Alex’s Blog

I had the opportunity to let my hair down (ok, I have super short hair, but that’s not the point) when I attended my department’s Christmas party in Parkroyal last Tuesday. But since so many “budding photographers” in my department have their own dSLR (even 1 guy with L lenses), I decided not to bring mine and just take some snapshots with my N95 instead.

Granted, there’s no way on earth a cameraphone’s teeny-tiny sensor can match a real camera (dSLR or even just a basic PnS) in terms of detail resolution, dynamic range and ISO noise performance. Nor do U get the experience and enjoyment of shooting with a dSLR on a cameraphone. But…

What I’m trying to say is that by shooting with a super-duper dSLR doesn’t automatically mean U will have great pictures. In these times when dSLRs are getting cheaper and cheaper, a lot of noobs/rich kids will just go out, buy one and go “Hey lookie here I got a dSLR and U are still using a stupid compact ha ha ha”. Same thing applies to those with super-duper L/gold-ring lenses or elite f/2.8 tele that looks down on kit lens users. It really pisses me off when these kids/rich guys who knows jack shite about photography or how a dSLR works comes showing off their gear, but with no good pictures to share, only under-exposed, framed like a donkey’s backside or worse still, super blur ones then they go asking “Eh how come my RM10,000 lens got IS/VR but the picture still blur har?”. Worst of all, some of these people don’t even know how shutter speed, aperature and exposure are all related. LMAO

So boys and girls, it doesn’t matter if some rich kid comes up to U and brags about his super elite gear U would have to sell an arm and a leg (or maybe all your limbs) to afford. Show them what U can do with your camera and shut them up. Remember, only gearheads talk about camera, photographers talk about the pictures. Ken Rockwell also sort of talks about this in his Seven Levels of Photographers and The Two Kinds of Photographers articles he wrote a long time ago. Although some of his articles on Nikon’s greatness is so far fetched, I have to admit I do agree with him on both articles.

I also have a great story about a hammer and a bridge, but let’s save that for another day when I feel like ranting again.

Oh yeah…and Merry Christmas!

Last Saturday, I joined my Wifey and her friends on a firefly watch outing in Sungai Kerian near Nibong Tebal. There were a total of 11 of us who went in 3 cars. We met up at Autocity’s McDonald’s restaurant and as we were unsure of the way to the Sungai Kerian jetty, I was tasked as the navigator. Fortunately I had earlier entered our destination as a POI on my N95’s Garmin software.

We left Autocity at about 4:45pm and along the highway, it started to drizzle! Thank god, we were heading away from the clouds and sure enough the drizzle stopped when we finally reached the jetty at about 5pm.

As we were early, we wandered around the area, snapped some group photos and I finally had the chance to test out my less-than-24-hour-old brand new toy…:D

Soon, the tour operator arrived and gave us a quick briefing and told us to put on our life jackets.

He also told us to use the washroom if we had to. If not, we will have to hold it in for 2 hours, if not it’s freeshow for all in the open sea…LOL. After taking turns going to the washroom, we were on our way…

During the trip, the operator talked about the ecosystem of the river. He was speaking in Mandarin, and me and my Wifey being bananas (me being the bigger banana), we had to rely on her friends to translate for us.

The first item he mentioned was that there are man-made ponds of sort used to rear fish near the jetty.

If U watch closely in the picture above, there are small tree trunks used to build a structure to create the pond. But I was more interested in capturing the reflections of the tree and sky on the river instead.

The next thing we saw was a flock of egrets hanging around the mangrove trees. These are the same mangrove trees that fireflies hang around at night hoping to find a mating partner.

Another shot of the flock of egrets. Notice the huge pipes sticking out of the river. Those contraptions are used to suck water from the river into nearby ponds used to rear fish.

We also managed to catch a group of monkeys monkeying around on the other side of the river. This picture was heavily cropped from the original picture as we were on the other side of the river and the lens I have is not as telephoto as I wished it was. The power of 12.3 megapixels. HAHAHA!

Not long after that we passed by a fishing village by the river.

And we also got a glimpse of a guard dog swimming in the river. Cute as it may be, we were told that these guard dogs are not to be messed with. The moment U swim near the fishing village, the guard dogs will spring into action to protect their masters’ belongings.

Next up, a huge building built on top of the water. It houses, among others, a floating restaurant that tourists or anyone can go in to enjoy fresh seafood. We didn’t stop there though…

Then we left the river mouth and headed into the open sea. Luckily the sea was calm on that day and the ride was pretty smooth. After about 5 minutes or so, we arrived at one of the floating platforms used to rear fish.

It’s pretty huge and my guestimate is that it is at least 40*40 feet. The guide told us that each plank that we stepped on costs RM400!!!

Each “square” on the platform is used to rear different breed and size of fish. We were also told, each “square” is about RM20,000!!!

