TOILET IN MINES SHOPPING FAIR, BALAKONG

Went there recently and found that the shopping mall has undergone quite a lot of renovation since Capitaland got involved. The mall looks much nicer and fresh looking. I went to one of the toilet and found that it was still rather lacking although the good part is that they don't charge you anymore.

The toilet stalls were wet and not very clean. Considering we were there in the morning and the mall was not crowded, the maintenance was not up to mark.

It's not that it's dirty and it would probably require a makeover as with the mall itself.




I saw one of the outlets in the mall which used a toilet as a deco piece in its window. I thought it was quite tastefully done and did not see give any negative impression. Thought I would share this picture with you.



Until then, cheers.

BEAUTIFUL AND QUAINT HUA HIN, THAILAND

I travel to Bangkok monthly on business and recently, I thought to myself that apart from going once to Chiangmai and Chiangrai and recently to the southern part of the country, I have not seen much of Thailand. So, I made a decision to at least make a trip to the various parts of the country every few months to open my eyes.

The most recent trip was to Hua Hin in the middle of August 2009. This seaside town is approximately 250 km from Bangkok located in the Gulf of Thailand. It took us about 3 hours to drive to Hua Hin. With my GPS and my wife being Thai, it was not a problem at all. The roads are pretty good and construction is still on going.

My trusted Garmin GPS

I was actually quite surprised when I got to the town. There were a lot of construction going on whether it was to built new hotels and resorts or refurbishing old ones. This town has been a favorite for people from Bangkok as a weekend holiday getaway for a long time and that is why there are quite a number of older hotels.

The town is famous for the King's seaside place named Klai Klangwon which means "To be far away from trouble". It holds true as the quaintness of the town makes you feel relaxed. It is a far cry from the chaotic Bangkok as well as the touristy places like Pattaya and Phuket. However, the number of tourists is increasing rapidly evidenced by the number of ongoing development. The palace area was beautifully lighted up as it was the Queen's birthday just a day before we arrived.

Pictures from a public beach in Hua Hin


Hua Hin's railway station is very interesting and has a history of more than 100 years.

I love the huge trees lining the streets.....hard to find this in Malaysia (except in the smaller towns)

We stayed in a newly completed resort called Banyan resort. It is made up of villas and I think it is sold to investors and managed by the developers. As we were there in midweek, it was quite empty and Saturday, there seem to be quite a crowd which suited us just fine as we had the place almost to ourselves.

Nice villas with pool (almost to ourselves)

We had dinner one night at a restaurant based on an advertisement on the road. It had advertisement prawns which were farmed by themselves. The restaurant was called "Rim Rabieng". We were sceptical at first but we had no reason to. The restaurant was a quaint place located very near the sea and the food was fresh and delicous. I loved the fresh oysters eaten the Thai way which is with a vegetable that when eaten with the oysters is very sweet and with fried onions, garlic, a type of "belacan". The oysters are much larger and thicker than its western counterpart and therefore 2 each is just about right. The fried fish in fish sauce, "Pla phad nam pla" was fantastic. The fish was very fresh and crispy.

Lunch the next day was barbecued pork ribs at Great American Rib Company. It is a southern US styled restaurants and have outlets in Bangkok and Pattaya. The food came in healthy portions and overall it was not bad. We noticed that the wall had a picture of the owner with the famous Malaysian cartoonist Lat. I must remind myself to take more pictures to show in the blog.

Nice ribs

Gumbo soup (or what's left)....must remember to take picture first.

Later in the evening, we went to a beach which had local restaurants. We managed to try the local food which was good. We were accompanied by a dog whom we fed the extra ribs from lunch and he was literally eating from our hands after a while.

One can just relax by the sea and order the food and drinks....heaven with the wind blowing.

Yummy local food............

This doggy enjoyed our leftover ribs from lunch. He was HAPPY!!!!!!!!

All lined up to go home at the end of the day....

Nice beach area and it was windy and not crowded

Dinner was at a place recommended by the hotel staff, Baan Issara. This was also a Thai restaurant located in the town area in an old villa. However, it is hugely popular and was packed with tourists both Thai and foreign. Surprisingly, even with the large crowd, the food arrived within 10 minutes. Maybe, this is due to the fact that most people ordered only the restaurants popular dishes so the cook had only to make few types of dishes.

Look at the size of the oyster....juicy too!!!

However, we found the food not as good as the one we had the night before, probably, this place had become too touristy.

