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Month: March 2020

  • London: River Thames Sightseeing Cruise Is A Must-Do & Affordable

    London: River Thames Sightseeing Cruise Is A Must-Do & Affordable

    Back in 2014, when I was living in Newcastle, London was a place to visit monthly; I’ve never get enough of this charming Big Smoke. When I return in winter 2017, I have a chance to hop on the Thames River Sightseeing Cruise to see London from a different perspective.

    River Thames is the iconic waterway that represent this historical city. I have never did the water tour before, and the only sight of River Thames that I always view is when crossing the beautiful Millennium Bridge or at the Westminster Bridge. If you are a first timer to London, I highly recommend you to take the River Thames Sightseeing Cruise which takes about an hour, with live tour commentary and you may hop off at various point.

    But for us, we got up from Westminster and enjoyed the breeze and view all along until Greenwich. The cruise is operated by City Cruise. My brother got the combo of Hop-On Hop-Off Bus & Cruise ticket but I went for the cruise tour only as I am pretty familiar with London’s sight. (Tips: For cheaper way of sightseeing London by bus, just get on the Routemaster No 15 and pay with Oyster Card, it circles all the heritage sight and you can read the tour guide via phone)

    Father & son.

    Price per adult is £17.90 (Oct – May) & £18.25 (June – Sep) for return ticket. We took the return, unfortunately we spent too many time at this relaxing Greenwich and we missed our boat. It wasn’t hard to get back to the city, we took River Bus – a public transport by TFL to Tower Bridge pier and got back to our foot journey.

    Palace of Westminster Clock Tower was in scaffolding, unfortunately.
    Heading towards London Bridge with the Shard in the background.
    On upper deck, with beautiful Tower Bridge as backdrop.
    Clarice & Tower Bridge.
    When the chilly wind blows…
    Mom and dad could not bare the cold. Still remember it was about 9degree celcius that day.
    Good burger at Byron’s, Greenwich. Because of this meal, we missed our return boat.
    Nevermind, we still can take the River Bus.

    Book River Thames Sightseeing Cruise via Klook for best deal.

  • London: Pickpocketed At Portobello Road Market, Notting Hill

    London: Pickpocketed At Portobello Road Market, Notting Hill

    Prelude: Major throwback of my travel story as I have plenty time to write about during this COVID-19 lockdown in Malaysia. Let’s randomly starts with my Short London Trip in Winter 2017. It was a quick 3-days-2-night trip in London before beginning my main Northern Italy tour. After visiting London many times in 2014 (when I was studying in UK), it had become my starting point of any European travel.

    Did many travelling in 2014 and heard many stories about pickpocketing around European countries but never really encountered any of these pickpocketing event. In the UK, I felt much safer than other countries but this trip changes my thought totally. Yes, my brother got pickpocketed in this crowded and famous Portobello Road Market at Notting Hill.

    Having living in the UK before for a year back in 2014, I’ve never put any vigilant note when I was going around this country actually. Wallet was on the back pocket, phone was in the jacket pocket some times. Thus, we were put-easy while looking at stuff along this congested street.

    He was looking at beautiful vintage camera, and was about to reach his hand to grab the phone out to snap a photo; “Holy shit, where is my phone?”. Hand was quickly searching around all his pockets, in and out and into his camera sling bag. Nowhere it could be found. Me & him started to feel frustrated and I too, check my belongings to make sure it’s there.

    A new iPhone X was taken away, without any notice and probably during his full attention on browsing the vintage camera. Nothing much could be done except to dash to the nearest police station right away and also to stop all Apple Wallet-connected services. Moment of disappointment expresses on the face, and heck, it was the 2nd day we arrived in London.

    At the police station, another French tourist encountered a similar crime and they’ve got a CCTV footage from a store showing the entire process. “Nothing that we could do”, said the policewoman and asked us to make the police report online. It’s a very common crime at this market which we were not aware of.

    Well, lesson learned and brother managed to recover the phone amount via insurance claim. Feeling sad? Better not as it’d ruin the rest of the trip. Just be vigilant, really and buy a travel insurance, really, don’t play with luck!

    Nevertheless, London is still beautiful and PICKPOCKET is a real thing in Europe! I heard (stereotype thinking) most of the time is the Gypsies. Yeah, I heard.

    Good Photos from Portobello Road Market:

  • Island Problems – No Problem In This Japanese Thai Fusion Restaurant

    Island Problems – No Problem In This Japanese Thai Fusion Restaurant

    The name of this eatery – Island Problems does sounds amusing, but it’d become one of my favourite to go place for some intimate and chill dining. Serving a menu full of Japanese-Thai fusion dishes, their food do not disappoint at all, as the chef constantly tweaking their menu while collecting feedback from restaurant-goers.

