A while back, my parents and I went for a Mee Tarik hunt and we ended up at LanZhou Mee Tarik Restaurant located in the heart of China Town. It was a very hot morning and to be honest, I wasn't too happy about having piping hot noodles for brunch. I was thinking more of scrambled eggs with a side of sourdough and beef bacon and a nice cold iced coffee. Nevertheless, I was dragged out of the house.
Willingly, we started our journey and luck was in our favour that day as we managed to find a great parking spot under a tree! The walk from the open car park to the restaurant didn't take long, we just had to cross a busy road - no biggie.
You are greeted at the restaurant by a talking parrot chained at the leg. It'll greet you and make some loud bird sounds and the first thing I do since we are entering a Chinese muslim restaurant, greet it with "Assalamualaikum...." Unfortunately, my greeting was inevitably ignored.
(s-salāmu ʿalaykum is a greeting in Arabic that means "Peace be upon you").
We got a table for three and ordered drinks instantly. That short walk really took a toll on us that we had to get a nice cold drink. I took a glimpse at the menu and saw Fresh Coconut and didn't think twice. I ordered it of course. As for food, we ordered 1) Hand pulled beef soup (something like a beef pho) 2) Hand pulled chicken wanton mee 3) lamb dumplings.
The dumplings arrived first. For a foodie, I tend to judge the appearances of dishes. I know its bad, but it is something that I need to work on. Frankly speaking, I can be adventurous but I'm a little picky. But because my tummy was starting to rumble, I took a dumpling and shoved it into my mouth trying not to think about the appearance of the dumpling skin moving left to right in my mouth. As I chewed and chewed, I enjoyed the rich flavour of the lamb and the dumpling skin wasn't too bad too! It just looked unappetising to me. Ugly dumpling skin aside, id rate this dish 8/10. Honestly, I'm kinda craving for this and might head to the restaurant after this CMO is lifted.
The second and third dish arrived. The soupy dish and the wanton mee. Personally, I like the Mee Tarik Beef Soup more than the wanton dish. The soup dish was massive and could feed approximately 2 people. The ramen was chewy yet tender and the beef slices in the soup were generous and fresh.
All in all I'd give the restaurant a solid 8/10 - I definitely would recommend this place if you are craving a good ol' pulled noodle dish. Oh ya, and don't forget to order their lamb dumplings cause that was gooooooood.
SJY
Its been a year since I started writing this blog post but I never got around to finishing it. I had travelled to Bali last year (2017) to visit my university mate Amika and my friend Maria. A year has passed and I returned to Bali once again this year for my yearly Bali trip and it has almost been a month since! Can't believe i've left this space for that long.
Wow.
A lot has happened since but I am determined to get back and make this digital journal of mine work.
[Wrote this more than a year ago...]
Summer was approaching its end and I wanted to squeeze in a short getaway to an island not far from Malaysia. Where to if not, Bali. Only my most favourite go-to-beach holiday destination in Asia by far. I have been going to Bali since I was young with my parents. I remember we used to go almost every single year without fail but I guess as I got older and busier with school and sports, I didn't really have much time to travel. Two summers back, my friends from England and I had an all girl s trip to Bali where we met our friend Amika there.
This summer, I was able to head my way to Bali to meet Amika with my boyfriend. According to the Bali Bible, Bali is now ranked number one as the most favourite tourist destination. Seriously, it being cheap for western tourists (especially popular among Australian tourists) and the stunning sceneries, with mouth watering delicacies bursting with flavour - Im really not surprised.
I arrived in the afternoon close to lunch at The Denpasar Airport where Amika picked me up. Jamal was supposed to arrive around 8pm (Bali time - as he arrived in Kuala Lumpur from London that morning and was not able to catch the morning flight with me). Amika and I took it slow that day.
Sisterfields, Seminyak
We had lunch at Sisterfields, Seminyak. A quaint cafe that serves an All-Day breakfast, brunch and lunch menu alongside a variety of savoury and sweet pastries, cakes as well as the all famous artisan coffees.