There was a boy at the restaurant selling flowers and fruits and we asked him how old was he and he answered 7 years old. We were there on a Friday not and sure whether he sells these stuff daily or only during the weekends but either way, he does invoke a lot of sympathy probably sold quite a lot of stuff as well, including from us. My wife kept commenting that the parents must be ashamed for doing this but I suppose it may not have been a choice.

The boy selling the fruits and flowers.

Hua Hin has also built a new shopping mall called the Market Village and it should be able to keep the tourists happy for shopping apart from the various night street markets.

These short trips have really opened my eyes on the developments going on in the various provinces and also its actually quite fun to experience the driving, food and people's lifestyle in the Thai provinces.

Until next time, cheers.

TOILET IN SAILOM PAVILLION, HUA HIN, THAILAND

This is my first posting on toilets from my recent Hua Hin, Thailand trip.

I found this particular toilet which was located on the 1st floor of a food complex quite interesting. It is located in the middle of the town and called Sailom Pavillion. The wash basin area is located in the middle of the bathroom and made from normal concrete. This made quite efficient use of the area and it seems to also reduce the wet area as the area to wash the hands was big.

The louvers on the wall as well as the entrance area made the toilet well ventilated and illuminated. It was also not hot inside although it was noon.

The best part, it is clean and well maintained. They did not need to use fancy stuff to beautify the place.

Below is the sole picture of a row of urinal made from stainless steel. This was the only picture taken. This is located in a petrol station between Hua Hin and Bangkok. I should have taken more but we were rushing back to Bangkok to catch our flight back.

I always found the toilets in the petrol stations in Thailand quite clean (though not all of them are). Maintenance are generally good. You don't find filthy ones either. Maybe some of the toilet fittings should be changed due to wear and tear and some are not suitable for its usage.

Until next time, cheers.

A LEISURELY SUNDAY BRUNCH AT HAKKA REPUBLIC

A friend of mine invited us for Sunday brunch at Hakka Republic recently. It is a western bistro located in Menara Hap Seng (formerly MUI Plaza) on Jalan P Ramlee. My kids asked me why it had a Chinese name but only serve western food. I looked up their website and the only thing Chinese about them is the the deco (theme) and name. It was quite nicely decorated and the building was also renovated recently when it changed owners.

Nice view out to the 2nd floor garden

The spread was not too wide but sufficient to satisfy one if one is not to picky about the choices. They had quite a few traditional English food such as beef wellington, yorkshire pudding, rack of lamb ribs and roast leg of lamb. The soup, which was wild muhroom soup was just nice and my daughther just loved it. They also make egg dishes a la carte and had eggs benedict.

The carvery section with the roast free range chicken, rack of lamb and leg of lamb

Darn it, got to stop forgeting to take picture BEFORE I start to eat. My plate of rack of lamb, beef wellington and yorkshire pudding.

Again, the half eaten egg benedict. Sorry, still new at this thing.


The salad and appetiser section.


The boys had a field day with the beef wellington and both of them had seconds, not counting the other stuff. The buffett had also the salads and appetisers which was also good. For dessert, they had creme brulee which my kids loved, bread pudding (the vanilla sauce should have been sweeter) and a few other types of cakes and fruits.

The dessert section.


Their signature drink, oolong tea with rose was just nice and a nice compliment to the food.

Overall, it was a leisurely brunch as it was not crowded and contented on a Sunday. afternoon if one wanted not a too heavy lunch or to pig out. The buffette is priced at RM68++ excluding the Oolong tea which was RM9++ additional with unlimited refill.

Until then, cheers.

SHORT SCHOOL HOLIDAY IN KRABI, THAILAND

During the last school holiday in June 2009, the family took a short holiday in Krabi, South of Thailand. We heard a lot of the place which is well known for its beautiful islands for scuba diving or snorkelling. It is also not as developed and as crowded as Phuket.

We took Air Asia there and we almost missed the plane as I had seen the wrong boarding time. I travel frequently and am very strict about arriving at the airport early. However, without my reading glasses, i saw the wrong time (yeah, getting old!!). When I was going to the toilet (we were leisurely having our breakfast), I heard our names being called and I frozed for a moment. It was a mad rush to clear customs and security, all the while praying, they will not leave without us. Arriving at the departure gate, the staff there said that they were already offloading our bags and that there was no one to send us to the plane. I begged him but he was not very helpful at all. Luckily another staff quickly called and checked and found that the bags have not been unloaded and agreed to bring us to the plane. Kudos to him. I should have got his name and wrote to Air Asia comment him. If there were many of such persons, Air Asia will destine to succeed.

