1st November, 2009

Today's weather;

A blue sky with some big cumulus clouds in it is out and about with a current temp of 25.5C at 7am.
Better enjoy it since as of tomorrow rain is predicted on a daily base.

Yesterday saw a blue sky all day long without it getting too hot. Max temp reached 30.3C.

Camille

Ms Loo Chinese Restaurant at Taman Setia Indah, Johor Bahru

Ms Loo Chinese Restaurant (N1 34.373 E103 46.008) is located at Jalan Setia 9/17, Taman Setia Indah, Johor Bahru.

Ms Loo Restaurant

We had visiting this restaurant for dinner few time ago. My main purpose here is to taste the One & Only "Camphor Tea Duck" around Johor Bahru area. There other restaurant which also has this dish is at Pulai Spring Golf Resort.

This time I decided to snap some photos to share about it...

The indoor environment

Some customers like to sit at the outdoor area which is along the street, but we prefer the indoor area...the environment was just like normal restaurant at Johor Bahru area.

Our order for the night :-
1) Curry Fish Head
2) Hakka Yong Tau Foo
3) Vegetable cook with chili
4) Camphor Tea Duck (Signature Dish)

Curry Fish Head serve in aluminium foil to preserve the heat

Hakka Yong Tau Foo

Vegetable

Camphor Tea Duck

Curry Fish Head
The curry was thick and delicious! Nice taste.

Hakka Yong Tau Foo
Special and good. I think this was the first time I started to Love the Hakka Yong Tau Foo.

Vegatable
Above average.

Camphor Tea Duck
This duck was marvelous! And also our purpose here! The special recipe was really tasty and the duck was gentle enough!

The Damage :-
Total of MYR78.00 for 6 adults and one kid (Included drink). Very reasonable! Right?
The Camphor Tea Duck only serve in 2 sizes : MYR19.00 for small and MYR38.00 for big.

Food rated : 4.5/5
Camphor Tea Duck : 4.9/5

If you haven't taste the duck before, I suggest you give a try! You will like it. :)

Ms Loo Chinese Restaurant
 

The Restaurant is closed.

Location map of Ms Loo Chinese Restaurant

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Goodbye to October 2009

Goodbye to October 2009

It's time to say goodbye to another month in 2009 and this time it's October. Christmas and the holiday season is closing in rapidly!

This year saw an excellent version of October, a lot of sunshine, not too much rain, you could almost say not enough rain and when it rained it was at very convenient times, mainly at night. The majority of Samui water wells are well dry by now and the water trucks make a good living right now. We are in the lucky position that we seem to have a very good well that so far hasn't run dry yet.

Besides the excellent weather conditions, I had a good month with a great IDC finishing and a nice trip for some wreck diving in Pattaya and a short visit to Bangkok where I managed to dive with the sharks at Siam Ocean World in Siam Paragon.

Back to the weather though, the October version of 2007 was not good at all but the 2008 version was similar to this years version.

A good month to look back to and it's about time to get the rain coats out again since it looks like some serious rain is starting early next month.

Camille

31st October, 2009

Today's weather;

A blue sky is roaring over Samui. Better enjoy it since early next week it looks like rain every day! Current temp at 7am is 25.2C.

Yesterday started out very nice but during the day it rained/drizzled a few times although the sun came back on various occasions. Max temp reached 30C.

Camille

30th October, 2009

Today's weather;

An almost pure blue sky is rising high and dry above our house with a current temp at 7am of 26.5C.

Yesterday was sunny and warm and no rain in sight! This may change next week though, a lot of rain is predicted after the weekend. Max temp reached 30.5C.

Camille

Bangkok Subway system or the MRTA

Bangkok Subway system or the MRTA

After my write up of the Bangkok Skytrain system in February this year, it's now time for the MRTA or subway system to receive some exposure on my blog.
During my recent visit to Bangkok, I used the subway system each day and it's a very convenient way of getting around. It's a lot less crowded than the skytrain for starters, it only seems to get really busy during rush hour and the rest of the day you seem to have the stations almost to yourselves!