After spending about 20 minutes on the platform, the sun slowly began to set and we managed to catch a few great shots of it. It was pretty difficult trying to get a correct horizontal shot when U are sitting on a rocking boat, but here’s another shot that I managed to grab.

I love this shot as there is a mixture of golden sunlight reflecting on the clouds with blue skies on the side.

And soon after that, the sun was completely gone, and it was time to make our way home. We reached the mangrove trees we passed by earlier and by then it was completely dark with the moonlight being the only light to guide us. We did see a lot of fireflies, but my attempts to photograph them were not that successful. In reality, it was sort like a Christmas tree lit up but with tiny bulbs. But in my photographs they looked more like hotpixels rather than flickering fireflies.

We soon left the mangrove trees and were back on the jetty in no time. By then, it was already 8:30pm and all of us were starving. The guide asked us what we would like to have for dinner, we settled for seafood and were given a nearby recommendation.

We quickly made our orders and soon after that our “appetizer” came.

Boiled (I think) octopus. Served with chilli sauce with fine grounded nuts. We were hungry, so these were finished very very quickly.

Moments later, our rice and dishes arrived.

And we also ordered their speciality, crab porridge.

Divided equally, we payed RM17 each, not bad lah. The promfret itself was already RM48 if not mistaken.

After that we walked back to the jetty, bid farewell and went into our separate cars and headed home. An afternoon and night well spent.

For more information on the firefly watch and other exciting activities operated by our tour guide, check out the website of the tour operator at http://www.amazingplanner.com.my/.

U can also see some other shots from this outing on my earlier post below.

This is what’s left in my el cheapo drybox…

Yesterday we went over to Juru Autocity to try out this place that was recommended by my Wifey’s colleague - Chicago Rib House. We already made reservations earlier, and right about half past noon, the guy called to ask if we were still coming. We thought “wah, so many people ar?”. We arrived about 15 minutes later and to our surprise, the whole restaurant was empty except for a table that had just finished their lunch! Oh no…things don’t look good.

Anyways, we were greeted politely and ushered to a corner table as requested by my Wifey. We looked through the menu and made our orders.

First item to arrive was the Buffalo Wings. 8 pieces of yummy chicken served with celery sticks.

The wings were quite good and it even came with a small portion of garden salad beneath the wings. The sauce was ok, but I would have preferred it if it was a little more spicy.

Then our main courses came…

Babyback ribs in orginal BBQ sauce. Really really delicious, and the meat was very really very tender. One of the best babyback ribs I have tasted so far. Comparisons include TR (not the ones in Malaysia LOL) and also the famous Ribs restaurant in Penang, so U know I’m not kidding when I said the meat is really tender and the BBQ sauce is good!

Beef ribs in original BBQ sauce. The portion was a little smaller than I had expected, and this costs more than the babyback ribs. Nevertheless, the meat is juicy and tender. Same sauce as the babyback ribs, so it’s delicious.

And to balance our consumption of meat, we decided to order 2 plates of different fish to balance it all up.

The first one is Blackened Catch. A big piece of grilled fish fillet. I’m not sure what they use for the sauce, but added with a tinge of lemon, nice!

And finally, the good old New England Fish ‘n Chips. Nothing much to say I guess, it’s just fish ‘n chips.

BTW, all main courses comes with coleslaw and a choice of another side dish. U can choose from chips, mashed potato, brocolli or another serving of coleslaw (see the Blackened Catch above :P).

Total damage was about RM140 including service charge and taxes, but we had a sticker that entitled us to 10% off all food and drinks. Speaking of drinks, we ordered 2 bottles of mineral water only. Haha.

Anyways, when we left the place, there was only another group of people were in the restaurant. I’m not sure if times are so bad, or maybe it’s because of the no-so-good-location in Autocity. BTW, the restaurant is just besides McDonalds.

If U are in the appetite for ribs (doesn’t matter if it is pork or beef), give this place a try. I know I’ll be back for its set lunch at only RM19.90 on weekdays, but let’s save that for another day.

Last weekend, we made a quick getaway to Ipoh for a short 2D1N vacation cum Wifey’s birthday treat. This is actually the first time baby had an outstation trip, and a funny thing is that his bag of clothes was even bigger than the bag my Wifey and I shared. We also had a backpack full of his “essential” items…milk, hot water, diapers… Needless to say, I don’t have enough hands to carry my dLSR bag, so I ended up bringing my compact (or more precisely, my Canon 860 IS) for the trip.

