Sunset today

A sunset picture taken from my room today, nice isn't it. The cloud line and its color, divide the sky into half. It has been raining very frequently since I reached Penang, so lucky to see this when I need it.

Before I left hometown for study last time, I always like to sit in front of the house, catch the daytime green, evening sunset and starry night. It calms one mind.

Staying in Penang, I sometimes like to stand in front of the balcony to take a look at outside world, to relax, calm down and give myself a short break. From my room in Penang, I can see very little green, no starry night at all thus far, but so lucky to get a nice sunset today, like it is telling me, there is always hope in our life, don't give up.

Here is how it looks like after few minutes.


Look at the cloud shape, it changed :)

大笨象西餐厅 The Elephant Restaurant @ Beijing

Near Ritan日坛, there is a Russian food street俄罗斯美食街. Before we leave, we make our first visit here :) Almost the last hunt of Beijing food :)

We went to above mentioned restaurant, as it has quite favorable review. You may find some Beijing food review on:
www.dianping.com (C)
www.thecityweekend.com.cn (E)



Same direction for all pictures below, start from top left, clockwise.



1) "Shouba" Style Herring Salad - This is special. The texture is soft indeed. Frankly, we have no idea what is the ingredient, but it taste just nice.
2) Mint cocktail - As the name says, mint, not surprising but not disappointing.
3) Coffee cocktail - On top is a layer of liquor, the waiter will light up the liquor, then the diner will have to finish the whole cup of drink a.s.a.p. using straw. It's a very small cup, but the liquor effect will come few minutes after *chuckle* my colleague who ordered this turn into tomato red after a while. For sure I won't try, I don't want to sleep in the restaurant after get drunk :p
4) Borscht soup 红菜汤 - It looks like Kim Gary's Borscht soup, but the taste is much better. It really has beet root in it. I always like Borscht soup, found some recipe online and will try to cook some one day (Yes, one day :p)


1) Ukraine style stewed beef - The beef is tender, and the taste is good too. But I still prefer Morel's :)
2) Meat roll - That's the drawback of not writing blog as fast as I can, I forgot what meat is that :p
3) Chicken with mashed potato - Nice.
4) Sorry I forgot what is this. If not mistaken is beef.


1) Fried bun with custard- strongly recommended by the waiter, it is good in such a way that no oily taste, soft but crispy skin. Dip with condensed milk.
2) Fried calamarie ring - Meet our expectation :) The flour coating is not too thick.

Why people march?

Got this link from Ah Bao Ge blog http://sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=36441 on why people march.

Did our 'servant' ever understand the 'lord' needs? The 'servant' act more like a 'lord' nowadays. The sentences of 'We are public servant' and etc are just hollow...

On leave 暂停营业

Haha the owner is temporararily on leave for about 10 days. Catch up after that ya :D
东主放假，暂停营业大约十天，迟些再见哦。

Talk about badminton

Just finish watching Yonex Sunrise BWF World Championships men double. It was a really exciting game, 1 score after another. I felt like want to write something about badminton :D

When talk about badminton match, the first thing came into my mind is my father. My father is neither a badminton player nor a coach. I used to watch a lot of badminton matches with him before I went to other town for study starting from Form 4. The scene we both sit in front of the TV at old house, the scene we chat about the match, the old time players, Yang Yang, Sidek brothers, the famous men double ( I forgot their name, just remember one of them has the name Beng, and with surname Cheah), the unforgotable Foo Chee Keong's spirit and so on.

Badminton and ping pong were very popular sport during my primary school time, especially in Chinese school, even though in chinese school of village like mine. There were no indoor badminton court at the school, we have to play according to the wind situation :) Sometimes we even play badminton on the road. Well, in kampung, the traffic is less and it is considered safe to do so last time :) It has been more than 15 years I have not hold a badminton racket, and I think my racket was probably move by the mouse also :p Who move my badminton racket? haha.