The skytrain and the subway system meet a few times, one station is Sukhumvit/Asoke and it's a convenient and easy way to get around downtown Bangkok. The only downside is that each transportation system uses its own tokens and if you switch transportation system, you need to buy a new ticket. There seem to be some talks under way though, to combine all various current tickets under one new ticket system for all public transportation modes in Bangkok.

Spacious cars are part of the system and the existing network is only 43.7 Km long but there are plans of extending the network with another 247.3 Km. Can't wait for the extension of both systems, it'll be fantastic and just what the traffic congested road in Bangkok really needs!

As you can see for yourselves, empty platforms during almost all the day and cool on top of that, in contrast to the typical hot day times of Bangkok.

Camille

29th October, 2009

Today's weather;

Back home on Samui again and it's good to be here again. The sky is partly cloudy but laced with blue patches and some sunbeams. During my absence there was some rain but still nothing as compared to when the rainy season starts. Current temp at 7 am is 25.2C

Yesterday was a nice and dry day in Bangkok, lots of overcast with the occasional sun bursts and a max temp of 34C.
The shopping was nice and succesful and I visited amongst Fortune Tower again for some electronic bits and pieces. Truly an IT wet dream.

Camille

Thamara Cafe at Taman Bukit Indah - Skudai, Johor.

The Local Indian Western Cuisine - Thamara Cafe. (N1 28.781 E103 39.839)
It's located at Taman Bukit Indah of Skudai, Johor (next to Taman Nusa Bestari). Just opposite the Tesco Hypermart between the single storey shop lots. You can refer from the map below...

Thamara Cafe in Taman Bukit Indah

This cafe is selling popular western cuisine (all day) and also Indian food (during lunch time).
Me and my family visited this cafe one of the evening for dinner, and we had ordered :-

1) Seafood Fried Rice
2) Black Pepper Chicken Chop
3) Lamb Chop
4) Tomyam Soup

Seafood Fried Rice

Black Pepper Chicken Chop with mash Potato

Black Pepper Chicken Chop with french fries

Lamb Chop

Tomyam Soup

The foods was Superb!

The Damages :-
1) Seafood Fried Rice - MYR4.00 each, we had it double.
2) Black Pepper Chicken Chop - MYR9.00
3) Lamb Chop - MYR14.00
4) Tomyam Soup - MYR5.00
Total was MYR39.00 included drinks (for 4 adults and 1 kid). The price was reasonable!

The Seafood Fried Rice was just nice. Rated : 4/5The Chicken Chop was Delicious and Succulent! And it served in quite big portion. Rated : 4.9/5
The Lamb Chop was Marvelous! It's not too dry and well marinated! Rated : 4.9/5

We were satisfied with the foods here!

I had a chat with the Chef - Mr E S Mani (one of the partner), he was actually a Chef in one of the restaurant at Singapore sometimes ago, and now...he would like to serve the similar quality food from S'pore in Johor Bahru. Anyway, I'm convinced!

The clean environment of the Cafe

Mr Kumar (the boss) will take care the cafe, and preparing the drinks for customer. He made a very good Mango Lassi!
"In various parts of Pakistan/India, mango lassi is a cold drink consisting of sweetened kesar mango pulp mixed with yoghurt, cream, or ice cream. It is served in a tall glass with a straw, often with ground pistachio nuts sprinkled on top. Mango lassi is most commonly found in Pakistan/India. It is widely available in UK, Malaysia and Singapore, due to the sizable Pakistani/Indian minority, and in many other parts of the world." Source from Wiki.

I missed the Lassi but ordered a Teh Tarik and it's equally good!

I did recommend to some of my friends to dine in this cafe, one of them was also a owner of a Thai Restaurant before, he commented the Lamb Chop was Perfect!
Other friends also gave their Thumb UP after tasted the foods.
Do give it a try if you happen in this area, I believe you won't regret! :)
Hurry! Their special price gonna end soon!

Others dishes from Thamara Cafe :-

Lamb Chop with Blue Cheese Spaghetti

Red Snapper with Home Recipe Sauce and Mash Potato mixed with garlic.

