vkeong loves good food, travel and photography!
Archive for June, 2006
Batu Ferringhi and Park Royal Hotel
Jun 25th
Last Sunday was a rare sunny and hot day. Rare because it rained every single day before that for the past week. Siang Leng and I went to Batu Ferringi to spend the afternoon there. It was our second visit in a year, nothing much changed in that area.
The skyline that day.. taken around 5.30pm. Before that the sun was so scorching hot, until we couldn’t even open our eyes completely!
Quite a lot of people thronged the beach that day, tourists(mostly from Middle East) were seen along the beach. Most of them were waiting for their turns to horse ride, jet ski, parachute and ride the banana boat.
The watersport’s owner must be smiling for the entire afternoon, the business was good! Look at the number of people riding the jet skis. The fishing boat shown is used to ferry people for fishing tours.
Walking along the beach we noticed this funny looking log. We found out that it was actually a broken steel pipe that was probably washed ashore by the waves.
Taking a closer look, there were mussels @ lala living on this thing, and there were plenty of them! They were alive and kept sticking their “tongue” out, very cute lol. We even took a video of them.
We have always entered the beach via Park Royal hotel. The staff does not really bother whether you are a hotel guest or not. They let you explore the hotel and use the facilities as you like such as the toilet, pool and ping pong table(with bats and ball) I think they do not mind too even if you swim in their swimming pool! So nice hor?
The pool view from the hotel lobby, right in front of the bar.
This is a very nice looking restaurant. I saw there was a small band that sings to dining guests, just like those shown in TV. They will bring along a big violin, guitar and sing those Mexican kind of songs lol.
Next week we will be back again! But this time we will travel to Pantai Kerachut instead, heard people say the beach is sandy white, less polluted and much less crowded 
Flame Steamboat Restaurant
Jun 24th
“Flame” Steamboat Restaurant is opened by a quite famous Hong Kong actor in the 90s, Mark Cheng. For those who don’t know him, maybe a cardboard version of himself could help to refresh your memory haha.
This is the guy who owns this chain of steamboat restaurants. The one we went to was located in Bayan Lepas area, in Krystal Point. You cannot miss it, it’s the corner shop. My brother actually went to this restaurant once with his Altera colleagues. He recommended it as it was quite unique, serving a lot of unheard soup bases. Normally when we go for steamboats, we only can choose from either Tomyam or Ching Thong right? Well “Flame” offers more than just two, they have Herbal Ching Thong, Ma Lat (spicy and numbing) and even Winter Melon Soup!
My sister’s birthday was coming soon(but already over if you are reading this lol) so we celebrated it here. We ordered the biggest set they have to offer @ RM168 called the “Prosperity Set”, but drinks were not included.
Peanuts, as starters. Let’s move on to see what ingredients were included in the set we had.
First, we have the free chilli sauce, lol. There are six containers here, but only 4 types to choose from actually. They were not very good, one was too sour while the other one was just normal sambal belacan. It would be much better if they had Thai chilli sauce.
Some pretty much normal looking vegetables, fresh nonetheless.
Kimchim mushroom, sui kao, yam paste slices, fish paste cubes(nice!) and some bean curd.
A few slices or pork meat, from the neck perhaps? So few that you can actually count the number of slices given, 6 only.
Even more fish balls, pastes and noodles. Common stuff.
Nicely arranged seafood, with a crab sitting on top of an array of prawns and cuttlefish. Speaking of which, I don’t remember eating any prawns that day, who finished it lol?!
This plate of mutton is actually a side-order. It was being offered as a new item and had a pretty good discount on it. It cost RM28 for a plate(usual price RM48) They were good and do not have the milky taste as disliked by some folks.
Tomyam soup base on the left, Herbal soup base on the right.
What we drank during the meal, Seasons’ Iced Lemon Tea. RM2.80 a can, what a rip off. I could’ve bought 3 cans with that price.. What to do, this is a rather high class restaurant..
Overall I would give this restaurant a 65/100 score. If you fancy steamboat with a variety of soup bases to choose from, along with some special ingredients, you could give it a try. The cheapest set comes at RM38 if I remember correctly which and serves 2, and RM68 for 4-6.
Bought a new camera!
Jun 20th
We finally did it! After months of planning Siang Leng and I shared the cost to purchase the DSLR camera we had always wanted, the Canon Powershot S3IS. This is like a dream come true for us We bought the camera from Fotocam in Perangin Mall. These are the breakdowns of our purchase:
- Camera – RM1600 (Retail price is RM1899)
- 4 x AA sized hahnel rechargeable batteries (inclusive of charger) – RM85
- 1GB SD memory card – RM99
- Original Canon carrying bag – RM35
- Anti scratch/fungus protection cover for the lense – RM136
- Total – RM1850
We walked around the Komtar area, entering at least 8 camera shops to search for the best deal. Some had a higher price for the camera, but cheaper accessories and vice versa. We wanted to purchase from Lam Loong, which sells the camera at RM1590, and gives free bag and tripod. But too bad their store had closed 
This is how the camera looks like. It weighs about half a kilogram.
The box and bag we bought.
Next day, we went to test out the camera’s photo taking abilites. Trying out the Super Macro feature using my mom’s orchid.
Check out the clarity of the drops of water!
Poor duck we had for lunch that day..
Bukit Mertajam, as seen from my house’s top floor. It was overcast at the time I took the photo.
A small village behind my house, also taken from the top floor. I love this camera!
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