Memorable Kota Bharu Trip

Part of my job requires me to travel to various places, either to do some road shows (yah, road show), meetings, exhibitions and even students evaluations. I was in Kota Bharu to do some evaluation and my trip was planned in advance. What was my plan? To arrange my schedule and get a friend to show me good foods in Kota Bharu!! hehehehe...

Introducing my buddy, and my tour guide Nik.

True to his blog's name 'Pakcik Kopi', Nik is an avid coffee lover. He writes great Malay poems too.

Since he'd just got himself a DSLR, we spent time exchanging ideas, useful tips and what not.


Thanks to my tour guide, i was literally stuffed with food, from the moment i stepped into his car, brought me to various eateries, all the way to the return to my hotel room. I gained 2 kg in two days! hahahaha..

Pictures speaks louder then words. Here're some photos of the wonderful food i had:
Solok ikan. First time trying this one. The flesh of the fish was minced, added with grated coconut and spices before sticking back to the fish head and deep fried. Tasted superb!

Nasi Kerabu, my all time favourite!!! Goes well with the solok and the ayam percik. Well, usually the rice is blue but this one is white. I love the raw vegie!!

Another favourite of mine, the Ayam Percik. In fact, i love all the 'percik' thingy. Ikan percik, perut ayam percik, you name it.


The Solok Lada. Chili stuffed with fish meat and spices. The chili was interestingly crunchy.

First time in hearing and tasting Nasi Tumpang. Interestingly, it tasted like nasi impit with various 'goodies' inside, layer by layer. Must try if you haven't try it.

Another first time: Pulut Ikan Kering. Glutinous rice served with salted grated coconut and deep fried fish. It may look simple, but it tasted awesome!

Me eating away with hand. The blue coloured nasi kerabu was yummy.

I'm salivating as I write this entry.... My thousand thanks to my dear friend Nik that not only he stuffed me with food, he brought me to various interesting places in KB too. Not to mention having thick and aromatic coffee at kopitiam around 1.00am. Hahahaha... Nik, thanks again!

More 'interesting food of KB' coming up.

Preview

Hi readers, sorry for the infrequent update. Been busy and was away for days.

This is a preview of what would be next...

Jeng jeng.......

Cryopreservation Gurus.

It's cryo-preservation. 'Cryo' simply means ultra-low temperature. The cryopreservation is the technique employed to conserve genetic resources under very low temperature, usually at -196 degree Celcius in liquid nitrogen. It's the same technique applied in sperm banks, ovum banks and seed banks to preserve the target materials in viable and good conditions for a very long time, hundreds of years and more.

End of lecture. Class dismiss. :-P

I was privileged to be able to meet up with my old friends, the cryopreservation experts. They were my great gurus and still is.
Prof. C (second from right) is a prominent figure in this field world wide. I was honoured to be able to learn from him for years. At the age of 70s, he is still very active.
I last met Dr. E from France in person some 15 years ago, when i was still, erm.. very young. His publications and writings had always inspire me.

And of course, i was delighted to be able to meet up with my fellow friends too. We did research in the same lab.

My busy schedule had stopped me from updating this blog frequently. But i'm very thankful to my blog readers for the support.

Putrajaya Night Market

I didn't expect Putrajaya to have a night market (pasar malam) right in the middle of the concrete jungle of government offices until i saw it with my own eyes. To my surprise, it was a big one! Not only it's well organised, it's also very clean, with spacious walkways and friendly vendors.

Since my wife was attending discussion at church, my two good friends and I decided to check this place out and do some night photography. It was around 9.30pm when we reached there and the market was bustling with activities. Young and not-so-young, tall and short, big and small, all came to buy some stuff and fill their empty tummy.

Lots of fresh vegetables.

Great variety of seafood to be purchased.

Even an awesome number of potted plants were available at good price.

I was surprised to see this whole 'ekor' of roasted lamb! And the abang was shy-shy-cat when our lenses were pointing at him.

Our favourite kind of stall: The fruit stalls.

We stopped here. I bought 3 kilos of freshly plucked mangosteen for RM10 only. Ah Hock the flamingo (far right) and his 'un-identical twin' bought kilos of mangosteen and pulasan.

Tadaaaa....... sata is available here!! Now i don't have to travel all the way to the east coast to enjoy this delicacy!

For those of you who haven't been there, go! go! go! It's situated right in front of the Ministry of Finance building.

Chakri Xpress

Four good friends gathered and went out for dinner together. They went to a Thai restaurant, ordered 29 dishes (yes, it's TWENTY NINE), 3 desserts, and a cup of Thai pandan tea. They went crazy, stuffing themselves with these yummilicious Thai cuisines.

That's what happened last week.

Situated in Alamanda, Chakri Xpress is located near to the fountain, facing the garden.

We started off our dinner with the appetizer Mieng Kam. My all time favourite!!


Next was everyone's favourite: kerabu mangga! We ordered three types, including somtam.

Then some seafood (mostly squids and prawn). The squids tasted better. Prawn were not that fresh, but tasted good! The lala was ordinary. (note: Puan Lala, ni bukan rujuk kepada Puan Lala yer, sebab Puan Lala EXTRA ordinary ;-P) 



Then the curry: We ordered roasted duck curry, green curry, fish green curry.... and many more.


Other dishes that we'd ordered were tomyam kung, mixed tomyam, mixed vegie, stir fried kailan with roasted duck, Thai style bean curds, black pepper beef, stir fried venison, fish.... many more......


And for the dessert, we ordered this one that I'd forgotten it's hard-to-remember Thai name. We ordered agar-agar too.

And of course the famous mango with glutinous rice topped with creamy sauce. WOW!!!! SPLENDID!!

The grin on our faces said it all! Four hungry ghosts were heavily fed! hehehe


And the bill............ Priced at RM19++ per person. It's ALL YOU CAN EAT! With four of us, it's only RM93.85, that's RM23.50 per person. Good deal?? INDEED!

Honey larling was satisfied, and was gladly posing to promote this wonderful offer!

Joom!! jooooom!!!

Note: The Manager Mr. Mohd Affandy was very nice, the services was good.

Love Birds in My Garden

My garden was blooming with flowers recently when this pair of love birds decided to build their love nest in my garden. I spotted them in the morning and late evening almost everyday.

After surveying for a few days, they decided to build their love nest on my potted palm, a mere 5 feet away from the main door of the house. It's kinda strange why they choose the spot as me and my wife would pass by so frequently everyday going out and coming in to the house. I guess they feel secured with our presence.

Sometimes they would rest at the brim of this lily pot, and had some drink.

Otherwise, they would spend their time eating the fruits of melastoma.

The male was always watchful.

And on one fine morning around 7am, right before i leave home for work, the female stroke a beautiful pose on the branch. I quickly grabbed my camera and shot these picture. Simply beautiful.


A week later, the laid their eggs. And in another couple of weeks, the chicks flew away with their parents. Such is the life of birds. The freedom that God gave them was clearly demonstrated. We, precious in God's eye, should shine bright in our life.