We started the journey around 5:30am from Penang, taking a slow and relaxing drive. We reached Ipoh around 7:30am, met up with my Wifey’s uncle and aunty, and headed straight to our first “objective”, the famous Foh San restaurant for Dim Sum…

Both my Wifey and my colleagues recommended this place to us when we told them that we were going to Ipoh for a holiday. According to them, this restaurant serves the best Dim Sum and believe it or not, it even has its own website! We arrived at about 8am or so….and U wouldn’t believe the crowd…

We had to wait a good 15 minutes before we were able to get ourselves a table. Finally, we were able to taste “Ipoh’s best Dim Sum”. (Sorry no pics, baby was cranky! :P) So how was it? All of us agreed that it was just OK, our regular Dim Sum place in Ipoh definitely IS better (more on that later). So it was actually quite a let down as this place was recommended by quite a few people. By the way, the restaurant is also selling Mooncakes now as the Lantern Festival / 8th Lunar Month is just round the corner.

With our stomachs full, we were now ready for our next destination. But wait! We don’t have a next destination! It was only about 10am or so, we couldn’t check into our hotel yet, and we had nowhere to go. Then, we remembered about this Hot Springs place in Perak, Sungai Klah Hot Springs to be exact, but we had no idea how to get there or how far away it was from Ipoh. So I decided to whip out my N95, launched Garmin and did a search. Hmm…Sungai Klah Hot Springs, 77km to destination. It was a go then.

We reached the place at about 11am, thanks to the GPS. This was the first time I took a gamble on the N95 GPS and Garmin software, because we had never relied solely on the GPS for any of our previous trips. The entrance to the resort was quite bland, there wasn’t even any signage on the walls or anything like that. Just a gate and a barrier with a policeman. Weired. But it was definitely the right place as it was quite packed, being a weekend and school holidays just started. Entry tickets are RM10 for adults and RM8 for children. Baby (and stroller) is free.

Just right after the entrance, the first attraction was the Hot Springs Pool.

The water was pretty hot at first, but after awhile, we got used to it. Pushed the baby stroller in (oklah, long time didn’t wash the stroller wheels :D), snap snap a few pics, and we were off…

The next pool was about 5 minutes walk away…

This one was more packed compared to the 1st pool. Must be because of the giant Octopus that the kids were attracted to. LOL…

There was also a mini man-made waterfall…BTW, unlike the earlier Hot Springs Pool, this pool uses ordinary water…

Next up…no prizes for guessing what this dude is doing…

No, seriously, the egg boiling place is just next to where to guy is seated, in a separate artificial pond.

The water temperature in this hot spring can reach a scorching 90C I was told. Best not to let the kids put the eggs in or play around the area.

Last on the way out, is the Therapy Park (whatever that is…)

We spent about an hour or so only in the Hot Springs resort. It would have been more worth it if we had at least half a day or so to get wet. BTW, the resort also has some villas for rent if U want to spend the night there, and there is even a campsite for the more adventurous people. We left at about 12:30pm, and headed straight back to Ipoh for lunch…

*TO BE CONTINUED*

We saw this open air semi-restaurant semi-hangout place in Gurney Drive for quite a while back but never had the chance to try it out because of a few reasons; that road is jam packed on weekends, especially on Saturday nights and parking is a problem around that area. We were also quite curious about what they served as the place was called “Mr. Pot”, but we never saw any pots on the tables every time we drove by. So anyways, last weekend we finally got to try it out for lunch…

Hmmm…the menu is half western and half oriental, and I didn’t manage to find any dish that is served in a pot. Anyways, after looking at the menu we decided what we wanted for lunch and waited patiently. That place had free Wi-Fi so the wait didn’t seem too long…

The first dish to arrive (after the drinks of course) was toast with half-boiled eggs. I didn’t take any picture of that cos if U have access to the Internet, U’d know what regualr toasts and half-boiled eggs look like. Then came another type of toast, this time cheese was put in the middle of 2 slices of bread and toasted, and it was served with kaya.

Some of the toast didnt have cheese in between them, so I don’t didn’t really like it. Boo…

My wife ordered American Breakfast, toast with sausages, egg, ham and beans. Nothing much to write about I guess…

The fried blackpepper Udon was next, this time it tasted ok. Still, nothing special.

Next came my belacan friend rice with grilled chicken.

Again, nothing spectacular. Actually, the chicken didn’t really taste very good, too oily for my liking.

And lastly, came the Nasi Lemak…

As expected, just ordinary. I’ve tasted much much better (and cheaper) ones.

The total bill came out to RM53 for 4 people (but only 2 drinks). So overall, I guess this is more of a hangout place, rather than a place to get good food. Sort of like a localized Starbucks or Coffeebean rather than a coffeeshop.

Last weekend, we went to this new restaurant in Paya Terubong for some seafood. I was told that the restaurant is not actually “new”, as it was formerly quite a famous place deeper in Paya Terubong township but had shifted to this new location.

We reached the place quite early at about 6:30pm as we wanted to avoid the crowd, and was delighted as we managed to get a good table by the side as it was easier to park the stroller there. By 7pm, people were starting to come in and the place was packed shortly after that.

