NICK CHAN DOT NET

Tag: Travel

  • Hong Kong: North Point and Central 香港北角与中环

    Hong Kong: North Point and Central 香港北角与中环

    Let’s go to Hong Kong now shall we? =D Almost forgotten that I have many photos to share with you during my Hong Kong trip few months back. Hong Kong is indeed a lovely place that I wouldn’t feel bored after visiting for so many times. In this post, I will bring you to Central from North Point.

    Central 中环 in Hong Kong is the CBD (Central Business District) and have various high rise office building and shopping malls too! And North Point 北角 was the place I stayed during my trip in Hong Kong. Hehe.

    Because of cheap fare (HK$2 to everywhere) and want to sightseeing early in the morning, we took the tram connected straight to Central. It’s pretty nice to take the tram with cool weather out there and you can see the city slowly. It was around 10am and we wanted to go Central to “Yum Cha” which literally means drinking tea, but actually is to look for dim sum breakfast. I found out that there’s a very old and famous Hong Kong dim sum tea house.

    After alighting the tram, we tried to look for the place to the dim sum tea house. No one of us actually been there before, we walked there with the guide of Google Maps. Luckily I’ve got a Hong Kong SIM card on my iPhone. =)

    Central area is really pretty because of the huge office towers and old Hong Kong – British architecture. People in suits and OL walking everywhere, it’s really a busy place and I like it. =D

    The morning Hong Kong is so pretty. I just couldn’t resist myself from pressing the camera shutter. I wanted to capture every bit of the place to keep in my photo album and share with you guys. The Hong Kong city is just so beautiful.

    Hong Kong is too densely populated already. CBD is not really CBD, there’s still people living around that area, rich and poor; wet market and groceries store. You can see all walk of life at there too. The Hong Kong culture is really strong. People are walking everywhere, every alley, it’s people all the time and walking.

    I wonder why construction site in Hong Kong are so pretty. They are so colourful that I want to take photos of them. Unlike the one at here are so dull and boring.

    After 20 minutes of walking, we found the dim sum tea house, Lin Heung Lao 莲香楼. It’s just so crowded and there’s not even a spot to sit. We waited for 10 minutes and there’s no people moving out of their seat. The waiter told us that whenever some one get up, we must go to sit down, but then it’s just hardly get 4 people seats together. And in the end, we decided not to eat at there and eat at the opposite.

    It’s so much better. =D

     

  • i-City, Cool Light Garden And Park In Shah Alam

    i-City, Cool Light Garden And Park In Shah Alam

    Not sure if you guys know about this place or not, I think it’s pretty new and I only knew about it recently when I passed by while going to Klang for Bak Kut Teh on one fine night. I saw the place filled with many LED lights trees, it’s like a park, like a garden and it’s called i-City, which is in Shah Alam.

    One fine night, I went there with friends to check out the place with curiosity because I didn’t really know what’s the place is about cause I heard before we need to pay entrance fee, it’s just all light trees, nothing much. But after checking it out, I know what’s that.

    Yes, we need to pay RM10 for parking per car. If walking into the place, you need to pay RM2 per person. Wow! Very expensive park, I am selfish, they shouldn’t charge and open for free to attract more and more and more visitor.

    Well, if you go in the morning or before 7pm, it’s FREE. =D As long as the sky is not dark, you need not to pay. But you will see nothing when it’s bright. It’s actually all fake tree with LED as the leaves and petals. I thought it was LED on the real trip but actually it’s not.


    Lai Quen.


    Gary, my senior.


    Lai Quen, Connie and Zhi Inn.

    Although it’s just light, I think it’s pretty fun to walk around to take photo. Remember to bring a good wide aperture lens like 50mm f/1.8. Too bad I lend that lens to my brother and I only have my Tamron 17-50, shooting at 1600ISO. A steady hand is needed.

    Then there’s some part of the i-City need to pay optional fee like there’s a mini animal park which is just animal sculpture in LED, you pay RM2. I didn’t go in. =D Then there’s also the reptile centre where you need to pay again, it’s real reptile though, like a super duper mini reptile zoo. There’s lots of snake and everything.