Chicken Chop with Mushroom Sauce

Salmon Fish with Citrus Sauce

Fillet of Lamb Loin grilled medium served with lamb gravy with a side of beetroot and brie cheese salad, mashed potatoes and drizzled with balsamic glaze (Weekly Special)
(Pre-order is needed)

Grilled New Zealand prime Striploin with beef jus served with mesclun salad & mashed potato

Blue Cheese Spaghetti

Spicy Masala Sotong (Squid) with rice

Related post :
*  Series of Steaks from Thamara Cafe, Taman Bukit Indah, Johor Bahru

Thamara Cafe
14, Jalan Indah 16/7,
Taman Bukit Indah, Johor Bahru.
Tel : +6012-7373103 / +6016-7171343
Business hour : 11AM - 10PM (Close on Monday)

Location map of Thamara Cafe


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Nassir El Massri restaurant & shishah, Bangkok

Nassir El Massri restaurant & shishah, Bangkok

Is in my opinion the best Egyptian/Arabian restaurant in Bangkok. Almost every time that I find myself in Bangkok, I try to make it at least once to this amazing place which is located in Sukhumvit Soi 3/1. Today, after my dive with the sharks experience I found myself back at this fantastic and rather exotic place in Bangkok.

I've been told by people that have been to Egypt, that the place looks absolutely like restaurants in Egypt and everybody I talked to is impressed by their food.

They also offer hookah's or shishas, the big smoking devices that are so typical for the Middle east and Arab world.

The menu is very authentic and very big, but a great way to start is with the tea, ideally with loads of sugar and mint leaves. Be aware that there's no alcohol served in this restaurant.

I love hummus and I tried the hummus with lamb, pictured bottom right together with an okra tomato based soup and some bread. Ready to dig in but I'm still waiting for some meat.

The meat dishes in this restaurant are fantastic, usually very juicy and fresh and lots of lamb dishes are on the menu. There was however one particular dish that caught my eye, something I hadn't seen before and since I like to try new things, I had to go for it. It took me a while to convince the waiter that this was really what I wanted and he tried to point out about every other dish on the menu, including a very tasty looking dish of the day with chicken. My mind was set however and I went for the lamb testicles. Once he understood that I really wanted to order this he was cool with it and probably thought what a funny infidel I am. He enjoyed my choice though and it was really good, I had the kidney / lamb testicle dish but it comes in various options. If this choice is a bit too wild for you, don't worry, there's plenty of more traditional food available, including chicken, fish and other lamb options.

This place comes highly recommend by me and the prices are very reasonable to cheap. if in Bangkok, try it!

Camille

28th October, 2009

Today's weather;

It's partly sunny, smoggy and cloudy over Bangkok this morning with a current temp of 25.2C at 7am. Later tonight I'll be flying back to Samui again and tomorrow's update will be coming from home soil again. First some shopping needs to be done though.

Yesterday was a dry and sunny day in Bangkok except that around 10pm it rained cats and dogs for a good hour. Max temp reached 35C.
I also dived with Sharks at Siam Ocean World, a great experience and highly recommended! Have a look at my dive blog for some pictures and I went to one of my favorite restaurants in town, Nasir El Masri an Egyptian place on Sukhumvit soi 3/1.

Camille

Vegetarian Festival Procession Photos

Well, the 2009 Phuket Vegetarian festival is now over. As normal, wish I had more time to see all the different events, visit more shrines, but work and family do just about come first! During the week I had no time, but on Saturday and Sunday woke early and headed to the processions. The street processions in Phuket Town happened every day from the 20th to 26th October. I cannot recommend enough that, should you be in Phuket during the festival, you should make the effort to see something... something that you will not have seen before!

I managed a full 9 days on the vegetarian diet, eating food only from the restaurants and stalls selling the "Jae" food, no meat, no dairy, no garlic (it's smelly). Oh, and no alcohol - 9 days without a beer is something of a miracle for me! There are still events that I have not seen, not photographed such as fire walking, and the final night (which was last night) in Phuket Town, where the streets are packed with people and the air is full of firecrackers. The local TV channel was showing live pictures, it looks mad. If going on that last night, ear plugs and a facemask are a must. Taking photos would be hard work - camera would need some protection too. And feet in sandals would maybe get a few little burns. Next year....!

