NICK CHAN DOT NET

Category: Travel

  • Taipei Trip: Shida Night Market 师大夜市

    Taipei Trip: Shida Night Market 师大夜市

    Taipei Trip: Shida Night Market 师大夜市 (Day 1) – I went to Taipei for a week of leisure trip last month. After landed in Taipei and checked into the hotel, we did not want to waste any more time and headed straight to our first destination in Taipei – Shida Night Market.
    As you know, Taiwan is famous for night market, how can we not visit them? Moreover we were so hungry and night market is the best place to fill up the empty stomach.
    Shida Night Market is actually located right opposite of Shida University, and that’s where the name comes from. Unlike the famous Shihlin Night Market, this one is cater more to locals and also the university students.
    I was pretty excited with my first exploration in Taipei but the night was pretty warm, about 24 degree celcius only. Nevertheless, Shida Night Market did not disappoint me. The food are very interesting, so do the small little fashion stalls and of course the very friendly locals, you just be amazed with the friendly locals at there. They smile to everyone, even if I took pictures of the stallss and never buy a food, they will also smile or say thank you. Taiwanese are awesome!
    The night ended up with a couple shopping bags of cloths and a stomach filled with awesome Taiwan food.
    One interesting Taiwanese food is 卤味, or English – Braised Aromatic Goodness, or simple English – food braised in aromatic brine! You will find stuff like pig’s organs, sausage, vegetable, mushrooms and more that are braised in aromatic brine. Onefamous and must try at Shida Night Market is the Deng Lung Lu Wei 灯笼卤味! It’s the most famous one and has a long queue.
    Deep fried stinky toufu and it’s good and sinfu!
    Pork liver soup which I find it’s nice! Do you realised that Taiwanese love animal’s organs?
    Taiwanese version of fried oyster which I find Malaysia has a better one! Serious, trust me.
    Spinach in Taiwanese style, not bad not bad.
    The blogger Nick Chan.
    Another thing to try out – 盐水鸡 Salt Water Chicken, which is something like steamed chicken salted and added with spring onion. Quite and interesting street food.
    Taiwan is a very pet-friendly country! You will see pretty and cute puppies everywhere!
    Before ending the trip at Shida, I’d a bowl of Toufu Fa with bubble, they call it 粉圆 at there! Yummeh!
  • Cycling At Taman Botani, Putrajaya

    Cycling At Taman Botani, Putrajaya

    Cycling At Taman Botani, Putrajaya – I like cycling, do you? I would buy myself a folding bike and go cycling in the city if I still resides in Penang. The problem is I do not stay at a place long for now. I am now in KL where cycling is not a favor transport and activities, I have to go to Putrajaya which is more bicycle friendly, there’s the Botanical Garden (Taman Botani) of Putrajaya that provides bicycle rental service and you can ride in the huge park all day long.
    RM4/hour for the weekend and you can release your perspiration and inhale the fresh oxygen in the garden and enjoy a relaxing weekend away from the hustle and bustle Kuala Lumpur city. That was my weekend few weeks back with my girlfriend.
    Not really a good day for photography, the weather sucks.
  • Pulau Ketam – A Weekend Getaway Island