    Quite many people taking photos and walking around at there. My friend told me that i-City serves as commercial office blocks in the morning and there’s a few restaurant where people can chill out at night. But the main attraction is the light park.

    Well, do wear lightly, although it’s windy sometimes, but it’s still warm after all and perspiration beats out of our body.

    Then at one side of the park, there’s a few games stall like in the fun fair and I saw a big outdoor LCD screen, it was playing CSI that time. I like the concept of the place, it’s like a new hang out place but they should reduce the parking and have more restaurants and cafe, and shopping too, then it’s perfect.


    Yay, yay, bully. =D


    Wei Kean and the Freako.

    Went back at 12am after checking out the super duper mini reptile zoo. =D RM5 for student entrance. Haha. Very good.

    iCity is a good visit. Want go again when I have a better camera gear, oh yeah!

  • Ban Lee Siang Satay Celup for Supper

    Ban Lee Siang Satay Celup for Supper

    Satay Celup is the lok-lok of Malacca! How can you not eat Satay Celup when visit to Malacca? Haha. Basically Satay Celup is actually raw food on stick, then to be dipped into a kind of peanut satay sauce to cook the food. It’s like lok-lok which you cook your own stick food, just not dipping into boiling water. At this moment, I only find this Satay Celup in Malacca, and not anywhere else.

    The one I visited when I was in Malacca was Ban Lee Siang. One of the two famous one, another is the Capitol which always has a long queue in front of the shop. Since Ban Lee Siang is near to where I stayed, so we went there on foot from Jonker Walk.

    The price for per stick is RM0.60 flat rate but when you see it’s so cheap, you tend to take more and then turn out many money. And the food on stick is kinda little, so you need more to fill the stomach.

    I actually pretty full after having my street food hunting on Jonker Walk so I didn’t eat much, just want to try the Satay Celup feel. Everything was fun, I like the way of dipping food into the peanut sauce, but then it lack of my favourite, si hum cockles. Haha. If there’s cockles, then it will be damn awesome. Hopefully there’s Satay Celup around Penang or KL, with cheap price of course. =D
    View Shiok Or Not : Food Map in a larger map

    45-E Jalan Ong Kim Wee

    75300 Melaka, Malacca

    012-6515322

  • Hong Kong: I Love Mong Kok, Tai Kok Tsui and Sai Yeung Choi Street South

    Hong Kong: I Love Mong Kok, Tai Kok Tsui and Sai Yeung Choi Street South

    Hello people. How’s your weekend doing? I am feeling tired because I slept late last night. Haha, to be exact is sleepy, but I feel like writing a blog now so today I want to bring you to Hong Kong again. Mong Kok, Tai Kok Tsui and place near there. =D So previously, I went to Western Market, after that I went back to North Point to meet my brother.

    After meeting with my brother, we didn’t want to waste more time in the hotel. We went to Kowloon right away, to Mongkok, to Tai Kok Tsui to meet my aunty at her restaurant. Tai Kok Tsui is somewhere near to Mongkok which is not accessible by MTR, though foot would be fine for us.


    Alight at Mong Kok station. Mong Kok stands for busy corner in Cantonese.


    Nice HSBC Screen. =)

    Few years back, we didn’t really know the way to my aunty’s place. My aunty runs a restaurant at Tai Kok Tsui and so we took the cab there. But now we knew the way around and we tried walking there, actually it’s not really far, only 15-20 minutes of walk, and the cooling weather didn’t make us feel uncomfortable.


    Sleepy face Yikhung brother.


    Nice crossing.

    While on the way to Tai Kok Tsui from Mong Kok, we passed by many shops and malls and also stopped by for some bubble tea break. Bubble tea was nice and the feeling of the bubbles jelly were different, it’s more chewy. =D

    Dropped by at Langham Place to check out the shopping mall and it’s a nice shopping place for the youngs one because the shops inside are cater for people like us. It’s a super big mall but then the way of shopping is going up and has like 11-12 floors of shopping. There’s many nice stuff to check out and truly recommend this place for shopping. There’s a big H&M on the ground level too.