Now, lots of youngters probably still catching up on ping pong, badminton and other sports, but using PS or Wii :p

Snow beer of Church Street Cafe @ Penang

It's time to catch up with friends after my self-quarantine ended for the Beijing trip. SY recommended to go Church Street Cafe for snow beer. In fact only the guys can drink but the girls are curious to see what is snow beer, hence the gathering on Saturday night :)

What is a snow beer? I tried google 'snow beer penang' and saw some of the information. You may do so if you are interested. I spend less than a minute to glance throught the information, not really interested to know the details :p

Here is how a snow beer looks like. Can you see the bubble? When it is first served, the whole glass is white and full of bubble, maybe that's why the name of snow. After a while, the bubble will slowly gone, and the beer restored. Oh when you read the menu, you will not see any item which is stated snow beer. After KH explained, only the girls understand there are few type of beer ( I forgot the term, the beer with bitter taste) can be served as snow beer.

The girls shared two cup of beer, anchor on the left (it's easy to recogzine, anchor will sink more :p ) and the more bitter tiger on the right.



Besides beer and liquor, there is a snooker/pool/darts provided too. We were there early, for dinner and beer.




I missed Satay, surprisingly it taste very good. If the gravy is thicker will be even better :D I am so happy to see so many onion and cucumber are provided too :D

The spaghetti is not disappointing, cheese powder are provided by default, to save your time for asking :) The chicken gordon bleu is the last picture.

We were there from 7pm until 11.50pm, almost 5 hours :) That's old friend, non-stop chatting when meet up :)

埃塞俄比亚 Ras Ethiopian Cuisine @ Beijing

Wondered how is ethiopian food looks like in Beijing? You must not missed this post :D

If not mistaken, this is the only Ethiopian cuisine in Beijing, or if not, it is the first one. Here is the restaurant outlook.



The shop is decorated by an artist, thus the environment is very nicely decorated.


Guess where is the chair and table? The answer will be revealed later :)

We ordered the 'platter' set, which consist of few different kind of Ethiopian food and bread. Flipping through the menu, besides beef/mutton, there are a lot of vegetable choices as well.




The waitress are friendly and spend quite some time to explain Ethiopian food to us. First, they put a very big piece of bread on the table. I hope now you have better idea what is a Ethiopian dining table :D Then hold a roll of bread in such a way that you can roll it and tear pieces easily (I am not superb to figure these on my own, the waitress taught us :p ). Like the hand on the left of the picture. Then use the bread to take the food and eat it, as shown by the hand in the middle of the picture :D

The bread are provided free flow, but you stomach will filled very fast if you eat too much bread. So we conclude that for Malaysian appetite, it is best to have at least 4 persons to finish the set, or you will be 'super' full like we did. On the table, there were beef, mutton, vegetables and dhal. We finally finished the food. Now you understand why my appetite increased after back to Penang. To a Beijinger, my appetite is still considered small haha.



Not forgot to mention, Ethiopian tea taste is special in my opinion :)

This is the picture taken from second floor of the restaurant. If you notice the table at the right, that is our table. We were too full and went to walk around inside the restaurant. Maybe you will wonder the restaurant looks empty. In fact, there were few customers at the other side and outside too.



A very unique switch for...

ceiling fan which is still working.

There are also a lot of nice umbrellas on the ceiling.


As according to the cashier, Ethiopian use these umbrella when they go to church.

Fun Beijing food hunting :D

俏江南South Beauty @ Beijing

This restaurant is recommended by other colleague, and since it has quite good review online among other Beijing food, so here we are. The restaurant environment is good. With less word, it shown in picture below :) This is the first time I see more special table settings like not so typical napkin fold, although I don't know the fold name :p



One of the dishes we ordered is beef cook in oil. Looking at pic below, the top right corner is the raw beef, while the waitress is cooking it in oil (yes only oil, which is around 200 deg C) before serving it to us. Look at bottom right picture, that is oil, not soup :D So the restaurant will provide few pieces of bread, when you eat, put the beef on the bread to get rid some of the oil first.


