Phuket Trip-Day 2

The next day, we went on our pre-booked trip to Raya and Coral Island. The one day trip cost us 900 baht per person (normal price is 1,200 baht per person, you'll need to negotiate with the agent). So, there will be a van to pick us up from our hotel around 8.30am to transfer us to Chalong pier. Remember to wake up and prepare yourself on time! The van probably still needs to fetch a few other tourists so you wouldn't want to keep everyone waiting, would you? When we reached the pier, we waited around 30 minutes before departing to Raya Island by speed boat.

We were given around 1 hour to enjoy ourselves on the white sandy beach at "Patok Beach". So, we took the chance to take as much photos as we can. :) There are also some beach activities provided on the beach, like the para-sailing that I've mentioned in the first post.  Prices vary according to each activity and again, as we're not really into these things we didn't try them out, sorry. If you do choose to go swimming or play around though, always keep an eye out for your belongings. There were quite a lot of people on the beach so its best to be wary of your surroundings.

After that, we went to Kon Kae Beach and Siam Bay to enjoy snorkeling. For those who do not wish to  snorkel, they were dropped off at Coral Island earlier beforehand. So, I went snorkeling but not many fishes or nice corals can be seen there. I'd say the snorkeling site was quite dangerous as there are many rocks with sharp edges near the side. Nevertheless, like other snorkeling packages, you are provided with a life jacket and a set of snorkeling goggles. The goggles, as you expected, are for "public use"... So if you really mind that, you can just go grab a snorkeling goggles set at around RM30 - RM40 at a shopping mall near your house and bring it to Phuket. Try not to buy these items there as they will cost a bomb :).

Around noon, we were sent to Coral Island for our lunch at Padthai restaurant. As usual, we were very hungry & thirsty after snorkeling for about an hour, I would seriously suggest that you bring your own supply of water no matter where you go; and plenty of it. We heard many horror stories about the consequences of drinking the beverages in restaurants; no one knows whether they use tap water or otherwise. But don't worry, you can still buy some bottled water at the shops like we did. We had to walk around 15 minutes to reach the restaurant, where a buffet lunch was provided for everyone, but how was the food? When you are hungry, you don't really care about the taste anymore. I wasn't expecting much from the buffet lunch for the price we paid, you know what I mean =).

This windmill caught our attention. Both men would move when the windmill turns. Very cute!

We were then given leisure time to spend on this beach before we leave this beautiful sandy beach. The skies were high, no clouds in sight. And boy it sure was really hot. Caucasians really love this weather and its a perfect time for you to get tanned at the beach. We however couldn't bear the sun so we found a shady spot near the rocks, spread our towels and laid down to rest. Oh by the way, we borrowed our beach towels from our hotel for free, just remember to return them back or they'll charge you.

Soon thereafter, everyone started to board the speed boat and prepare to go home. Suddenly, the captain was shouting around and the engines suddenly died. Guess what? The boat ran out of fuel! Can you believe that?! We were floating in the middle of the sea, everyone panicked and the boat started to shake so badly as the waves were quite high.

The boat really got quite a pounding and I got sea sick instantly. This is bad! We were stuck for more than 30 minutes in the boat before we got rescued by another mini boat. But that was not the end, they only refueled just enough so that we could go back to Coral beach. Boy, this was the first time in my life to be so happy to feel the earth beneath my feet!

As we were back on the beach, I felt the natural thing was to lie down flat, immediately. My head and stomach was really upset and I could have vomited anytime. I was okay around 15 minutes later and we rested for around 1 and half hours, before a second boat came and brought us back to Chalong pier.

By the time the van sent us back to our hotel, it was almost 5 p.m.. We took a quick shower and went to search for dinner. We had no idea what to eat so we asked for recommendations from our friendly travel agent, Luck. She was really friendly and we talked about the boat breaking down in the middle of the ocean, that really wasn't her fault as it was out of her control anyway. In case you would like to contact her for her packages, here are her details:

Ms. Luck

90 One Travel

Company Tel: 076-292196

Mobile:  0814154823

Email: meaw9_phuket@hotmail.com

We followed Luck's directions and went to Bangla road. We walked quite far nearing to the end of Bangla road and turned left into a small alley. I couldn't remember the directions properly, but we were lucky that night and we just walked straight towards the end of the alley and found a large food-court area where there are many stalls with different kinds of food. We sat at stall number 6 as suggested by Luck and went on to order our dinner, yay!

Fresh Coconut- 40 baht

One of my must-try items when visiting Phuket. It really cooled me down after a hot day at the beach. You will definitely enjoy this!

Watermelon Juice- 40 baht

Also another icy cold drink to cool you down. BF ordered this and it taste really fresh.

Seafood Tom Yum-120 baht

At first glance, it seems like curry soup. But don't be fooled by it, I think they added milk in the tom yam and it tastes really great! Authentic Thai tom yam finally, and it was very, very spicy. Must try if you're a spicy food lover and happen to be in Thailand.

Vegetables-80 baht

The Kang Kung are not bad, but they're still normal stir-fried Kang Kung.