    Then we continue our way and passed by a market that I have been to before 3 years back. It’s still the same, still that many people on the street shopping for food and fruits in the afternoon.

    Tai Kok Tsui 大角咀

    One weird thing about Hong Kong’s weather when compare to Malaysian’s weather is that I didn’t really see the sun, it’s hazy and always block the view of the round egg yolk-ish sun.

    And we reached Pak Lam Restaurant! My aunty’s Hong Kong’s style restaurant. =) Had our lunch and afternoon tea at there and we were really very full after that cause she just keep serving us food non-stop. Haha. We spent like two hours in the restaurant talking with aunty and uncle.

    We got to know that operating a restaurant in Hong Kong is not easy because there will be no break and rental is so freaking expensive. People coming in and out nonstop from morning till night and the restaurant is so small.


    Pak Lam Restaurant, Tai Kok Tsui.

    After saying good bye to uncle and aunty, we went back to Mongkok and proceed to shopping on Sai Yeung Choi Street, the most happenings street in Kowloon.

    I guess I’ll like the photo speaks. =D Construction site are nice to be photographed, ohh yum yum delicious construction site. =D


    Small little super small petrol station.

    Sai Yeung Choi Street South 西洋菜南街

    And here we go, we came back to Sai Yeng Choi Street South, Mongkok area. The most happenings electronic and clothing street in Kowloon, Hong Kong. Full of people, a street that vehicle cannot go through and it’s people everywhere on the street, students, worker, shoppers, tourists, anyone! I really like this happening street a lot. Especially the neon signboards and LED screen, real awesome. It’s really a piece of art.


    Handsome brother, we don’t look alike though.


    Construction site!

    One thing that I always saw in Hong Kong is people having a chair in the middle of the road taking up a board writing “buying second hand gadget in high price”, meaning they want your phone and gadget and willing to buy from you. I think some black market are running this, they are everywhere and I am sure people in need of money will go and look for them.

    Well, the acid throwing incident that happened in the movie 72 Tenants of Prosperity that shown last year is true that the movie talk about life on this Sai Yeung Choi Street and there’s people throwing acid fluid from rooftop. Really very dangerous.

    Awesome. If Penang do have such street, it sure fail, because it’s too hot here. Perhaps they could make an roof for it, then it will be damn awesome. Haha. Mong Kok rocks to the max man!

  • Sotong Bakar, Bing Tang Hu Lao, Potato Roll in Jonker Walk, Malacca

    Sotong Bakar, Bing Tang Hu Lao, Potato Roll in Jonker Walk, Malacca

    As you know, I went to Malacca few weeks back, to look for some nice Malacca food and to check out the historical site. One of the famous attraction in Malacca is Jonker Walk, the famous night market on the weekend.

    First up I want to talk about something I DISLIKE at the Jonker Walk which is the Sotong Bakar because it’s cost freaking RM10!!! The person somemore told me it’s freshly BBQ and it’s crispy but somehow it’s not crispy at all and it’s hard to bite. At first she said shi in Mandarin I thought is RM4, but actually she was saying 10. I have a little bit not satisfied with the price so I just pay and try, but somehow it’s just nothing special. No wonder so little people visit the stall. Don’t try it. It’s expensive!

    There also have taiwanese sausage but so-so only when compare to the one in Kuala Lumpur.

    Nice to see that there’s Bing Tang Hu Lao, a Chinese-style candy sold at there. It’s fruit dip into to sweet and it’s hardened. Not bad.

    The best street food that I found on the Jonker Walk is this potato springy roll. It’s actually came from a piece of potato and then slowly sliced into this shaped then deep fried into crisp condition. Then topped with sauce like mayonaise, chili sauce or powder, cheese and more. It’s just simply delicious. I can’t find it in Penang nor Kuala Lumpur’s night market yet.

    Well, if were to check the variety of street food in Jonker Walk, then unfortunately I have to say there’s not awesomely much, but the number of food still can fill up your stomach. There’s hawker stall at one end too. =)

  • Hong Kong: Walkaround Western Market, Sheung Wan and to North Point

    Hong Kong: Walkaround Western Market, Sheung Wan and to North Point

    The last part, we talked about walking on the morning wet market and taking the tram in Hong Kong, this time I’ll bring you to where I went after alighting from the tram. I went to the Western Market located at Shueng Wan. Sheung Wan was known to me as taking the ferry to Macau, I went there like 4 years back, but this year we didn’t go to Macau, we just check out the area around Sheung Wan.