The rest of the food we ordered. The hedgehog-like bread is not as tasty at Shang Hai Ding outside of Queensbay Penang (There are good food in Penang too :D ). The vermicille tasted not bad. Because of camera macro feature, the portion looks big but in fact it is just 1 small bowl for single serving. The pork rib is special and quite nice. Then follow by the delicious bitter gourd soup :D


For mushroom soup below, it doesn't looks big in picture but in fact it is in very big bowl :D It looks delicious isn't it? But actually the bitter gourd soup taste much better, surprised eh ;)




Before end, the actual pork rib and the bread with left over oil :p

Sai Gon @ Beijing

If you know there is one Sai Gon at E-Gate Penang, there is one Sai Gon in Beijing too. Both of them selling Vietnamese food.

I falled in love with pho (Vietnamese noodle similar to kuey teow) when I first tasted it in US. Ever since then, I couldn't find any that satisfying, mostly is because of the noodle. The one I had in US is kind of 'chewy' ('QQ' in Hokkien) but the rest I'd tasted here in Malaysia and Beijing are not. Well, there could be possibility that the one I'd had in US is localized, but I love those :p If I ever have a chance to go to Vietname, then will know the original Vietnamese pho :D

Here are what we'd tasted:



1) The rice paper spring roll. Unfortunately the sauce is not good, or else this could be very nice :)
2) Stir fried sliced beef with chillie, taste good.
3) Papaya salad, I think it taste good also. Probably can try to make some one day :D


For the pho, we ordered two. One is beef and one is vegetable. You can tell which is which from the picture, it is very obvious isn't ;) As for the vegetables, I am a bit disappointed not seeing basil. I think a good taste pho must have basil unique taste to make it more fragrant. The top most sauce is fish sauce, just pour into the pho. Oh well, Vietnam and Thai fish sauce are in good quality and always make the dishes more fragrant. I am a bit surprised the chilli sauce taste good too :)

This restaurant has the highest feedback score in www.dianping.com in terms of Vietnamese food. The waitress said some competitor tried to copy their menu, so I was stopped by them when I would like to take the menu photo to capture what I'd ordered. Well, I told them I am from Malaysia and the answer was a lot of other people did try whatever way to 'steal' their menu, it indirectly means they don't trusted me and I was not allowed to take more photo on the menu. Hmm, should have not speak so well Mandarin but Malay language instead ;p

Enjoy Beijing food? ;)

Sureno @ The opposite house, Beijing

If you have been to Penang G-hotel, you might probably impressed by its lobby. If you have not know, G hotel is a boutique hotel. It's my first time to hear the term boutique hotel when I first stepped into The Opposite House. For more information on the hotel design, room design and room rate, please visit their website. The room rate can fluctuate from RMB 2k to 5k per night depending on the season *sweat*.

There are few things impressed me:
1. The hotel staffs are friendly, they introduce their hotel concept, design and room decoration to all guest either diner or hotel guest. They think everyone is their potential customer in the future :)
2. The hotel is nicely decorated, with a lots of art deco. The hotel lobby looks more like living room :)
3. It doesn't looks commercial hotel but more like apartment :)

After that, the hotel staff bring us to the restaurant.


From right to left, bottom to top:
1) Mushroom risotto. Quite nice.
2) The best pizza I'd ever eaten. The crust is so thin and crispy :) The only food that will make me revisit the restaurant.
3) Wagyu beef, we think it taste normal only :p Maybe we do not know how to appreciate wagyu beef.
4) Seafood soup. The seafood is separately cook with the tomato soup base. So there is very less seafood taste in the soup, which make us think it is not complete :)

Le Petit Gourmand, Beijing

Look at picture below, would you think it is a library?