Stir fried chicken- 120 baht

This was recommended by the waiter, its a special dish which is normally ordered by locals. Its quite hard to describe the taste, kind of like lontong flavour - stir fried soy sauce kam heong chicken... ^_^" Odd as it may seem, but it was really delicious, and spicy. Not bad overall, but I think it could have been cheaper. Nevertheless, Phuket is a tourism hot spot so I guess the prices of everything are higher than average everywhere.

After dinner we walked around the whole area. We walked to Jungcelon mall again, passed by Hard Rock Cafe and Holiday Villa. There were many people all around as the nightlife over here is quite happening. I saw these soap carvings near the street. It is very very beautiful but cost 250 baht for one. @.@

See other post:
Phuket Trip- Day 1

Plan B | Paradigm Mall

I was meeting my BFF the other day at Plan b in Paradigm Mall. It is located at the ground floor just beside Brands Outlet. It was my first time to visit the place, but I would say its a good place for tea time and a chit-chat. 

Their menu design. A very unique way to be presented to customer.

Let's look at the food and see how unique it can be.

Spicy Crabmeat Spaghetti-RM 23

Linguine scented with lemongrass and kaffir lime, tossed with tomatoes, garlic, spiced prawn oil and fresh crabmeat. The spicy crabmeat spaghetti was quite oily due to the olive oil I think. Overall it tastes not bad, just a hint of spiciness, even though its named "spicy". 

Flat White-RM 9

In case you do not know what is Flat White, let me give you some details on it. It is a coffee beverage originally from Australia and New Zealand. It is quite similar to latte. It is covered with micro-foam above for a smooth texture. Normally it will come with latte art. The coffee also comes with a small slice of almond biscuit.

Iced Turkish Apple with mint- (cant remember the price)

It looks like a jungle in a bottle! The taste come with strong mint. First sip, the smell of the mint flow into your nose, later on you will taste the sweet and sour taste from the green apple. It was so strong that it can wake you up, so refreshing!

The Loaded Club Sandwich-RM 21

Grilled chicken, crispy turkey, bacon, roasted capsicue and avocado-feta mash stacked on egg mayo spread on home-made white bread, served with home-made chips. My friend introduced me to try on this sandwich because it is big and filling. The sweet potato chips were bit too hard for me, I prefer crunchy type of chips. The bread was not bad, really big and filling, half a slice already filled 3/4 of my stomach.

Watermelon Lychee Smoothies -RM 9

It taste like Juice Works' watermelon lychee. I love it but for the price, I rather order from juice works. :)

If you don't mind paying for the ambiance I would suggest to hang out here with friends during tea time for some coffee and cakes. It is a nice place for chit-chatting.

椰园海鲜 Kedai Makanan Laut Kebun Kelapa | Klang

Me: "What is nice in Klang?"

Bf: " SEAFOOD!"

Me: " Okay, let's go!"

So, we brought my family to Klang for Seafood. This restaurant is quite famous around Klang for its clam bee hoon. We went for dinner around 6pm, the crowd hasn't started yet around that time. It is name Kedai Makanan Laut Kebun Kelapa (椰园海鲜). There are two sections-smoking and non-smoking area. Of course, we prefer the air-conditioned area.

Clams Bee Hoon- RM12.00

Famous clams bee hoon which is a must order dish. The bee hoon taste quite good, not very oily. My family love this but the potion for 5 of us was very very small. I guess the waitress wrote us 2-3 person potion since we did order quite a few other dishes. She did not see carefully we have 3 giants that day. :P

Deep Fried Calamari-RM22

The calamari just so-so only. It is crunchy but the taste very plain.

Fried Egg with Oyster-RM22

Another dish recommended by BF who love Oh-Jian very much. This dish was not bad, not so much of flavour included in the egg. There are lots of oysters inside but maybe they could be bigger, I don't know... some people prefer bigger oysters and some vice versa, for us this was fine. Overall, its still nice.

Crab-RM144 (3 pieces)

We chose to order giant crabs, and 3 pieces are already enough to stuff 5 of us. We ordered 2 types of cooking styles - a special salted crabs recommended by the waiter (I didn't catch the name) and spicy kam heong. The crab meat were thick, firm and fresh, very very nice indeed! No regret in ordering it. Absolutely a big treat for ourselves once in a while. :D

Kung Po Prawn Mantis-RM15

The prawn mantis seems like a bit overcooked because it is very hard. I guess the cook also add too much salt, make the whole dish a bit too salty to eaten by its own. It tastes just about the same as any other restaurants, nothing much to shout about here.

Overall I think it is a good place to have seafood especially the crabs, so far I couldn't find such giant crabs in Klang Valley for such a reasonable price. I will come back again soon for more........:)

Kedai Makanan Laut Kebun Kelapa

1354, Jalan Nipah, Lorong 4,

Pandamaran, 42000 Port Klang,

Selangor Darul Ehsan

Tel no.: 03-3168 4451/ 3168 0174

Closed on Monday

Make your own Cover Button!

