vkeong loves good food, travel and photography!
Travel
Chinese New Year Cultural & Heritage Celebration 2010 @ Penang
Feb 26th
Penang’s Chinese New Year Cultural and Heritage Celebration was held in George Town last Saturday, which also marked the 7th day of Chinese New Year. Like the past years, the celebration would be held at the heart of the newly crowned UNESCO World Heritage Site which included Acheen Street, Armenian Street, Cannon Street, Ah Quee Street, Soo Hong Lane, Chulia Street and Kg. Kolam.
This year, the theme of the celebration took a turn to focus on moral values like Faithful, Filial piety, Etiquette and Justice – instead of featuring the 12 animal zodiac signs in the previous celebrations.
As such, the site of celebration was divided into 10 area and zones that featured a particular moral value or performance. For example Chulia Street was turned into Faithful Area, Lebuh Ah Quee into Etiquette Area, Cheah Kongsi into ‘The Old Penang Memory’, Penang Youth Centre into Wushu Stage etc.
The event was scheduled to start at 3pm but I was there early for parking as well as taking the opportunity to snap photos before people started to pour in. The main stage was at the start of Cannon Square where the brilliant Multi Cultural Traditional Welcoming Dance was performed.
The dance was performed beautifully and left the foreign tourists amazed, me included. I can confirm that from their expressions lol. Since I was at the side of the stage taking photos was difficult so I am showing the photos of the dancers taken at the back stage instead. As usual you can click on the photos to view them in full size.
I feel this photo got the 1Malaysia feel lol.
Chingay Performance at Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling, which was also the main area of the celebration.
Then a troop of lion dance entered the main area leading a parade of people upholding banners of moral values.
Following the parade were a group of ladies in cheongsam..
Which eventually led to Danny Law, chairman of Penang Tourism, Culture, Arts and Heritage Committee to officiate the opening ceremony at Area of Etiquette.
Ocean Seafood Village Restaurant @ Kota Kinabalu – Live Seafood Tanks!
Dec 24th
I just remembered these photos taken during my trip to Kota Kinabalu. It was a seafood dinner me and SL took together with KampungBoyCityGal at Ocean Village Seafood Restaurant (海王城海鮮村).
But before I continue, first let me just say that the food wasn’t spectacular and the price was very expensive, mainly because the restaurant is to cater to tourists mostly. I don’t think any Sabahan with the right mind would want to dine there and get chopped like us lol.
Then again, this post isn’t really about the food nor the prices. It’s about visiting perhaps one of the largest and most awesome seafood restaurant with the most live seafood on display in Malaysia. If you thought Bali Hai‘s display of seafood was impressive, wait till you see Ocean Seafood Village’s.
A large prawn statue greets the customers at the entrance of Ocean Seafood Village Restaurant.
Once we stepped into the restaurant, instead of making orders we made way to the live seafood area like kids who couldn’t wait to go to the playground. Our jaws literally dropped looking at the arrays of aquarium tanks housing the countless live seafood ranging from prawns to clams and fish.
The front rows mainly housed live prawns, mantis prawns at the middle, fishes at the back and clams on the side with crabs crawling around on the ground.
These red colored tiger prawns price increase ten bucks for every upsize: RM20 each for small, RM30 for medium and RM40 for large. Pricey? Oh yes, certainly. But do keep in mind that even the smallest prawns are at least twice the length of an average adult’s finger.
Yakisoba-pan (Japanese Fried Noodle Bun) @ Feng Jia Night Market
Oct 28th
It’s amazing how food ideas are derived sometimes – it might be a sudden inspiration, an experiment with different ingredients, a conversation among friends, or even from a comic! Japan’s culture has a huge influence on Taiwan, and food is one of it. A popular Japan manga (日式面包王) about the story of boy baking his way becoming the King of Bakery had readers actually replicating one of the sandwich featured in it.
Thus, Yakisoba-pan (炒面面包, Japanese Fried Noodle Bun) was born and proved to be a huge hit especially among the teenagers who are always looking out for new and interesting street food.
I am pretty sure that this noodle sandwich is no where to be found in Malaysia, as the idea of eating noodle in a bun alone is weird enough to drive any of us away lol.
But not for Taiwanese, they are exceptionally open to new food and drinks, which is why their night market always have something new to try. Ever wondered why their TV Shows on food seems to be never-ending? Click here to continue reading >
A day at Singapore Zoo
Oct 15th
When: 29th Aug 2009
Where: Singapore Zoo
How: Take bus 138 from Ang Mo Kio bus interchange
Admission Rates: Adult – $18, Child (3 to 12 years old) – $9
My first visit to Singapore Zoo was about 7-8 years ago when my brother was working there. I remembered that time I was still using a film camera, it rained and I bought a t-shirt printed with a pair of tiger eyes that glows in the dark lol.
My CF card containing the photos was mistakenly placed in water for more than 2 days, and these are the images I could salvage from that stupid mistake of mine.