It's a French restaurant called Le Petit Gourmand. The restaurant is full with books rack, with systematic book organization using book title. Well, their food is nice too, let's take a look :)


1) Fresh and huge portion salad.
2) Nice mushroom soup, fresh mushroom taste and creamy.
3) Seafood platter. The sauce is special.
4) Beef soup.


Above is couscous with meat and vegetable soup. It is special but not my cup of 'rice' :p



The left is chocolate Opera is nice I think. It melted in mouth, but can feel the caramel layer.
Guess what is the dessert at the right? I can't remember the name :p Stiff beat egg white on custard. Until our last bite only we realize the sweetness come from egg white but not custard.

Feeling hungry? Get something to eat ;) Some Beijing food?

TGV will you come?

I was trying to look for movie showtime schedule from www.gsc.com.my, but unexpectedly the website is so slow. They are upgrading the server, as mentioned in the email. Well, I do not expect any server upgrade on Friday night, isn't this one of the peak time for user to browse for movie for the weekend?

Okay, don't give up too early, so I try to call their reservation phone line to check the schedule and made reservation. Guess what, after press a key to select the cinema, I get an automated reply on Connection Error.

Last choice, check cinema schedule from www.cinema.com.my (luckily I know this website), another surprises, neither Harry Potter nor Ice Age are showing in Queensbay Mall. Those movie appears in the popular chart but it's not on show. Hmm. Okay, I am too outdated then, maybe. Everyone watch movie when it was first released...

This is not the first time I have hard time with GSC website and phone reservation. TGV, will you ever consider to start your business in Penang?

Another roasted duck in Beijing for last dinner

It's Friday :) Let's relax with some roast duck from Beijing :D

Before we left, we went to 全鸭季Duck de Chine for last dinner in Beijing. Similar to Da Dong roasted duck, they provide wrapper and biscuit for the duck also. Here how those looks like:



My personal preference, I prefer Da Dong's, because Da Dong's wrapper is thinner, its biscuit is thinner and more crispy, its duck meat and dip sauce are better in taste, its duck skin is more crispy :) Well, I guess it summarizes the food in picture above :p

Nevertheless, some dishes here are quite nice. From top left, in clockwise direction:



1) Mongolian mutton - This taste good, really, it really taste good.
2) Scallop - Hmm, ok lar :p
3) Tofu and vege soup - Special.
4) Belly pork meat - Although the oil layer is quite thick, but surprisingly it doesn't taste oily, and in fact very nice :)

Have a nice weekend ahead friend.

Stay tune

Friend, please wait few more days for more blog post.
It was just 2.5 months, but besides unpack luggage, room cleaning and tidy up works are more than I expected.
I will be back :D

笑死人的12星座宝 zodiac jokes

Forwarded jokes on zodiac characteristics 转载电邮，笑一笑吧 :)

白羊座 Aries
妈妈经常叮嘱羊羊：“穿裙子时不可以荡秋千；不然，会被小男生看到里面的小内裤哦！”
有一天，羊羊高兴地对妈妈说：“今天我和小明比赛荡秋千，我赢了！”
妈妈生气地说：“不是告诉过你吗？穿裙子时不要荡秋千！”
羊羊骄傲地说：“可是我好聪明哦！我把里面的小内裤脱掉了，这样他就看不到我的小内裤了！”
（勇敢直率、敢做敢为的白羊）

金牛座 Taurus
卖瓜小贩：“快来吃西瓜，不甜不要钱！”
饥渴的牛牛：“哇！太好了，老板，来个不甜的！”
（持家、想出轨又顾全自己的金牛）

双子座 Gemini
妈妈叫双双起床：“快点起来！公鸡都叫好几遍了！”
双双说：“公鸡叫和我有什么关系？我又不是母鸡！”
（自我意识强烈、自行思维的双子）

巨蟹座 Cancer
公车上，蟹蟹说：“今晚我要和妈妈睡！”
妈妈问道：“你将来娶了媳妇也和妈妈睡阿？”
蟹蟹不假思索：“嗯！”
妈妈又问：“那你媳妇怎么办？”
蟹蟹想了半天，说：“好办，让她跟爸爸睡！”
妈妈：“！＠＃＄％︿＆＊（……—”
再看爸爸，已经热泪盈眶啦！
（恋母情结、依恋的巨蟹）