    Tucked in this heritage beautiful street of Campbell St, it’s not easy to sight as there’s no big signage. Note for a black interior, you can visual the open kitchen and counter seating right from the outside. Island Problems has a small footprint, thus a reservation is highly recommended for a good seat at the counter so you could catch the live action of the chef preparing your meal. Upstairs has a few seats and also showcases their in-house street wear attire.

    It was a casual Thursday night and we arrived earlier which in luck, we’ve got a seat at the counter as later that night someone booked the stretch of counter seating.

    Steak & Butter Rice (RM49) is my go to dish at Island Problems as this was the 2nd time I ordered it. It’s a very basic, yet exquisite dish – tenderloin steak cutlet (cooked to personal preference), top with range yolk (purely yolk only) with butter onion infused rice. The steak juice blends well with the butter rice which makes an authentic fragrant in this simple rice bowl.

    Clarice ordered a Trio Roe Pasta (RM39), a cream-based pasta dish that presented a strong seafood mixture which would creates some seafood explosion in your taste buds. A combination of scallops, prawns, shrimp & salmon roe, the black pasta did amaze us.

    Watermelon Lychee Cooler
    Lemongrass Soda

    Also, not to forget to pair with some in refreshing beverage; we had Watermelon Lychee Cooler – blended with ice cold water melon & lychee (RM13) and Lemongrass Soda – literarlly lemongrass with soda (RM13)

    More dish to be tasted on the next visit!

    The drinks menu.
    The food menu.

    Update (26/05/2020):

    Salmon Belly in Spicy Teriyaki Sauce w Rice. RM34

    Mentaiko Tamagoyaki. RM19

    Opens Thursday – Tuesday (Closes on Wednesday) 12pm – 11pm

    161, Lebuh Cambell, 10100 George Town, Penang.

    Facebook / Google Map / Waze

  • Norm Micro Roastery Combines Good Coffee With Minimalist Warehouse Interiors

    Norm Micro Roastery Combines Good Coffee With Minimalist Warehouse Interiors

    Cafe scene in Penang is very interesting with new cafe popping up now and then, but the good one stays long and the least interesting one got of the cafe-game soon. One of my favourite – Norm Cafe has a new outlet at Church Street Ghaut.

    House in a refurbish warehouse, the bare and crisp minimalist setup does makes a good backdrop for Instagram-hispter and interior-lover like me. Not many seatings are available in this spacious warehouse setting though – which is a plus! However, it was still that busy and crowded on my last visit (just before the COVID-19 lock down in Malaysia).

    Unlike the original Norm Cafe, Norm Micro Roastery serves coffee and brunch; as the name explains, they roast their own coffee here.

    What makes a good cafe for hopping is the space composition and this cafe does has the recipe for it.

    Note: There’s beautiful little green mosses and if you do visit, do be careful and not step on them. It’s the indoor landscape that complement the overall setting.

    Opens daily 9am – 11pm

    13, Gat Lebuh Gereja, 10300 George Town, Penang.

    Facebook / Google Map / Waze

  • Sia Boey Park – Penang’s Own Central Park That We Are Proud Of

    Sia Boey Park – Penang’s Own Central Park That We Are Proud Of

    Officially known as Sia Boey Urban Archaeological Park, this miniature city park is located in the heart of George Town, yes, literary in the centre of this city, just like the iconic Central Park in New York City, except that it’s just a small fraction size of the real one.

    Sia Boey – I remembered this was the place where I went with dad to buy firecrackers for Chinese New Year when I was little. Later, this place was not heard of as it was barricaded, at first heard that they were redeveloping this area, and later the local government announced to turn it into a city park. It took them really long to realise this project, and finally it was opened in November 2019.

    I checked out the park late, like just recently but it’s fascinating. It was controversial at first as some social media postings show that the once dirty Prangin Canal that run through the park has been thoroughly cleaned, so clean that it has Koi fish swimming in the canal. However, the planner did a great job diverted the canal and created a ‘pond’ through the existing Prangin Canal and breed Koi fish in it. The Koi fish is the main attraction of this park actually.

    Day it would be a little too hot to spend time in the park, but the pond and shades do attract park goers. Night time would be very busy, with children running and playing at the play ground, filling the atmosphere with laughter; there’s even a upbeat cha-cha dance activity going on at the market hall space.

    Let’s hope more public parks will sprout out in Penang. It’s just wonderful to bring harmony into the community.

    Google Map / Waze

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