Brioche French Toast
Sisterfields Dirty Burger
Amika ordered coffee and their famous brioche french toast. Both of us are pretty big fans of french toast. In London, we would always order the ones at Friends of Ours, Hoxton so we wanted to try the ones in Bali and compare. Hers was with chocolate, caramelised banana, fresh banana and yoghurt sorbet drizzled with Canadian maple syrup (95k Indonesian Rupiah). Compared to the Matcha brioche french toast we had at Friends of Ours, both of us really couldn't decide which was better. Both were delicious in their own way. But we did both agree that the the brioche french toast at Sisterfields was lighter than the one in London. The excessive heaps of chocolate did not make us sick one bit. BONUS. I had the Dirty Burger because I was really hungry. It was a 160g all - beef patty served with smoked cheddar cheese, pickled onion rings, mustard, aioli, house sauce and a side of delicious hand cut fries (100k Indonesian Rupiah). My burger was delicious, Big and juicy! I highly recommend their Dirty Burger, it was sooo gooooood.
After lunch we headed to head to our waxing appointment. Yes, I know. I waited till I was in Bali to get my waxing done. Why didn't I do it back in Malaysia? Let's just say I didn't't have time. Yeah, let's go with that. Theres my easy and honest, answer. We waited for Maria to scoot her way to Seminyak so that we could head on to The Lawn in Canggu for a short chill session whilst waiting for Jamal to arrive.
The Lawn
The Lawn, is a beach lounge located directly in the heart of Canggu. It is a great place for you to chill and watch the sun set whilst nibbling on their delicious finger food // dinner perhaps. Canggu a.k.a surfers paradise for some is a great place for surfers to catch some sick waves in the H2o. Their two famous beaches for surfing are Canggu Beach and Echo Beach.
Jimbaran
We picked Jamal up and went straight for dinner at a seafood restaurant in Jimbaran ( sorry I forgot the name of the restaurant) hehe Maria, Amika, Jamal and I got to enjoy the view of the ocean (even though it was pitch black since it was night time) whilst we relished into our freshly made seafood feast.
OK CAN WE JUST TAKE A MINUTE TO APPRECIATE MY BREAKFAST SPREAD AT AMIKA'S HOUSE????
Seniman Coffee Studio, Ubud
A popular cafe among locals and tourists in Ubud. What a way to enjoy a good breakfast if not by washing it down with good coffee. It was a great place for us to just catch up, away from the hustle and bustle of the main street. Amika and i, still full from breakfast simply ordered coffee - I ordered three different kinds. Jamal - not being full from breakfast decided to have his second breakfast. Ordered himself coffee with a side of toast and assorted jams, then claimed that it was to share :p
Bali Swings, Ubud
Made our way to Ubud to visit the Bali Swings after our short coffee stop. It is basically located in a secluded area in Ubud with many swings hung from the trees of different heights in the Ubud Jungle. Upon registration, you're required to give consent to a few documents stating that Bali Swings would not be liable for any unfortunate events that occur during your swinging session. They would tie rope around you as a "belt" to prevent you from falling further down the hill if you were to fall. haha I feel like that sentence was not too convincing. But I'm not going to lie, it was pretty fun playing Tarzan and Jane swing from the trees. I wasn't scared for some reason but I did get sightly nervous when I saw the crowd queuing behind me. Everyone there were instagram ready - from their makeup, accessories, outfits and even camera equipment. Whilst queuing for our turn, the couple prior to us had carried 3 different professional cameras, one was a Canon 6D, another was a G7X or equivalent and the other was a small Go Pro. I knew that people take building instagram content seriously but I didn't know it was this serious!
Sunset at KU DE TA
The sunset was breathtaking....
Nalu Bowls, Seminyak
Fancy a healthy smoothie bowl? Nalu Bowls is the perfect place for you! Here I'm having the Uluwatu bowl - Dragon fruit blend topped with strawberries, mango, coconut flakes and honey!
You'll thank me later.
Jimbaran
We picked Jamal up and went straight for dinner at a seafood restaurant in Jimbaran ( sorry I forgot the name of the restaurant) hehe Maria, Amika, Jamal and I got to enjoy the view of the ocean (even though it was pitch black since it was night time) whilst we relished into our freshly made seafood feast.