    Sheung Wan is pretty like old-Hong Kong, the older side of the modern city yet bringing contemporary and heritage feel, mix together.

    Western Market that we went is actually a tourist attraction more than a local attraction, it’s something like Kuala Lumpur’s Central Market, selling art and craft stuff, it’s a market that’s left by the British colony long ago in Hong Kong. Since we have never been there before, I suggested to dad to check out the place, there’s no need entrance fee.

    Comparing to our Malaysia Central Market, I have to salute their preservation work and the way the maintain the place. It’s very nice and clean. There’s a feeling of being in Europe once step in, but then the stuffs selling at there is not cool, it’s just souvinirs, arts and crafts. There’s some nice restaurant though.

    First thing I went in was to look for a toilet because the feeling was there after sitting in the tram for approximately 45 minutes. Haha. You know I have something for heritage building, walking on the stairs, into the toilet makes me feels like travelling to the past. It’s cool, it’s fun.

    The place is packet on the upstairs with stalls and shops and the lobby is pretty spacious. The temperature outside is cold already, inside is even colder because of air-conditioned.


    Nice British’s telephone booth.

    Just spent a little while inside, the main thing was looking for toilet and wasting time, then we went out to look for breakfast around Sheung Wan area, at the same time waiting for brother to arrive in Hong Kong.

    We walk, walk walk, Actually we never really been around this area before, explore and see. We only went to sit the ferry before at the Shun Tak Centre.

    This side of Hong Kong is rather different from place like Central, Causeway Bay, Mong Kok and Tsim Sha Tsui, it’s quite quiet in the morning. Although it’s “quiet”, there’s still people walking here and there on the street, the population in Hong Kong is like 8million people and it’s so dense.

    Inspired by DigitalRev, now I like taking photos of construction site. =D

    After breakfast at a don’t know what Hong Kong’s cafe, we went back to meet my brother at the hotel. We didn’t take the tram though because of the slowness, instead we took the MTR.

    45 minutes and less than 15 minutes ride are so much different.

    And check out the wall on the MTR tunnel. Pretty cool huh?

    More Hong Kong posts are coming, stay tune! =) I misses Hong Kong now.

  • Hong Kong: Morning Walk at North Point Wet Market and Tram to Western Market

    Hong Kong: Morning Walk at North Point Wet Market and Tram to Western Market

    Hello people, after checking out Malacca, today I want to bring you to Hong Kong. Yeah, it’s one of the awesome city in East Asia, also with the title of New York of Asia, I not sure is there such description or not, but I’ll call it that. Haha.

    “Hong Kong, City Where Asian’s Dreams Are Made Of.”

    So during my stay in Hong Kong, instead of picking a accomodation at a crowded area like Mongkok, Kowloon, Central, we stayed at a place call North Point, a little bit far from the CBD and shopping area and is on the Hong Kong island, but it’s still a good stay with nice Hong Kong culture around for us to check out and nice sea view from the hotel too. It’s Hotel Ibis, North Point that I and my family spent our nights at.

    It’s only about RM200 per night. Transportation is not a problem because the North Point MTR subway station is just right beside the hotel and a few minutes walk can reach the tram line which connects to downtown Hong Kong. Before talking about tram, I want to bring you on a morning walk, about 13 degree celcius, foggy a bit to the wet market located right behind our hotel.


    It says, Apple has been successfully jailbroken, free games and ringtones. Nice to see that it’s handwritten in nice Chinese font instead of computer printed.

    A visit to the wet market was accident because we didn’t plan the trip. In fact, the whole trip in Hong Kong was just spontaneously, what came in mind then the place was where we went. =D

    Although it’s far from the Hong Kong busy area like Central district, Causway Bay, Mongkok, yet it’s still have rich Hong Kong culture, it’s people everywhere! Hong Kong has a 8million people population and it’s a super dense city. It’s just people everywhere, shops everywhere and it’s always that happening at every corner. I kinda like this, because it won’t get quiet.

