picked sixthseal.com as my domain name – twice the luck for me. LOL!

I also kissed a Laughing Buddha effigy today (no touching the statues) – now it’s thrice the luck! w00t! =D

sixthseal.com does Penang

arrive

Greetings! I am in Penang. πŸ™‚

wc

I woke up at 5 am this morning (!). I asked Wai Ching for the KL taxi number last night and she gave me a number which I took down in my sleep deprived state. I only realized that it’s HER number from the 016 prefix after a while and she sent me to KL Sentral earlier this morning. Cheers for that WC! πŸ™‚

trishaw

The taxi fare I saved was used to pay for overpriced items like RM 2 bottled water and RM 8 Smints at the airport departure shops. :p

ticket

Our flight was cancelled so we got on the second flight out of KLIA. The original flight was scheduled to depart at 9:15 AM but MH 1138 did not 38 (fly up – literal Mandarin pronunciation of the numbers). We were put on the 11:10 to Penang.

shut eye

Jesus, if I knew the flight was going to be cancelled, I would have gone for the other flight instead (the one I’m being put on) and caught a little bit more shut eye.

sleep

It was such an ungodly hour to be up and about that even the clerks at the KLIA shops were asleep. πŸ˜‰

Nightfall at Sekeping Serendah Retreat

bbq

Sekeping Serendah offers just about the ideal place for a barbecue at night – there’s the sound of nature seeping through the peace and quiet of the forest, a cool breeze blowing into the patio, and the sound of running water from the brook. It’s just so chill. The caretaker has already…er, taken care of the BBQ when we finished our extended swim and soak session in the private pool.

fire

The BBQ pit is an old fashioned receptacle with a mesh grill over it and good old fashioned charcoal covering the bottom. I helped to man the BBQ pit for a while, ensuring all the charcoal is evenly burned before Joyce and Windy took over. I’m not good in gauging food readiness, since I can eat raw food so I left it to better hands. πŸ˜‰

flame

There are no restaurants or anything of that sort in Sekeping Serendah so you’ll have to either bring your own food or cater from the caretaker (RM 20 per pax) for dinner. We had the foresight (?) to bring our own food. A trip to the local Giant for supplies ensured we had enough food and drinks to last the night. The grocery shopping bill came close to a whopping RM 400 but a large part of that was due to ethanol based beverages.

food

We got lamb chops, fish, chicken wings, corn on the cob and eggs for the barbecue. I got eggs coz no one believed me when I said eggs can be cooked on a BBQ by just putting it right on the grill. It really works – I’ve done it numerous times before. We also got a lot of bottled water and fruit juices for hydration. For the dehydration part, a bottle of Absolut Vodka was procured.

warming

I would have thought that would be enough but apparently not – I’m in the company of veterans here, much to my surprise. It was decided that we’re getting another bottle of liqueur – Kwai Feh Lychee Liqueur which Windy swears is the best thing she ever had. The bottle describes the history of the liqueur very poetically – “Emperor Ming of the Tang dynasty supplied his charming consort with a specialty for which she craved and was richly rewarded with her delightful smiles and appreciative heart.” Okay.

grilling

We also got a bottle of Merlot for good measure. I was a bit apprehensive about the amount at first – a bottle of vodka, a bottle of liqueur and a bottle of red wine for three people, two of whom I didn’t think could drink much.

bbq sauce

…and guess what, we were drinking the Absolut Vodka neat from the bottle without any mixers and nearly finished it before we even got to Sekeping Serendah Retreat! OMG! I knew we wouldn’t have enough alcohol at that point. Thus, I managed to persuade the caretaker to drive out to town at about 10 pm and get us some cheap, locally distilled vodka (RM 45).

plate

This is our dinner. I had the black corn, lamb, fish, and an egg. Everything was grilled to perfection! Kudos to the girls for manning the BBQ.

fish

I didn’t even know fish had to be disemboweled before slapping it on the grill. We used real butter to cook the food and had a bottle of BBQ sauce to go with it. It was great eating under the moonlight with a Styrofoam cup of red wine. The food somehow tasted better under the stars.

girls

We started playing Blackjack after that with the bottle of Kwai Feh Lychee Liqueur and finished it in less than 10 minutes. (!) That leaves the dodgy vodka which left everyone (including me – and I’ve drank a lot of shitty alcohol) apprehensive as soon as it was opened. The smell of the vodka is…revolting. I don’t have a better adjective to describe it.