OK CAN WE JUST TAKE A MINUTE TO APPRECIATE MY BREAKFAST SPREAD AT AMIKA'S HOUSE????
Seniman Coffee Studio, Ubud
A popular cafe among locals and tourists in Ubud. What a way to enjoy a good breakfast if not by washing it down with good coffee. It was a great place for us to just catch up, away from the hustle and bustle of the main street. Amika and i, still full from breakfast simply ordered coffee - I ordered three different kinds. Jamal - not being full from breakfast decided to have his second breakfast. Ordered himself coffee with a side of toast and assorted jams, then claimed that it was to share :p
Bali Swings, Ubud
Made our way to Ubud to visit the Bali Swings after our short coffee stop. It is basically located in a secluded area in Ubud with many swings hung from the trees of different heights in the Ubud Jungle. Upon registration, you're required to give consent to a few documents stating that Bali Swings would not be liable for any unfortunate events that occur during your swinging session. They would tie rope around you as a "belt" to prevent you from falling further down the hill if you were to fall. haha I feel like that sentence was not too convincing. But I'm not going to lie, it was pretty fun playing Tarzan and Jane swing from the trees. I wasn't scared for some reason but I did get sightly nervous when I saw the crowd queuing behind me. Everyone there were instagram ready - from their makeup, accessories, outfits and even camera equipment. Whilst queuing for our turn, the couple prior to us had carried 3 different professional cameras, one was a Canon 6D, another was a G7X or equivalent and the other was a small Go Pro. I knew that people take building instagram content seriously but I didn't know it was this serious!
Spent the evening and watched the sunset at Ku De Ta. Obviously we had to orderer favourite sushi rolls and pizza!
Bebek Tepi Sawah, Ubud
Been going to this bebek (duck) joint since I was little! MY FAVOURITE! We ordered the Crispy Bebek and Satay Lilit.
Sunday's Beach Club
We drove from Ubud which took approximately 1.5 hours. Sunday's Beach Club is located in Undasang, Kuta. The cool thing about this beach club is that you need to take a cable car from the top of the beach club's cliff down to the beach. It was far more private and quiet compared to Potato Head and Ku De Ta - no loud music at all..
We wanted to go in for a swim but because of the location of the beach, the sea temperature was freezing! Too cold for me to get in. It reminded me of swimming in Croatia during Spring. So instead, Amika and I explored the island whilst Jamal and her brother relaxed by the beach, bonding over their love for food and cars.
At dusk, we were lucky enough to catch the bonfire at the beach club. There were beanbags all around, so we just gathered around what seemed like a luxurious campfire whilst munching on poke bowls and sipping on milkshakes.
*Queues SpongeBob's CampFire Song Song*
The sunset was breathtaking....
Nalu Bowls, Seminyak
Fancy a healthy smoothie bowl? Nalu Bowls is the perfect place for you! Here I'm having the Uluwatu bowl - Dragon fruit blend topped with strawberries, mango, coconut flakes and honey!
You'll thank me later.
SJY
A while ago my friends introduced me to this new brand called & other stories which is a fashion brand that offers women a wide range of products from shoes, bags, accessories, beauty and ready to wear items to create their own personal style and I guess their products are a canvas for you to express yourself and create your own story.
The first time I set foot in their Regent Street Branch, I was in love instantly. I fell involve with decor of the store, it was so minimalistic and simple. My first ever purchase was a set of rings which I bought with my friend, Amika. I have really thin fingers and rings are really hard to find. I browsed through their rings and found their smallest size, S; and tried it on. To be fair it wasn't my size. It still felt pretty lose even though I had tried their smallest size but I tried to convince myself otherwise.
I had to convince myself that they would fit me and that maybe my fingers would swell up a bit under the hot sun that the rings would fit perfectly but I was wrong. My £12 purchase failed me, but I was still happy cause I had them in my life haha. The fact that i knew that I wouldn't fit them didn't stop me from buying it :p
Before I left the store I noticed their shoe section and this particular sandal had caught my eye. It reminded me of these shoes that my aunt had worn years ago when I was younger. She mentioned that she had purchased hers from a shop in the UK and now I have high hopes that she had bought them from this store as they are almost identical. I was so happy when I saw it and knew that I had to come back and buy them before its too late.