    Probably perhaps the weather is good there, chilling, low temperature, so that people will come out for walk.

    The wet market was really wet in that morning because of there’s drizzle in early morning, but it’s still OK to walk along, seeing old Hong Kees shopping for clothing, food, vegetables, food.

    Philipino and Indonesian maids are everywhere too! They roam freely around the market preparing to serve the home. B

    It’s nothing same like Malaysia, it’s not really a market building but it’s a street, with stalls, selling clothing, food, vegetable and some other little  stuff.

    After walking on the short wet market, we headed to the tramline on King’s Road to take the tram to Western Market.

    Brother was on a early flight this day from Singapore. While waiting for his arrival, we went to check out Western Market and enjoy the tramline and morning city view.

    King’s Road, 英皇道 is actually the main road at this area. Shops, tramline, buses line are all on this road. It’s more happenings when comparing to the other side.

    Tramline are in the middle of the wide car way. In Hong Kong, they called the tram as Ding Ding Cher 丁丁車 (literally means ding ding car) because of the “ding ding” bell sound that the tram driver makes when arriving a stop or to warn the traffic in front. Pretty cute. “I wanna sit ding ding cher!”

    It’s really nice to see that they still preserved the tram until today with a good service. Although there’s no AC yet, it’s clean and maintained well. A ride of the tram cost only 2HK$,
    not even RM1 and the rate is same no matter how far you go. Awesome! Really a cost saver transportation, just that they are slow a little bit, the speed I mean.


    Cleaner cleaning the grilled. Very good.


    Buses and red taxies. New York is yellow cab and Hong Kong is red cab. Malaysia, colourful cab. =.=


    Be aware that different tram goes to different places. So check out the board about where it’s going then hop on. Flat rate HK$2 for adult and HK$1 for children. Cheap!


    There’s quite little seats up there and luckily I found one by the back windows which allow me to take a nice view of the moving scenery of the nice city.


    It’s quite a long journey, takes about 45 minutes to reach the Western Market from North Point.


    I believe this is somewhere near Causeway Bay.


    Central, the CBD area.


    Hello! Reached Western Market’s stop.

    A nice tram ride I had but if you are busy and want to be fast, MTR is for you. MTR takes less than 15 minuts and this takes about 45 minutes. HAHA. Price also different a lot.

    Next up, I will share about Western Market and around the place. =)

  • Nice Yam Chicken Rice Ball at Famosa Chicken Rice Ball

    Nice Yam Chicken Rice Ball at Famosa Chicken Rice Ball

    I can’t resist myself not to write another chicken rice ball post for you. Haha. After sharing the not-so-nice chicken rice ball just now, I now want to share with you a better chicken rice ball at Famosa Chicken Rice Ball, which is another place that serve the ball rice on Jonker Walk,


    Hueisean say hello! =)

    Hueisean kept telling me about some brown colour chicken rice ball which turned out to be the Yam Rice Ball, only served at this Famosa Chicken Rice Ball. This place is not as well-known as the long-time Chung Wah and Hoe Kee and just came in to business like last decade. It’s located in the middle of Jonker Walk and do attracted quite many customers.

    We were just there to try the Yam Rice Ball and surprisingly it’s quite nice despite some bad review from the Internet. Pricing is quite reasonable in my opinion, starting from RM4.50 per set. Besides chicken rice ball, they do serves many other dishes too.

    If you like yam rice, you can try out this place for the yam rice ball instead of chicken rice ball. Yum yum. There’s so many chicken rice ball shop in Malacca, why just stick to one?

    [googlemaps https://maps.google.com.my/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=215278323465761497274.000469feb8850ec72b675&ll=2.197049,102.247589&spn=0.005146,0.006866&z=17&iwloc=00049efbcc0417009718d&output=embed&w=640&h=480]

    28 Jalan Hang Kasturi
    Melaka, Malacca
    06-2860121
    chickenriceball.com

  • Malacca Trip: Tang House, A Good and Cheap Guesthosue

    Malacca Trip: Tang House, A Good and Cheap Guesthosue

    On my visit to Malacca few weeks there, I spent a night at Tang House. I found it throught Googling and the rate is quite cheap and affordable in my opinion. The best of all is it’s located at the end of Jonker Walk and the room is pretty clean.