狮子座 Leo
狮狮去参加奶奶的寿宴。到了吃寿包的时候，狮狮问：“我们为什么要吃这种像屁股的寿包？”
众人听了脸色大变。
接著狮狮拨开寿包，看看里面的豆沙，说：“奶奶，快看！里面还有大便！”
众人晕的晕，吐的吐。
（以自我感受、不怕旁人眼光的骄傲的狮子）

处女座 Virgo
处处对肚脐很好奇，就问爸爸。
爸爸把脐带连著胎儿与母体的道理简单地讲了一下，说：“婴儿离开母体之后，医生把脐带减断，并打了一个结，後来就成了肚脐。”
处处：“那医生为什么不打个蝴蝶结？”
（好奇心强又追求完美的处女）

天秤座 Libra
父亲对天天说：“今天不要上学了，昨晚．．．你妈给你生了两个弟弟。你给老师说一下就行了。”
天天却回答：“爸爸，我只说生了一个；另一个，我想留著下星期不想上时再说！”
（聪明、权衡利弊的天平）

天蠍座 Scorpio
蠍蠍刚睡著，就叫蚊子叮了一口。
他起来赶蚊子，却怎么也赶不出去。没法，便指著蚊子说：“好吧，你不出去我出去！”边说边出了房间，把门使劲关严得意地说：“哼！我今晚不进屋，非把你饿死不可！”
（搞不懂、不按常理出牌的天蝎）

射手座 Sagittarius
射射：“爸爸，为什么你有那么多白头发？”
爸爸：“因为你不乖，所以爸爸有好多白头发阿。”
射射：……（疑惑中）
射射：“那为什么爷爷全部都是白头发？”
爸爸：！＠＃＄％︿＆＊（……
（喜欢思考的射手）

摩羯座 Capricorn
一天，羯羯跟妈妈上街；走在路上，突然下起雨来。
妈妈拉过羯羯的小手，说：“下雨了，快往前跑阿！”
羯羯慢条斯理地问：“那前面就不下雨喽！？”
（明白现实懒得改变的摩羯）

水瓶座 Aquarius
瓶瓶问妈妈：“问什么称蒋先生为『先人』？”
妈妈说：“因为‘先人’是对死去的人的称呼。”
瓶瓶说：“那去世的奶奶是不是要叫『鲜奶』？”
（天生的另类、脑筋思考永远和常人不一样的水瓶）

双鱼座 Pisces
爸爸给鱼鱼讲小时候经常挨饿的事。
听完後，鱼鱼两眼含泪，十分同情地问：“哦，爸爸，你是因为没饭吃才来我们家的吗？”
（富含丰富同情心、不分情况对象的双鱼）

Finally home :)

It's so good to be home, tasted the hokkien mee, few durian fleshes; don't have to rush to apply lotion after dinner; don't have to cover my nose while walking on the street. But of course I will missed Beijing too, it is so organized especially transportation and parks.

I received a lot of question if I need to be quarantine. Well, according to company travel policy, Beijing China is not a critical area and I don't need to be. In fact, I felt it is safer in Beijing in terms of H1N1.

At Beijing capital airport, most officer have face mask on, especially those have direct contact with flyers. But in KLIA, I didn't see any officer wearing face mask.

Maybe China learnt from SARS case and really take a lot of steps. From online news, I read Malaysia government is taking action for long too, but just I didn't see it, yet.

All my friends/readers, take care, healthy is our own responsibility but nobody else.