I was shopping at Daiso outlet the other day and came across the DIY cover buttons. Oh yeah! Now you can make your own style of buttons in just few steps.

What you need? (All can be purchase from Daiso)
1. Cotton fabric
2. Fabric Scissor
3. Cover Button pack with an exclusive punch (remember to check whether there is a punch included)

Don't worry if you are a first timer because there is always a guideline on how to make it at the back of the packaging. Just follow it and you could easily get your own styled buttons!

What you need here before you start is the punch, the button (front and back) and a piece of 3.5 x 3.5cm cloth. You could always cut according to the size given on the guideline but for my convenient I just cut a square instead a round shape.

First, you need to put the cotton on top of the white punch follow by the cotton then the button shell. Use the blue punch to press on top. Ensure that the button shell fall nicely into the white punch. Do not worry that you cant get the button out, it will get out from there. After that, follow by the back of the button then again use the blue punch to press firmly onto the top. Lastly, slowly push out the button from the punch by using your thumbs and index fingers of both hand only.

This is how it looks like for the back view.

This is how I have make my first cover button! I hope you enjoy too!

Khunthai Authentic Thai Restaurant | Teluk Kumbar

We are coming back to Thai Food! This time I want to introduce you Thai Food in Penang. I went back Penang few weeks ago and found this nice and unique place in Teluk Kumbar. They have 4 outlets in total- Penang, Butterworth, PJ and Kepong. What is so special about the Penang outlet? It is located at beach side. Therefore, you have the choice either to sit in the restaurant or outside near to the beach side.

It is an open-air concept restaurant. All the chairs and tables are made from rotan, feels like Balinese concept for the interior. They even decorate with vintage style lamps all over the place.

For full menu (Penang Outlet), click here!

Herbal Tea (Jug)-RM10.00

Herbal Tea in Jug? Bottle more suitable for it.

Miaeng Kum (S)- RM10.00

This is a must try dish if you are in a Authentic Thai restaurant other than the Tom Yum. It come with Piper Sarmentosum leaves, shallots, chilli padi, ginger, garlic, lime, roasted peanuts, small dried shrimps and syrup. How you eat? You will have to wrap the leaf with a bit of all the ingredients given then topped with the syrup, that is it and put the whole wrapped miang kham into the mouth in one go! For the 1st time, you will feel very weird chewing on the leaf but when you continue chewing, the taste of the sweet syrup will come out and filled will very strong nice smell. You will eventually finish off without complaining of the leaf's smell!

Paku Belacan (B)- RM13.00

This is the paku-pakis that I love to order when I am in any Thai restaurant! Hard to find nowadays in the market except in some Malay stalls and Thai restaurants. It doesn't taste very spicy but just nice for everyone!

Mixed Seafood Tom Yum Soup (B)- RM 34.00

The main dish of the day! Red Hot Spicy Tom Yum Soup! Don't be afraid with the looks, it doesn't really taste that spicy, just a bit sour instead. A lot of prawns, fish meat, squids and mushrooms in there. They use charcoal to keep the soup warm, so you have no worry that the soup will go cold. Nevertheless, it is still not the best tom yum I have had so far.

Pandan Chicken (B)-RM18.00 ( 10 pieces)

The pandan chicken were quite small, it taste just normal.

Stir Fried Crab Curry- 1kg @ RM65

We ordered crabs since we are craving for seafood. The waitress told us that they have only the female crab that day. 1kg contains around 3 pieces of crabs. The curry crabs taste weird, not sure how they cook the gravy but it doesn't taste like curry, more like asam with curry mixed.

BBQ Crab- 1kg@ RM65

The BBQ Crab taste not bad but a bit salty overall. I guess I should have emphasized more on Authentic Thai dishes rather than seafood.

Deep Fried Calamari (S)-RM10.00

The fried calamari doesn't taste very nice. Not very crunchy.

Steam Fish with Soy Sauce- RM52

We also ordered a steam fish that day, worrying that the dishes might not be enough. It tastes like your regular chinese restaurant steam fish as we didn't order something spicy. The fish however is fresh and should be able to satisfy any regular family, but I do think that it is a little expensive. We will try some other aunthentic thai-style steam / fried / grilled fish on our next visit here.

Water Chesnut (S)-RM4.50

Of course, not forgetting the desserts that wraps up the meal for the day. It is shaved ice with a generous serving of assorted fruits and toppings with it. I would say that I don't really enjoy this dessert because  I don't like the strong nangka taste in it; my relatives however loved it very much as they said the nangka is the only reason why they ordered this. I guess for nangka lovers, go ahead, why not? For others, you can pass on this... the Ice is not shaved finely enough as well...

Will I be back again? Sure I will since I like the ambiance a lot. I will try out other Thai dishes next time, and will probably search for the PJ outlet soon once I'm back to KL.

Khunthai Restaurant

1052 MK9, Pasir Belanda, Teluk Kumbar,

11920 Bayan Lepas, Penang

Tel. no: 04-625 1155