Anyhow, what a start to the holiday. All the time, I was thinking if we had to go back, it would be so dissapointing for the kids. Luckily, that was the only setback during the holidays.

It was low season for Krabi, being the start of the rainy season. The town (Ao Nang beach area) was quite quiet but that's the way I like it. For me, it was just perfect without the heards of tourists (more so when if they are so noisy).

We stayed in Ao Nang Villa which was very close to the main boat jetty area as well as shops and retaurants. It was a nice place and service was good (as in most Thai hotels). Of course we had the advantage as my wife if Thai, so language is not an issue.

A large lime stone hill just beside the hotel where we stayed.

My daughther playing on the beach in front of the hotel. Not a very nice beach but the wind and wave was great.

So for the next 5 days, we spend our time on the beach, visiting islands and of course eating. They have quite a number of restaurants just outside the hotel and within a short tuk tuk ride. The tuk tuks here are larger than the ones in Bangkok and could accomodate 5 of us nicely.

We went to a Thai seafood restaurant which is popular for locals and tourists. it was quite crowded when we were there a couple of times. The food was good and we tried even the fresh seaweed to be eaten with nam prik ( a type of very spicy dip, not unlike budu from Kelantan, Malaysia).

The nam prik and seawwed with other types of vegetables and herbs. The herbs are not common in Malaysia or in bangkok. So, it was considered a treat for us.

A closer look at the seaweed. It does taste salty and retains a lot of water. So it's like biting into a skin with water, slightly salty. Picture is a little dark (sorry about it, did not use the flash). I didn't know then that I was going to write a blog.

With a Swensen ice cream parlour nearby, it was our dessert hangout (we do this everytime we are in Thailand) as you get a great deal with their earthquake sundae (8 or 9 scoops with toppings). It cost around Baht 300 for the whole thing.

Yummy ice cream.

Lunch for us, was a mix of room service and hawker food (from across the hotel). Favorites such as papaya salad (som tam), kai ping (grilled chicken), fried fish, phra ka pao (fried pork with basil leaves), rakna (flat noodles) are a must. And lunch for 5 of us cost only Baht 300, what a deal. It was delicious, mind you.

On one of the days, we took a boat out to the island and visited Railey beach, Chicken island and a couple of others. We also managed to go snorkelling for a while. However, the place for snorkelling was not that beautiful and there are many others places which are much better. We had to return earlier as there was a storm approaching.

Overall, it was a good holiday and we enjoyed ourselves very much. The kids had a good time and that was all it mattered.

Until, the next time, cheers.

PUTRAJAYA FLOWER AND GARDEN FESTIVAL

My maiden entry will be about my recent visit to the Putrajaya Flower and Garden festival which was held recently from 2 to 9 August 2009. I went there on Sunday, 2 August in the morning with my wife and youngest daughter. I expected the weather to be very hot and humid but it turned out not so bad.

The effort put into organising is commendable and overall it was a good show to be able to see the range of flowers put on display as a high proportion of the flowers would have probably have to be imported from a more temperate climate.

Below are more photos of the festival. They had flowers of all colors and sizes and the arrangements are beautifully done.

Until my next entry, cheers.

Still figuring out what to write in the blog

After of a few days of thinking, one would have thought that ideas will come quite automatically but obviously they would not have coined writers' block if it was not a common occurance. However, apart from the issue of what to write, one major issuing playing on my mind is whether to write about my family. On one hand it would be nice to share the experiences whether be it funny, sad, heartwarming, heartbreaking or otherwise but generally I am a very private person and doing this has made me feel uncomfortable.

Therefore, I have come to the first hurdle to cross i.e to overcome the need for privacy if one wants to have a blog. I think it would be very hard to narrate and comment on something or to try to pass on a thought and yet wanting a reader not to know you you are.

Maybe getting it out in the open will help the issue to resolve by itself. We will see about that in a few days time. I do have a few things that I wish to write about soon and hope I will be able to get moving on them over his weekend.

In the meantime, cheers.

Why am I setting up a toilet travel blog?

Actually I am not sure. I have been reading many blogs and thought I should also get into it. I suppose it is also to fulfil a longtime dream, no that's not it...more of a whim maybe? I am also not sure how long or how often will this blog be running. Well, a short debut post for me...I am learning how to manage this blog as I go along (same as many things in life I suppose). Hope it will also give me an avenue to post some of my 2 cents worth of thoughts. So, that's it for the time being. Have a nice day.