    Pulau Ketam – A Weekend Getaway Island

    Pulau Ketam – A Weekend Getaway Island – Last Saturday was a pretty interesting one and a bit of tiring because lots of walking. Luckily the weather was just nice to allow us to walk! It was a visit to Pulau Ketam (Crab Island), an island 45 minutes off Port Klang. Thinking of beautiful ivory sandy beach and 5-star resorts with parasailing and banana boats, as well as bikini chicks? You are on the wrong page, it’s nothing close to that, it’s a Chinese fishing village!
    It’s quite a fun exploration because we took the KTM train to from Subang to Port Klang, then changed to a ferry that cost RM7/one way to Pulau Ketam. Whole journey to the island took about 2 hours, that, yeah, quite long.
    For a while I was in the city, and another while, I came to somewhere really far away from the bustling city, it’s serene, calm and relax. It’s a village after all, with no motor vehicles, except boats. Walking is one way to travel around, another way is cycle. No car, or motorcycle, that’s why I would say it’s totally different from the city.
    Well, people said it’s famous for seafood, but I still prefer going to Kuala Selangor for seafood, it’s more likely touristy business for the seafood. There’s not much business on the island, people there relax, and I believe they know every one on the island. Tourist like us go there to spend part of the day to getaway from the city, relax, and see something different.
    We walked around the island, we prayed at the Buddhist temple, we ate the seafood, we shoot a lot of photos and we laughed.
    If someone were to maintain the island well, clean up the rubbish, beautify the village, I am sure that this will be one good tourist destination, but… there’s still big space of improvement. See Penang’s Chew Jetty, it’s so touristy and beautiful now.
    Nevertheless, it was still a nice getaway.
    A photo with the ex prime minister before he go home and retires. Jason, Wei Shi, Siyi and Henry.
    Me, Hooi Pheng, Connie, Zhi Inn, Quenna.
    Car wash, good! I’ve forget to tell you, the KTM train is so slow!
    The RM7/way ferry that bring us to the island.
    The ferry interior, somehow mysterious, and old school, and old.
    Reached!
    Sign of election is coming where the parties are competiing on who has the most or biggest flags. Lame shit.
    Rent a bicycle for RM5 per day and we decided to just walk!
    The road.
    Police station.
    The girls doing prayers, praying for good man to appear in their life? Haha.
    Nice table to sleep!
    Well look, I am camouflage!
    Noah’s Ark in work.
    White shoes, reminded me of high school.
    Hello little girls!
  • Taipei Trip: From Penang – Hong Kong – Taipei

    Taipei Trip: From Penang – Hong Kong – Taipei

    Taipei Trip: From Penang – Hong Kong – Taipei (Day 1) – Last week was an awesome week as I went on a trip to Taipei and Macau! It was a nice getaway after my 2.5 months of internship and also a little bit of rest and relax to prep myself for the new semester which will be starting next week. Few more days of relaxing time in Penang and I will be back to Kuala Lumpur again.
    Anyway, in this coming days, follow my blog for a virtual trip to Taipei and Macau with me. =D JOMMMMM! One more thing, this is a full Taipei trip which I focus on travelling the north Taiwan. KIAAAAA….
    Penang International Airport. Looks new and good right? Not really I feel, if you look close, the place is not well maintain and when I go to Taiwan and Hong Kong, I feel Penang is so not welcoming enough, the interior design seriously need to be improved more.
    Fish fillet with fried rice. Weird airplane food by Cathay Pacific, the fish tasted weird. XD
    Oh yes, Hong Kong! My favourite place in Asia. I stop here to transit for Taipei.
    Twilight from the air.
    Chicken sandwich from Hong Kong to Taipei however tasted good! Yummeh! I didn’t finish it because I wanna have an empty stomach for Taiwan’s street food.
    Welcome to Republic of China – Taiwan.
    New refurbished Taiwan Taoyuan Airport.
    Street food in front of hotel.
  • Cycling At Taman Botani Negara / Bukit Cahaya, Shah Alam

    Cycling At Taman Botani Negara / Bukit Cahaya, Shah Alam

    Cycling At Taman Botani Negara / Bukit Cahaya, Shah Alam – There’s actually quite a few names for this place – Taman Botani Negara, Taman Pertanian Bukit Cahaya or Bukit Cerakah, call it whatever you like. That many names really makes people confusing, but I believe it’s more likely to known as Bukit Cahaya.
    I’d been searching for nature hangout place for hiking, or cycling around Klang Valley and this is one of the place that I found where you can cycle around this small national park. 20 minutes of drive from Bandar Sunway and you will reach this place. 10 people, 2 cars and we reached about 8am! And you know what? The place haven’t open yet. It has opening hour 8.30am.
    Going to the place is not free! Parking – RM3, entrance to the place – RM3, rent a bicycle – RM10/hour! Many pro brought their own bike, but we are not pro, so we have to pay and it’s probably a place that I would go once as our 3 hour ride totalled up RM30 already. Remember to check the bike brake when picking up your bike.
    Name check! Henry, Mei Jia, Wei Shi, Ling Jia, Siyi, Quenna, Wei Kean, Hooi Pheng, Jason & Nick Chan. =D
    Anyway, talk back about the place. It’s pretty cool, a little bit like Penang’s Botanical Garden, the road is not flat, it’s up and down of hill slopes, so it’s pretty tough to ride, but going down hill slopes is damn fun! We queued for like 20 minutes to get a bike and once we got our hands on it, we started riding!
    Actually there’s nothing much to see, the place was not very well-maintained despite collecting fee from people. There’s an adventure activity called Skytrex where you can experience tree climbing, flying fox and more like the Escape Park in Penang. We did not go to that because we did not book in advance.
    I see no monkey by the way!
    Nice blue sky day!
    Found coconut tree and Mei Jia got excited and wanted to get one.
    Well… I was skeptical about the coconut at first whether it’s safe to drink or not, but she convinced that it’s alright because she came from a kampung with lots of coconut trees. HAHA.
    Not that sweet afterall, but refreshing!
    Yeah, lovely Saturday.
    Although the place was not that person, yet it’s pretty fun pun, for a while I was in the city and for a while, we seemed to be spend like 3 hours in the nature that is so close to the city. The perspiration, laughter, wind and the stress on leg muscle makes it fun! Nice Saturday out with interior design friends again! =D
  • Taipei Trip: Golden Waterfall & Yingyang Sea 黄金瀑布&阴阳海

