TJ in town - Vanilla Pod

TJ is a regular visitor to Singapore, and he is also the personal shopper for the girls, and the God father of Yee Mei's children.  He is usually here twice a day, and this time he was here alone, gf at home.  We went to Vanilla Pod for dinner, and planned to go to the night safari after dinner.  I was down with flu, but thank God that after medicine, I was better to make it for the dinner, though I had to skip the safari as I was really tired.

Yee Mei and Family

Vanilla Pod was tucked at far away in Mandai, near the Mandai Orchid Garden.  Yee Mei and her hubby had an argument which was the best way to take from Parkway Parade..haha

Finally we reached the place, after bringing TJ to visit most of the highway in Singapore...ECP, CTE, AYE, KPE and PIE.  Before we got into the restaurant, we "protected" ourselves with insect repellent!  Well prepared :-)

It was quite a far from the carpark, and we finally reached the restaurant, which i thought was not as grand as I have imagined it to be.  It was really very crowded at 1915Hr, and mostly were family or large group gathering.  Well, we had a big group too.  4 children and 5 adults :-)

Starter:  Looks good but i could not eat...Paul the Octopus, sorry, it should be squid.

 Caesar Salad.  Normal.

This was my choice of my main course, and I thought was the best among the mains that we have ordered.  Grilled Haked Fish.  The seasoning that they have used was special, and it gave the fish a very nice fragance.  The meat had its texture and not too soggy, and no fishy taste at all!

Beef Tenderlion.  Cooking style was good, but the beef was not of top quality.

Sea bass with Caviar.  I thought it was too plain.  Nothing special.

Lamb Racks.  We asked for medium, which turned out a bit too bloody for my liking.

Pizzas.  Well, better than your normal pizzas, with crispy base and fresh ingredient, but i still prefer those from Spizza.

Service was friendly, but a bit too slow.  We had to wait quite a while for the mains to be serve.  Thank God that they served the children's meal first to keep them quiet.  Price was reasonable.  Recommended for family and children are welcome. 


Vanilla Pod by Chef Peter
Address: 200 Mandai Lake Road Mandai Orchid Garden Singapore
Tel: +65 6368 0672

Mount Kinabau, Sabah August 2010 (part 3)

Last day in KK.  Were on the 1330Hr flight, so we still have the morning for some local breakfast and walk around.  I wanted to buy Old Town white coffee, but it was not open til 1000Hr, alas..

We went to Jalan Kaya for breakfast as Anson claimed that it sells the best Laksa in KK.

The fanous Ba Gu Teh which was only open at night.

Barber store:

the "Best" Laksa.  Taste normal to me, and more like a curry noodle.

This trip will always be remembered for the most difficult trip i have ever made to date.  It was a once a life time experience.  At the peak, you can experience and be awed at God's creation. 
Maybe i will try again next time, with more practice.

Some asked me "Why i paid money to torture myself?"  Well, i did have a thought of regret when I woke up at 0130HR with headache.  But as I think back about the trip, I have learnt and experienced a lot of things, some of them were:

• Been in the rain for 8 hours consecutive, total 14 hours.
• Eating the most horrible food, yet i finished everything.  So means when one is hungry, taste is not that important anymore.  As a self proclaimed foodie, I nenevr know that I can eat horrible food too, and I ate a lot!
• Yours legs can go totally out of control
• How it felt for not bathing for 2 days
• Praying and climbing.  At one point, I was at the verge of giving up, so all i could do was to pray, ask Jesus to help me to complete it.  And He did! 

Mount Kinabau, Sabah August 2010 (part 2)

Okay, now we have reached the summit, the next question was "HOW DO WE GET DOWN?!?!?"

We set off again after breakfast at 1100HR.  It was another 6km down, and on average of 1km 1 hour, we needed another 6 hours to get down!!!  To make matter worse, it was drizzling when we were about to set off.  Lesson learnt:  To be specific in your prayers.  I prayed that it would not rain at night so that we can do the night climb, but i did not ask for no rain on my way up & down!

Going down was tougher than I imagined.  Partly my legs were already very exhausted, and going down the stairs had imapcted my knees, making them wobbily.  The rain did not make it easier, as the steps and rocks were slippery.  I slipped and fell again, thank God it was not serious.

This time, we were fighting to beat the sunset, so that we can reached our destination before the sky turned dark.  This trip, I finally realised what i meant by "Psalms 105Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" 

I finally reached the foot of the mountain at 1900Hr, wet, tired, cold and hungry, but very happy to reach my destination.  I felt like a mission accomplished.  The next bad news was "another 2.5 hours drive back to town" which means my toes had to soak in my wet socks for another 2.5 hours.

Finally reached and checked into our fake shangri-la, spelt without a 's.  Hot shower never felt so good, and after that, I was revived and I went supper with Aw and Teck while the rest slept.

Day 4:

We have decided to take a city tour with Anson, the guide, as all of us were tired, and did not want to walk too much.  Since the city tour would bring us to most of the attractions in KK, and dropped us at the entrance, we decided to go for it.  At RM70 per person, we thought was reasonable.

My lunch: Hor Fun

 

Our first stop:  The clock tower

The city mosque

City View from Signal Hill:

We went to aqarium at the Univerity of KK, Sutra Habour before finally reaching Tanjong Aru beach to wait for the sunset.  Very happy to see the rainbow. 

Dinner time:

We finished the day with the movie Expendables.  Movie was good, except that I had problem getting out of my chair after the movie, and I hate the steps in the cinema!!!!!!!! Urghhhhhh

Mount Kinabau, Sabah August 2010 (part 1)

Day 1:
It is finally here!  The long awaited climb!  We booked it in April, after a few changes in the dates, and we were finally fixed on 20-24 August 2010.  First time i was on a trip whereby i did not plan anything, only pack my bag and go! 