So I did.
I returned to the store with the motive of buying those sandals which I did in the end. I had bought their Black cross strap sandals with an elastic heel strap, leather insoles and rubber sole. The sandals have a pretty thin sole. At first I was sceptical on the comfort of the sandal, I was reassured that they were only nice to look at and not nice to wear but when I actually tried them on, they were super comfortable!!! They support my feet and aren't very flat. The only problem with this sandal would be the sizing. I'm a UK 6, but I ended up buying a UK 5 but the sandals are still a little lose so I'm not actually sure whether i should get a size down to just stick with these. Nevertheless, I am really excited to wear them on my summer trip to Italy next week!
SJ
My Current Obsession.
S H R I M P
S
If you
don’t trust yourself with a pet to take care off, then these babies are the
best kind of pets for you. Almost no maintenance needed! It lives up to 20
years and only need to be fed once every 1 to 2 weeks. You don’t need any fancy
oxygen tanks like those fancy big aquariums. All you need is a cool hipster
looking beaker, a little branch, some algae, little pebbles and sand. EASY!
Almost all pet shops would sell shrimp accessories so don’t fret.
So,
recently I got myself a new pet (obviously Pudeen my OG love of my life is
still my number one kitty), my shrimps stand at number 2 hehe sorry babies.
Supershrimps also known as Opae ula, a Haiwaiian red shrimp (halocaridina rubra). They look exactly
like how prawns or shrimps would look like, but they are tiny! No surprises
there now Sherlock.
I stumbled
upon them at my office actually. Funny story, my colleague and I were walking
and she stopped to say hello to one of her Senior Executives. I couldn’t help
but notice a rather interesting looking beaker that at that time to me looked
as if it was a mini aquarium. I stopped and had a little chat with her about
her office pets and she told me that they were actually Hawaiian Shrimp!!! I
fell in love with them almost instantaneously. Theres something about them that
I find so fascinating.
She passed
me the number of the guy she bought them from (vendor is called The Shrimp
Thing) and I searched for them on Facebook. I really couldn’t sleep that night,
all I could do was wonder where I could get my hands one these cool shrimps. At
2 am, I slid into the vendors DMs and asked him where I could buy the shrimps
from – he told me that he would be at Starling Mall over the weekend. DING DING
DING that’s my queue. Over the weekend, I purchased my very first school of
prawns.
I had
chosen a bulb shaped beaker with 6 shrimps in them and at the last minute I
decided to buy an additional two shrimps because why not right? OK, lets talk
about costing. The beaker itself with all the shrimp accessories costs RM200
and every additional shrimp you get is RM15 EACH. I’m not going to lie, it was
pretty expensive. But its just one of those things. It whether you like them
and want them enough to spend that much on little prawns. I really really
wanted them because I wanted to leave them in the office. Something to look
forward to, everyday at the office.
I’ll leave
the vendors link below for those who are interested. As well as a website on
the shrimps for those who would like to learn more!
https://m.facebook.com/theshrimpthing/
https://www.petshrimp.com/
SJY
We commenced our first itinerary of the day at a late start. The night prior to our long hike, us girls spent our "rest and recover" time chit chatting about the whole trip so far. The food the places we visited and what we were going to experience in the upcoming days of our summer holidays. We ended up over sleeping and waking up hours after our alarm clock went off.
To be fair, I heard the alarm clock but decided to create a mental snooze button and ignore it with the hope of Tomma coming into our room to wake us up and hurry us. But he didn't. All of us overslept. I woke up and rushed everyone out of bed. I'm not too sure whether we showered that morning or not but we rushed. Tomma drove us to the starting point of the Mount Vesuvius. The drive wasn't too long, but I managed to squeeze in a little sneaky nap.
Mount Vesuvius is one of Naples' most famous volcano. Mainly due to the huge eruption it caused in AD 79 which resulted in the destructions and burying's of the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. This volcano is said to be one of the most dangerous volcanos of the world.