    I booked the room a month in advance via email and they put my name in the list. A room for 2 is only RM55. Don’t expect TV or big bed, it’s just 2 bed, air conditioned and free WIFI. =) Free wifi is awesome as nowadays big hotel don’t even provide free wifi.

    Although there’s no attached bathroom in the room like hotel, there’s 2 bathroom on the upper floor which is clean and have water heater. The Tang’s family who run the guesthouse was kind and lend us 2 towels because we’ve forgotten to bring along.

    There’s no free breakfast but they do prepare you some light meal at an affordable price. I didn’t eat out at there though.

    There’s parking behind the hotel and the uncle collect RM2 per day parking. Be aware that if you park on the weekend, you are unable to move your car until midnight because the road is close for the Jonker Walk night market.

    Head to the website for more information. =)

  • Malacca Trip: The Famous Night Market, Jonker Walk a.k.a. Jalan Hang Jebat

    Malacca Trip: The Famous Night Market, Jonker Walk a.k.a. Jalan Hang Jebat

    When people talk about Malacca, people talk about Jonker Walk. Jonker Walk is one of the icon of Malacca. So basically what is Jonker Walk? It’s a street which has various name, Jalan Hang Jebat, Jonker Street, Jonker Walk, but commonly known as Jonker Walk that sells souvinirs, antique and food, and also turns into crowded night market on the weekend.

    The building on this street are old and have heritage feel and look. I like old building and places, they are real beautiful when compare to today’s architecture because olden’s day art were more complicated, more hard work which is different from today lazy minimaism art.

    Jonker Street is quiet in the afternoon but when it comes to night on the weekend, the place turns into a crowded and most happenings place in Malacca. It’s a night market, selling street food, souvinirs, toys, clothing and lots more.

    I actually came here before like when I was 13-14 years old but I can’t really recall that much about the place until I revisited a few weeks back. I was amaze by the crowds and how the people run this place. It isn’t like any places in Penang. It’s cool, it’s happening, it’s fun and there’s lots of food.

    Local, other states people, tourist, Singaporean, all came to this place in the weekend. One thing that I wish is that it could be as long as the Taman Connaught’s night market, but nevertheless, it’s awesome and I feel it’s better because of the heritage feeling of the place.

    Besides night market and stalls, you can locate quite a number of heritage-style restaurant along the Jonker Walk, catering western dishes and local dishes. Yum yum.

     


    Delicious potato springy crispy thing. I like this very much! Various sauce and topping.

    I am more into street food and local food so I didn’t really check out the restaurants at there. Street food are cool enough like taiwan sausaages, potato roll, bubble tea and more are damn awesome!


    Breaking coconut with one-finger. I didn’t check it out, it’s just another marketing method for some Chinese medicine.


    Girlfriend with beautiful light up of Jonker Walk.


    In one of the boutique. <3


    Sucks, DON’T EAT THIS. IT’S FREAKING RM10 AND NOT DELICIOUS AT ALL.

    I am not defaming the sotong bakar, but it’s really very expensive with a small pack and it’s nothing special at all. It’s freaking RM10!


    Jonker88. A nice restaurant service some good Malacca food, but crowded all the time and not very clean cause we saw a rat ran over. Haha.


    Another nice potato roll stall.


    Nice little park in the middle of the street.

    The street is about half kilometre and we spent 3 hours at there, I am wondering how we spent so long at there. Haha. There’s some sort of high school student cultural performance at there, after walking tiringly, we sat down to check out what’s happening on the stage. When I see them perform, I misses my high school life, awhhh.

    Well, this is a nice place and must-visit place in Malacca during the weekend, remember it’s only available on the weekend. Wear lightly as it’s pretty warm at night and perspiration may break out of your pore. Indulge yourself with the yummy street food and some shopping. =)

    Penang, please make some place like this. It’s cool.

WP2Social Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com