Enjoy a lake cruise from a shopping mall

I went to an unusual shopping mall near Kuala Lumpur last weekend. Its called the Mines and it is built over a disused tin mining pond. It's new, huge, noisy and colourful.

A river runs through the building which leads into a huge lake beyond the shopping complex. It's quite a delightful experience dining at the little restaurants that line its banks while watching the boats cruising by.
This shopping complex has an unusually large number of Japanese shops and eating places.

For $7 you can take a boat ride down the river and cruise around the lake. During the daytime, the rides are very popular among families with young children and overseas visitors. It must be quite a romantic ride under the stars at night.

The last time I was here many years ago, the river was teaming with small catfish. How they have grown! I would be terrified to swim in the lake with such huge monsters in the water.

Visit of 3 experts from ACAP

Yesterday was the 15th day of the 8th month of the Lunar Calender. In the past the Chinese would celebrate the Mid Autumn Festival with a lavish feast with family members and then sip tea and enjoy mooncakes and other delicacies under the full autumn moon. Children would parade the streets with lighted lanterns of various shapes and sizes. It good to see that the tradition is still alive in these modern times.

All the famous bakeries and large hotels are selling their brands of mooncakes. Many have ventured beyond the traditional lotus and egg yolk filling to other odd combinations. Even Hotel Nikko has set up a stall at the Mid Valley MegaMall to promote their cakes.

I met up with 3 important experts from ACAP for dinner. We were so busy eating that I forgot to take photos during the meal. However as the night was still young and the moon exceptionally bright that night, we took a slow drive to Kuala Lumpur to view the Petronas Twin Towers.

Posing with old friends outside the Shah Village Hotel. The experts will be leaving for Kuching and Bintulu in Sarawak the next day to visit the new EANET monitoring sites. They will be welcomed by our colleagues in East Malaysia and local university experts.

Best value white coffee

Hi! Shall we enjoy a cup of coffee? Locals will tell you that the best white coffee can be found at the railway station in the tiny town of Kluang in Johore. However KLites don't have to worry as the owner has set up a branch in the Ikano Shopping Center. Now you can spend a morning shopping at the Curve and then enjoy Kluang white coffee in air conditioned comfort.
The shop is normally crowded with young singles and couples who need a caffeine fix and some local fare. Then there are the retirees who wish enjoy a cuppa good quality coffee but are reluctant to pay the exorbitant prices charged at Starbucks and other hip joints.
Their specialty? Strong flavorful coffee naturally. Visit the shop to check out the rest of their menu. A glass of iced coffee and a plate of nasi lemak with 2 large pieces of fried chicken costs under RM15 ($5).
One of the most popular items on the menu is the toasted bread spread with butter and kaya (creamy egg jam). Simply yummy!

Visited Oz land again

Spring is in the air. Well, at least in the Southern Hemisphere. This will be a long blog as I've lots of pictures from my recent trip to Adelaide and Melbourne to share.
Took lots of pictures of this cherry tree as it reminded me of the Sakura season in Japan. Miss the lovely spring blossoms in Niigata and friends at ADORC oops I mean ACAP

Lavender is my favourite flower. I like to keep a handful of dried flowers in my coat pocket so I can smell their fragrance whenever I take my hand out of my pocket.

Even the pine trees are in bloom on this fine Spring day. The mix of cones and yellow flowers look so pretty.

Free transport is available around the city by tram or bus. It's so convenient. The new trams in Adelaide look sleek and colourful.

We went to the Farmer's Market for breakfast and to shop for organic home-grown products. Bought organic brocolli and pears which seem to taste much sweeter than the ones bought from Chinatown market. They have organic wine too.
Spent one lazy morning pottering around the Torrens River near the University of Adelaide. The view from the riverbank is so serene.
The black swans are extremely friendly. If you are in a paddle boat in the river they will come right up to you for food.
Unfortunately this one got nothing as I forgot to bring along some bread. It appears that this very tame pelikan bird is used to posing with humans. Hope he is not expecting food too.
During the weekend we went to our favourite beach in Glenelg with my daughter and niece to eat their famous fish and chips.
From Adelaide, we had only 2 days left in Melbourne. So much to see and do but so little time. We decided to catch the free Melbourne City Tourist shuttle for a quick tour of the city before the weather set in. I need to stay at least a week to explore all the interesting places in Inner Melbourne alone.
Melbourne Visitor Centre at Federation Square. The staff were extremely helpful when I asked for help to plan my trip to Ayers Rock next year. Friends from Japan are welcome to join our group for this adventure.
The Melbourne skyline viewed from the casino would have looked even more spectacular at night but it was too cold, wet and windy for us to venture out after dark.