    Taipei Trip: Golden Waterfall & Yingyang Sea 黄金瀑布&阴阳海

    Taipei Trip: Golden Waterfall & Yingyang Sea 黄金瀑布&阴阳海 (Day 2) – The day trip is almost approaching an end, this was the second last stop before heading to the end destination – Keelung Miao Kou Night Market.
    After Jiufen, while on the way to Keelung, we passed by a famous waterfall – Golden Waterfall (Huang Jin Pu Bu) where the water from the waterfall turned the riverbed and rocks into golden yellow colour, very interesting!
    Further down will meet the Yingyang Sea (Ying Yang Hai) where the parts of the sea has 2 colors! Probably due to the water running from the Golden Waterfall, due to heavy metal reactions that causes the two color. Well, after this short stop, it’s time to continue our journey to one of the biggest street food night market in Taiwan – Keelung Miao Kou Night Market.

    Huang Jin Pu Bu.
    Nice abandoned building! Got feel got feel.
    Ying Yang Sea!
    Continued on the journey to Keelung! =)
  • Kampar UTAR Library

    Kampar UTAR Library

    Kampar UTAR Library – Been bored, went to Kampar for a days, drove in the campus and found the library building still has lights on. A shot and I captured the beauty of modern minimalist architecture of the library. Interesting campus architecture in Malaysia.

    Photo is taken with Canon EOS 60D + Sigma 8-16mm.

  • Broga: Sak Dato (Sak Nato) Temple (石拿督庙)

    Broga: Sak Dato (Sak Nato) Temple (石拿督庙)

    Broga: Sak Dato (Sak Nato) Temple (石拿督庙) – It’s not just hiking and eating breakfast at Broga that morning, there’s one attraction that should not be missed and that’s the Sak Dato Temple, the local at there call it the Sek Nato Miao. I do not know much about Taoist deity, God, Goddess but from what I see here, the temple worships the famous mighty Monkey God – Sun Wu Kong. No matter what God or Goddess it is, they are still the guardian of all, bringing the best of lucks to everyone.
    It’s pretty surprised to see such beautiful and nice temple at a very rural and small town. It’d been some times I see good temple. Penang has the Kek Lok Si, the Broga Hill has the Sak Dato Temple. Although it’s not very big, but the compound itself is huge where you can do a little bit of hike up to the top to see the huge Sun Wu Kong (Monkey God) statue standing at the topmost of the place.
    Actually the initial plan was to just passed by the place, maybe get town to do a little prayer. But then there’s this curiosity urge to explore the place and lead us to another hike to the top for the Sun Ku Kong. Tiring max but how can me being a Monkey horoscope guy not meet the mighty Sun Ku Kong? HA!
    There’s a suspension bridge connected to the other side of the hill, and the short trail up to the Sun Ku Kong starts at the other side of the bridge. No worry that I have tested the bridge, it won’t break because I jumped and it doesn’t shake at all, probably because of the strong steel structure. Not chi kek at all. HAHA.
    Ling Jia & Connie.
    Wow, GARY!
    Tai lou Wei Kean!
    Quenna… wearing shoes.
    Found the other side which is pretty interesting! Very not Malaysia.
    Anyway, good place to pray after a tiring hike. If you are not Buddhist, nevermind, not bad to explore other culture too.
    View Shiok Or Not : Food & Travel Map in a larger map
  • Semenyih: Hiking The Broga Hill