The hike wasn't too bad. We could tolerate the burning summer heat, but what made things hard about the hike were the stones and ashes that covered the footpath leading towards the viewing point. The ashes made it hard to hike. We took our time, because.... no rush right?????
As we were hiking up, a lot of people were already making their way down. I guess it was because it was approaching lunch time and that the sun was going to be completely right above us. It took us slightly over an hour to reach the top. Estimated time was an hour but we took slightly more than that because we had spent a longer time at their pit stop where we managed to enjoy a quick bottle of cold Coke.
The view was breath taking when we reached the top of the Mount Vesuvius. It was very overwhelming to be that close to the crater of the volcano. I honestly thought that the crater would look like the ones you see in cartoons, but they actually look way different. So to witness one of Gods creations first hand, it really made me cherish every single moment I had there. Basked in the whole ambiance.
OK then it got a little too hot for us so we made our way back down and back to Tomma's house for lunch - his dad made us delicious pasta made from home grown ingredients! They made the most simpliest tomato based spaghetti taste so light and delicious! I just can't fathom how delicious it was right now.
As we were running on a tight schedule, we had about only 15 minutes to relax or freshen up before heading out again to meet with our private tour guide in Pompeii. I took a quick shower because I felt icky and gross from the hot hike up Mount Vesuvius. I knew that I was going to sweat again when were going to explore the ruins of Pompeii but I just could not function without a quick shower. It just had to be done.
The distance from the house to Pompeii isn't that far at all. It only took us 15 minutes to get there. As usual, once I got into the car, I crashed. I got in, sat down, closed my eyes. Because we were always up very early and sleep very late, every second counts. Time was really precious to us.Our tour guide was very informative and impromptu. She made everything sound as if she was reading out of a ancient Roman story book. She brought along with her a little "Before and After" book, where she showed us what certain sculptures and areas of Pompeii looked like before the eruption. Mostly of the houses built there were very very grand and were filled with beautiful mosaic tiles that were make by hand. Its amazing how man kind were already making and designing all these at those days. Just makes you ponder on how times have evolved and how much architecture has developed.
Pompeii is an ancient Roman city located in Naples. This ancient city is famous for being buried about 20 ft from the massive eruption from Mount Vesuvius (where we went for our morning hike) back in AD 79. The eruption destroyed every single inhabitant there as they were covered by tones of volcano ash. Lost for 169 years, the city was later discovered and excavated. Many objects have been preserved for more than a millennium due to the lack of air and moisture. Seeing the remnants of the Pompeii people was an eye opener because it made me appreciate the people around me and moments that stand the test of time.
Map of Pompeii
The stumps are not just platforms to allow affluent citizens to get around the city without dirtying their garments on the cobbled pavement. It is also segregating tool to impose status. Only the affluent people would be able to walk the pavements, commoners would need to walk in the polluted cobbled drains.
Picture of a person covered in volcano ash from the eruption
One of the many faces found on the fountains of Pompeii
A before and after photograph. Before: look at all the beautiful and colourful mosaics tiles.
After a long day of exploring the two major historical exhibits of Naples, we were invited by Tomma's friends to have supper with them in Salerno. Salerno is approximately a 45 minute drive - plus minus. Had dinner at Tomma's place in Salerno with his family - obviously we had pizza cause why not right. You're in Italy , I expect to be fed with three things, I expect to
be fed with lots of pizza, pasta and GELATO.
So we had
pizza for dinner, all sorts and it was goooooood. The met up with his friends
and had GELATO. Oh yes, and boy it was gooooooooooooooooooood. Instead of the
normal one, we had ours in a brioche bun. Something like our very own roti
ice-cream. The brioche bun was sweet and fluffy and the gelato was rich and
creamy. We ejoyed our dessert whilst sitting at a pier nearby the ocean with
the rest of the Italian kids. I swear, the place we hung out at was super chilled.Imagine
sitting at the Met Steps if you’re in New York, but imagine you’re seated on
the steps overlooking the sea at night with loud music. haha
Till next time Salerno <3
SJY