The choice of fresh seafood on display was not really a lot to begin with compared to other seafood restaurants, but at the same time, we managed to order what we wanted.

Besides ordering the seafood cooked in the usual styles, there was also the option of ikan panggang (grilled fish, or anything else for that matter).

Service was very very fast, even with the 9 dishes that we ordered for 6 people. It took about 20 minutes or so before the first dish was served…

Some lala-ish thiggy cooked in spring onion and ginger (yes, I don’t know what’s it called in English :P) And before U know it, the next dish arrived as well…

Fried prawn fritters…nothing really to write about them, they just tastes like normal prawn fritters. I guess they are all the same.

The ikan panggang was the next to arrive at the table, and I really liked the lemon they squeezed ontop of it. The meat of the fish was also not too hard like the typical fish that is grilled for too long. It was also not too dry, probably because of the lemon juice. One of my favourite dishes for the night. Another fish cooked in soya sauce came next, but I forgot to take a picture of it as there were already too many dishes on the table! *Slaps forehead*

Shortly after that, the special homemade fried beancurd was next. Very nice texture for the beancurd. Also, the taste was just right, not tasteless nor too salty as I find from some homemade beancurd.

Then came these 3 dishes at once…

I didn’t taste the blackpepper crab as I know it was going to be messy eating with my hands, but the fish in special sause was excellent. It was cooked with chinese mushrooms and ginger and the gravy was very nice. The homemade fishball soup was also very good, especially the soup. The fishballs didn’t really taste like fishballs at all, they had a very unique rough texture and it tasted a bit sweet also. Something different for a change.

There was also another dish but I didn’t take a picture of it as it was a very common dish; steamed lady’s fingers in soya sauce. Nothing much to write about, but it was pretty strage it was the last dish to arrive as it was also the easiest dish to prepare…weired…

Total bill came up to RM171 for 6 adults (including drinks). About average for seafood in Penang island I would say. And I would also say there are better seafood restaurants in Penang.

While in KL last week, I had the opportunity to eat out at the much hyped Saisaki Japanese Buffet Restaurant in Wisma UOA II. We had initially planned to have the buffet on Sunday, which was coincidentally Father’s Day, and as I had expected, the restaurant was fully booked for lunch AND dinner. Bummer. Nothing much we could do, but to make reservations for dinner the next day.

I was told dinner starts at 6:30pm, so we did like what kampung Penang boys would do, arrive early. Lo and behold, there was already a group of 80 or so Japanese tourist queuing up at the entrance to the restaurant at about 6:25pm.

After managing to get through the crowd, my boss and I were ushered to our table. My boss sat down but I went to “tour” the whole restaurant to see what they had to offer.

There was about 4 rows of Japanese (and some oriental) dishes and 1 heck of a long sushi bar. (I only managed to take a picture of 1 of the rows as after shooting the sushi bar, a waiter literally ran up to me and told me no photos allowed. DOH!) No doubt, this has to be the widest spread I have seen for a Japanese buffet. The sashimi counter had the usual salmon, tuna and cod on 1 side and another side had another 3 types of raw fish which I cannot recall anymore. Heck I am getting old. I had counted that they had 4 types of Unagi and 4 types of cod, cooked in different sauces/style, not something U can see at any Japanese buffet in Penang, not even Kampachi.

So I grabbed a plate, filled it up with food and headed back to my table to take a picture of it.

My boss also told me that while I was gone, the waiter came and put down 2 green teas and also 2 complimentary baked-cheese oyster.

Wah…not bad at all. Certainly living up to its hype from my Penang colleagues about this place.

So after much chit-chatting with my boss while enjoying the food, I was really quite full. But heck, U don’t go to a buffet if U can’t manage 2nd helpings. So off again I went, this time taking the exotic stuff instead of the usual offerings in Japanese buffets.

This round I took a piece of grilled live eel (sounds cruel doesn’t it?), some squid sashimi, a soft-shell crab and a piece of Ikura sushi. I also need to mention that there were 3 types of soup to choose from; the usual Miso soup, some spicy salmon soup and shark’s fin soup. I opted for the shark’s fin soup, but it was below par. Should have tried the spicy salmon soup…

As for desert, well, it was dissapointing. Just regular ice-cream (there was green tea and yam flavour though), aloe vera in syrup and some cakes. Nothing much to write home about in this department.

So how much was the damage? RM55++. Would I return again? You bet I would.

Restaurant Saisaki - Japanese Buffet
Unit No 1-9, 1st Floor,
Wisma UOA II,
No. 21, Jalan Pinang,
50450 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 603-2166 3728
Operation Hours: Lunch 12.00pm - 2.30pm, Dinner 6.00pm - 10.30pm