Talking of cameras, my Canon lens screwed up on the very first day of the festival, stopped functioning on wide angle - exactly what I need for festival photos! Oh well, I did manage to get some pretty good pictures anyway. Maybe by next year will have upgraded the camera again.

All the photos below were taken on the 24th and 25th. On the 24th I was at Jui Tui Shrine by about 6:30am and chased the procession around town for a couple of hours. The Jui Tui shrine is I believe the biggest in Phuket, and the crowds were considerable. I hope this big farang did not get in too many peoples way :).. On the 25th I went to Kathu Shrine, also around 6:30, before they all started walking. Some participants were still being pierced. I stayed with the procession through the village, but did not follow all the way to Phuket Town.

For more general information about the vegetarian festival and links to many articles on the blog and photos from previous years see here:

• The Phuket Vegetarian Festival - Introduction

The photos below are just a selection - I have (so far) uploaded about 50 to my Flickr account - Phuket Vegetarian Photos - Jamie Monk on Flickr.

Saturday morning - Jui Tui Shrine is just to the west of the market in Phuket Town, in the old town area. The area is crowded all week with foodstalls - we went on Friday night and it was a battle to get along the street! Similar scenes on Saturday morning. I could hardly get inside the shrine, so waited outside the main entrance for the Ma Song to emerge. If you are at all squeamish, look away now. Too late :)





I believe the guy above is regretting his choice of piercing. How the **** did he get those in there??!



There were quite a few females this year with piercings but others stuck with smaller items. This was the only girl I saw with something extreme. But the colour matches her dress, how lovely.





There are many ladies like her, dancing along the streets. Many of them really do appear to be entranced.





The guy cutting his tongue was a favourite of mine. Good ol' fashioned purification by pain! The dude below him seems to be going for some kind of record. How many really sharp things can you stick in your face? Actually I think his record was beaten next day at Kathu :)







Some of the metal rods through faces were long - hard to move in a crowded space when you have a 2 meter long spike in your face. The piercings come in all shapes and sizes. I saw guns, model boats, a propeller shaft, bathroom fittings....





That'll do for now - as I say, more photos on my Flickr page.

Sunday morning - Kathu Shrine is only about 1km from my house. We can hear noise from the shrine during the festival. Sunday was their procession day. They actually walk from Kathu to Phuket Town, about 5km. Try that barefoot with a sword in your head! This is why they start early - doing this in the midday sun would be foolish.... Yeh, maybe foolish already, but anyway...

At Kathu, the crowds were much less, still pretty busy, but easier to walk in the temple grounds. The rituals start very early. I was there about 6:30am. I think next year will try for 5:30am. Ma Song were being pierced in the temple grounds. Entranced mediums were exiting the shrine shaking heads and shouting. It's all a bit surreal. Another world.







Maybe taking the name Vegetarian Festival too literally? The metal spikes and small knives are more traditional, but in recent years there is a tendency for more elaborate piercing. Bigger or weirder - more likely to get your photo in the paper!







Groups of friends often seem to do the procession together with similarly bizarre piercings. Would you like to see a close up? I thought not. But it's my blog, so...





Ah yes, this Kathu dude beats the Jui Tui dude hands down in the sharp-things-in-your-face contest.

The procession walked out through the village, the god statues being carried by groups of young men accompanied by thousands of firecrackers. You have to be right in the middle of it to appreciate the noise, the smoke, the feeling of tradition. This is something the local people believe in, this is no show, no tourist attraction. In Kathu, how many foreigners did I see? Just me and about 5 or 6 others with cameras - some were pro photographers. I would have liked to follow the procession to town, but of course had to go to work :(





Don't think I will ever get tired of the vegetarian festival. Phuket has beaches, nightlife, diving, great scenery, 5 star resorts, but for me it's some of the history and traditions that makes Phuket something a bit special. Might upload some more photos later. Meantime, just a few days until Loy Krathong, which is on Monday 2nd November.

• More Vegetarian Festival photos (Flickr)
• More information about Festivals in Phuket