We flew from JB Senai airport as it was cheaper, and also 2 of them were staying in JB, so it was more convenient.  We touched down at Kota Kinabalu airport around noon, and the guide picked us up to the town for lunch, before embarking on a 3hrs journey to Mt Kinabalu.  Lunch was at a local restaurant, 7 courses, decent food, though nothing to shout about.

KFC Nasi Lemak - My breakfast at the airport.  There is something special abotu KFC in Malaysia, it just taste different.  Either it is the air, or the food that the chicken eat!

Sambal Prawns

Braised Tofu

Calarmari

Look at how clean my shoes were before the climb.

After lunch, we started our approx 3hours drive to Mount Kinabalu (Mt KK).  We finally reached our destination, the foot of the mountain, and we need to register at the visitors center.  We saw this young woman, who was walking as if she has sprained her leg..So we started to wonder if we would walk like that 2 days later!  After registration, we checked in to our hotel, more like resort.  Each hut has 3 rooms, so 7 of us shared to hut, very spacious.  It started to rain in the evening, and we had to brave the rain to walk to the restaurant.  But it was quite satisfying to have steamboat dinner on a rainy night, whereby the temperature was about 17 degrees!

Day 2:

The challenge has began!  We woke up at around 0615Hr so that we could get ready for breakfast at 0700Hr and the set off at 0730HR.

I was so happy to get 007 as my number :-)

Some of the bags.  The main one will go to the porter, we will just carry our day pack.  My bag came in 2nd at 8.5kg, the champion was Tee's bag at 10kg, partly because of his tripod! Really admired the porter for their strength.

The map.  We took the Mesilau trail, it was a 8km trek to the rest stop.

The group just as we began the trek.  The walking stick cost RM$3, and it was the best thing that RM$3 can buy! Without it, I probably could not make it to the top!

0830HR:

We started the trek.  I was wearing another fleece jacket, but after 15 mins walk, it was getting so hot that I had to take it off.  Nice weather for 2 hours, and it was a nice trek.

1030HR:

It started to drizzle and we had to stop to wear our rain gear.  One hour later, it started to rain more heavily.

1230Hr:

We finally made it to our rest stop to break for lunch.  It was a nightmare to walk through wet jungles, slippery stones and rocks, puddle of muddy water.  My pants wasn't water proof and the poncho was not that great.  I got my fleece jacket back from the porter to fight the cold.  Packed lunch was simple far:  Sandwich with a piece of cheese like looking thing, two hard boiled eggs and a piece of fried chicken which taste as hard as stone.  However, i realised that i can eat anything as long as i am cold, wet and hungry!

1300HR:  Ah Teck and the rest set off, while Tee, Helen and I waited for a little longer for the rain to stop.  However, it did not seem possible, so we set off 15 mins later, in the rain.  It was much tougher than i imagined to trek in the rain.  The road was slippery, and there was mud everywhere which made the road more slippery.   As we progressed, I was finding it tougher and tougher, because my heartbeat was going faster, and I was finding difficulties in breathing.  To make matter worse, I was having a terrible headache.  Tee was having difficulties breathing too, his gf helen was very nice to accomodate us and we made quite a number of rest stops.

1730Hr:  The rain finally stopped, and we were able to appreciate the scenary around us.  It was breathe taking (Partially i was also out of breathe).  And we managed to take some photos, though I was not the one taking, as I was too tired to bring out my camera.

1855Hr:  We finally reached the Laban Rata, with multiple rest stops and many prayers.  Laban Rata was where dinner  was served.  Dinner was buffet style.  Rice was hard, roast chicken was even harder.  I wonder if the chickens did a lot of exercise that they have so much muscles.  Vegetables were soaking in oil, only the noodles were acceptable.  Nonetheless, i just piled up my plate with them, and had the 100 plus which the porter has helped me to carry up the mountain.  100 plus was cold (Imagine the weather), and it never taste soooooooooooooo good.

2000Hr:  We finished dinner and have to walk another 100m to our dorm.  The dorm was a non heated one, as the only heated dorm in Mt KK was Laban Rata, which was already fully booked.  The non heated dorm was really COLD, and the temperature was 8 degrees!!! Urghhhhhhh  the water was freezing cold.  I really hats off to Alison, who still can shower and wash her hair.  The rest of us boiled water and use towel to wipe ourselves.  The towel went cold less than 1 minute after I soaked it in hot water, and I went to bed at 2100Hr, with a headache.

0130Hr:  Woke up with 4.5 hours of rest, with a splitting headache, and aching legs that i felt did not belong to me anymore.  No much appetite for food, but I needed it for energy, so i stuffed a bread, with my coffee.  Thank God that i brought my starbucks tumbler, and I could have my Ipoh white coffee.  I popped 2 painkillers to ease the headache, wore my warm clothes, and I was ready to trek again, with legs that had mind of their own.  I also asked if the porter could help me with my camera, and he readily agreed!  Very kind of him, was so touched.  It was pitch dark outside, and we had to depend on our headlights again.  A trail of lights from fellow trekkers made the surrounding brighter.  It was a difficult climb, and some parts, I had to depend on my arms to pull myself up, and the toughest part was fighting against time, to reach the summit by 0530Hr to wait for sunrise.  Towards the last part, the porter was helping me up.  On his left hand, he was holding me, and on his right, he was holding Helen..wow!

0630Hr:   Finally we reached!! Pant pant pant...Scenary was breathe taking, though we have missed the sunrise (Except for Aw, who was the fastest)

Going down was scary, I slipped and fell and hit my elbow..ouch!  It was very steep, and at one point, i was so scare that my legs refused to move at all.  The porter had to help me to move my legs :-S  So embarassing