bbq food

I think everyone puked that night courtesy of the dodgy vodka with a distinctive methanol odor. It probably had a legion of other unidentified non-ethanol spirits inside. I puked straight after drinking it but was still sober and slept only at around 4 am. I made sure that the caretaker would bring us breakfast (RM 5 per pax) which is a choice of either roti canai or nasi lemak before sleeping for about four hours.

food done

It was a great trip despite all three of us throwing up before the night was over. πŸ˜‰

drinking

Regurgitation Register:
Joyce: 7
Windy: 2
Huai Bin: 1

It was technically twice for me too, but the first time was not directly ethanol related. I forced myself to puke coz I was full and wanted more space in my stomach to…er, fit more alcohol in. :p

dog

I have much respect for Windy, she drank almost as much as me and managed to hold her liquor. πŸ™‚

Sekeping Serendah retreat

mud shed

Sekeping Serendah is a Zen like retreat in the middle of the jungle. Touted as a place with a minimal footprint on the environment, I was introduced to this retreat by a coworker who’s been there. Sekeping Serendah literally means “A piece of Serendah” in Malay. Serendah is the town where the retreat is located at – it’s an Orang Asli (native) settlement area.

shower

Karen (my coworker – seen in the breakfast photo) was quite pleased with her experience there last time so I called up Christina and booked a glass shed. Unfortunately, being a long weekend and all, they were all out of glass sheds. The other option is the timber shed, which is also fully occupied. Sekeping Serendah only had the mud huts left so we went for that option.

serendah sculpture

This is the famous Sekeping Serendah metal sculpture. It turns out that there’s only a couple of sheds in Sekeping Serendah – 5 in total, if I’m not mistaken. It’s a very private retreat, perfect for relaxing in the green forest reserve and swim in the pool and just generally chill out – BBQ at night, hear the crickets sing their song. It’s a little slice of heaven just an hour away from the bustling city.

serendah sign

The sign to turn in the place is a little obscure (understatement of the year) so watch out for a white house with a blue roof. You need to turn left right before that. If you get out of your car, move some shrubs away and brush at this little concrete block on the ground, you’ll see that it says “Sekeping Serendah” if you squint hard and long enough. πŸ˜‰

serendah entrance

You’ll head up a small dirt road lined with trees which will bring you to a rustic looking wall made of bricks. You’ll see the retreat right after that – if you’re on a heavily graveled road instead of a smooth dirt road, you’ve taken a wrong turn and would very likely need assistance if you go further in.

arrive montage

You can park right outside the only road to the sheds. The sheds are all partially covered by shrubs, with only clay brick steps leading up to the elevated living quarters. It offers a lot of shade (from the sun), shelter (from the rain), and privacy (from other people) – all three of which we experienced.

hut montage

The mud sheds have air conditioning, a fridge, a wash basin, open concept showers and washrooms, and clay partitions. The beds are thoughtfully fitted with mosquito netting to ensure a night of untroubled sleep. There are no modern distracting amenities like TV and your cell phone won’t work over here so it’s a perfect place to get reacquainted with nature. Everything is concealed – they do have hot water but the piping is hidden so you feel like you’re really living under the trees…

serendah montage

…which in fact you are. The forest canopy combined with the brilliant open style architecture allows the open skies to be literally above your head when you lounge in the patio and when you shower. Coupled with the truncated tree trunks in the patio and the brook running through the entire retreat, it’s like you’re completely isolated from your worries, and there’s just you and your friends.

pool montage

The private swimming pool is an excellent place to soak after the ordeal that we went through. We headed straight for the pool as soon as we got there and put our bags in the mud shed. The caretaker was kind enough to ask if we wanted to barbecue stuff at night and kindly offered to provide charcoal and light the fire.

nice

Meanwhile, we hit the swimming pool, relaxed in the cool, refreshing water and talked about stuff while soaking in the refreshingly cold water. I would say it’s a great place for company outings and bonding sessions, stuff like that. I was in the pool with Joyce and Windy until we were all wrinkled from the water and it was getting too cold to stay. It was dark by the time we got back to the mud shed.

relax

The canopy of trees above your head as you swim and laze around really makes for a relaxing experience.

It’s like a slice of paradise.
 
Just be careful of the pole supporting the curtain that covers the shower and washroom – it’s not anchored and very prone to falling down at the most inappropriate moments. -_-”

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...