    Semenyih: Hiking The Broga Hill

    Semenyih: Hiking The Broga Hill – Finally, I hiked the Broga Hill. I have always wanted to hike this little hill at the small rural town of Semenyih for a long time. 2 years ago, I planned the trip, but it never fulfilled. Now, with 6 more months left in Kuala Lumpur, I have to explore the places around as much as I can and never come back. Haha, just kidding. It’s just that my diploma studies is ending in August and that’s why.
    Beautiful trail with twinkle twinkle little torch.
    Back to Broga Hill, the famous hill for hiking to the people in Klang Valley and Seremban as it’s at the border of Selangor and Negeri Sembilan. It’s located very far away from the city, about 50 minutes drive from Bandar Sunway. So last week, me and friends gathered at Taylor’s University as early as 4.30am, set up the GPS and followed the navigation and GO! I’ve got to tell you, prepare to meet 4-5 tolls before reaching Broga Hill, gosh, road tolls are killing my wallet. It’s very near to Nottingham University, passed the uni and drive for another 5 minutes then you will arrive then.
    We reached the place about 5.45am, there’s already many car parked at the palm plantation area (the entrance is right opposite the Rabbit Fun Land). RM2 for parking and I am not sure whether the person really own the place. Just to be safe, pay for the RM2. It’s pitched dark, and very chilly early in the morning and many people were already there for an early hike waiting to see the sunrise!
    At the top! Waiting. It’s still very early.
    The leak of twilight. Lovely.
    I relies on my phone’s flash light as guide, but my friends brought actual flash light to light up the hiking trail. It’s not a tall hill, but I’ve got to say, the hike is pretty challenging at some point because there’s no proper hiking steps. The hardest part is when reaching the first station where the hike gets exciting because the way up is very slanted. Be sure you have a good pair of shoes or you would just have to climb it, with hands on the floor too. HAHA.
    Gary gor!
    Henry gor!
    Lin Jia and Wei Kean dailou. Nice to meet you new friend.
    Quenna and Siyi. =)
    Xinli and Hooi Pheng. =) Nice to meet you new friend.
    Quenna, Connie, Wei Shi and Wei Kean.
    Reached the first station at about 6.45am and there’s so many people up there already! Everyone was just chatting around, taking photos, and waiting for the sunrise! What you see up there is just another hill and the small little town of Broga and Semenyih. It’s interesting that the top of the hill has no tress and it’s all couch grass.
    TWILIGHT ZONE. Oh my lovely nature.
    Ghia Jun & Zee Yin.
    Google told me that 7.24am was the sunrise time at Semenyih, but the actual sun rise above another hill was at about 7.40am. It takes some times for the sun to get up the hill. HAHA.
    Hello my lovely SUN.
    Ah, I just love waiting for sunrise so much, it’s my new hobby lately! After that we just went down as we were hungry and it’s getting warm. Getting down seems to be more difficult than going up as it’s so steep and really have to be careful, my friend had a small bruised on her knee. Just have to be really careful, help each other at there, or just wear a tracksuit to prevent cuts and bruises from small fall.
    ME, the blogger.
    With the girls.
    Love this picture a lot. Thought it would turned out silhouette, but a nice over exposed of the sun and nice composition of beautiful us. By the way, it’s all interior designers here in the photo. =D
    Little stalls selling coconut and soft drinks await you at the foot hill. HAHA.
    Carpark.
    Afterall, it’s a very nice and exciting hike. Sorry for writing the post that long, I will bring you to Kampung Broga and an awesome Chinese Temple with Shun Yu Kong Monkey King in the next posts. =D
  • CNY 2013: 年初二 – 吧王庙 Ba Wong Temple @ Klian Intan

    CNY 2013: 年初二 – 吧王庙 Ba Wong Temple @ Klian Intan

    CNY 2013: 年初二 – 吧王庙 Ba Wong Temple @ Klian Intan – A visit to an old temple at Klian Intan for prayers during my reunion at Pengkalan Hulu. This small little village of Klian Intan used to has thousand of tenth population during my grandma’s era but it has not become a tiny village of 1000+ populations. What’s still standing is this Ba Wong Temple at the entrance of the Klian Intan village. It’d been some times that we visited this place and it’s the time again to do some prayers.
    The small  and peaceful village of Klian Intan.
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