Innovative architecture blended well with the surroundings. A very creative mix of attractive buildings here especially the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. I especially liked this fierce looking snake creature.
The famous Crown Casino where fortunes are made and lost. Alas there was no time for me to try my luck.
I would have loved to experience the awesome view of Melbourne from the Southern Hemisphere's highest viewing platform, the Eureka Skydeck. but hubby (who is afraid of heights) declined. It's a glass cube that projects 3 meters out from the building 88 levels up.
An interesting building near the Skydeck88. Golden bees on the wall of a building. What will those designers come up with next?
The famous Flinders Street Station....probably one of the busiest transportation stations in Melbourne. I love the architecture.
And these impressive looking buildings which blended so well with the modern ones.
While waiting for the rain to stop, I took some shots of the Forum Theater.
And this wonderful old church in Southern Cross. There are many churches and older buildings in Melbourne which are well preserved. I noticed many had female figures sitting on top of the buildings. Interesting!
Even the office buildings have a majestic frontage although the interior is probably very modern.
After a long and tiring walk around the various precincts, it's time to enjoy the delicious food. There is a wide choice of Asian food along Swanston Street in particular the Chinatown area.

This is my favourite restaurant serving delicious Vietnamese beefball noodle soup. It's particularly good eaten with their chilli paste. Apparently President Clinton took 2 bowls!

Fishing in the South China Sea

Went fishing last week at a kelong off the east coast of Johore. A kelong is a wooden structure built over the water which provides shelter for anglers like me who wish to fish day and night on a relatively stable platform. It looks small from a distance but is actually quite a huge structure.

It was only a 15 minute boat ride if you travel by speedboat but if you take of one these bigger boats, it takes about 40 minutes from the jetty to the kelong.

The sunrise was breathtaking when viewed off the deck. Across the horizon is Pulau Sibu or Sibu Island, a very popular tourist resort with the Singaporeans.

They had pictures of previous visitors with their big catches displayed on the notice boards in the kelong. I'm wishing that my photo will be included at the end of the visit.

Did I mention that the facilities are very basic? The toilets are just holes that lead into the sea. There are areas for dining, games, and a TV lounge for those who don't fancy fishing but are there to enjoy the fresh marine air and food with family members.

For the rest of us, we didn't have time for TV, mahjong or sleeping. We were outside fishing day and night....until our arms ache from holding the fishing line, not hauling in fish.

We were given 4 meals a day including supper, and fresh fish was on the menu in every main meal. Coffee and tea were available all day. I could use my handphone but unfortunately could not connect to Internet. Anyway it's a good place to catch up on my reading. Some lazy anglers spent their time sleeping in the shade while waiting for the big fish to take the bait.

Others preferred to fish in the shade wearing fashionable attire. It looked difficult to fish wearing high heels but surprisingly she managed to catch a fish!

I caught a bucket of small fishes and a huge squid. Sorry, no pictures of the squid as it was caught at night. As for this little fella, it was returned to the sea to grow bigger for my next visit.

World Cup fever

I'm tired, lacking sleep, irritable and partly dysfunctional. The TV is tuned on the sports channel continuously and the buzz of vuvuzelas is haunting me day and night. All other programmes are put on hold until the FIFA World Cup 2010 season is over.

It got so intense that Australia had to change their Prime Minister when the Australian team crashed out and were sent home. Now the England team is in disgrace and their fans went on a wild drinking spree to drown their sorrows. Good for beer sales though.

Some of us are hoping that Japan will make history tonight in their match with Paraguay and hence march into the knockout stage. Japan is the only Asian team left. Keisuke Honda, our hopes are on you.