nothing in particular

Since there was no sunset, we took a short walk along the beach and returned to the hotel restaurant for dinner cos we are joining the FIREFLY tour(RM35..ya la ya la tio ka again la) WEE~

So off we went in search for dinner, we had planned to take dinner out of the hotel premises but there was nt enuff time cos firefly tour starts at 7.45pm o.O
There was only seafood bbq buffet for dinner..no ala carte until 9pm or smth SO~ tio chop carrot again lor -> RM50 nett per person for buffet dinner..chin chye la.
Had some fun making ice kachang using the ancient looking machine, but i suck at it, cos my bowl had lotsa large ice crystals zzz~

It was breezy with sea winds blowing in with dim lights around,great ambience but was short of JAZZ music! After about 1hr, i got tired of eating (nothing much actually) so we got to the hotel lobby to gather for the firefly tour.

We headed into a van which took 2 of us and the 4 pple we met in ferry earlier on..coincidence again? I was wondering abt the coincidence..like "are we (6 of us) gonna die together?!?" -_-' The van took us for a rough ride through fields with grass taller than us, wildness and darkness surrounded our little van and garang driver, behind us there was a car following us around..i got pretty nervous..
"Robbery? Kidnap?" thoughts ran through my mind, but nah they are just a local family driving behind us as they didn't know their way there. Actually, I duno where they are bringing us either -_-'''

When we got there, all of us put on safety vests and walked cautiously onto this wooden boat, sat down and waited for some other tourists from other resorts to join us. When all arrived, the boat departed from the deserted pier into the unknown darkness... it was damn scary cos we were travelling along this river, with either banks filled with mangrove trees, the only light was moonlight. Once into the deep forest, the guide on the boat started using a small pail attached to a long pail at the other end to splash water into the trees..and there u have it~ The fireflies appeared! They simply looked like miniature bulbs on christmas trees. It was very hard to take pics in the dark, and K took some shots of the trees with fireflies that looked like supernatural orbs ~_~
*EEK* I deleted those pics immed. upon return. In the pic below, you can see the lighted little points on the tree..those are fireflies ^^




After the interesting trip, we returned to the shore and saw this kitty at the pier..SO CUTE~ and it has got an earring on its right ear tip o.O



Returned to the hotel room and discovered that the aircon is WARM..zzz this is what happens when you don't choose a more prestigious resort -___-

Had a very bad night sleeping in the warm room due to lousy aircon..it wld have been better to open doors seriously~ And i got bitten more than 10times! Face, back, shoulder, thigh, arms, neck..zzz!! Bad night for me..silly K was sleeping soundly despite the heat >=0

Woke up, had a bath..K and grumpy me went to beach to catch a glimpse of the sunrise at 6.30am..Hmm~ but there was nothing except a light blue sky..could the sun have risen? But just we were about to give up..it wasn't ..slowly we saw the red egg yolk rose from the horizon and above the seas..into the sky.

From left to right, photos are arranged in time taken sequence. This collage depicts the sunrise scenery we saw @ desaru.



We had buffet breakfast that was included in the tour package. As i was in half slumber mode..i only managed to remember nice beenhoon, nasi lemak and fantastic roti prata (K had several helpings) . Next thing was, I fell asleep on the beach chair for the next half hour with a satisfied belly..great sea breeze there I tell you. Then we decided to pack our stuffs and checked out by 12noon.

It was such a hot day, that I gather the temperature on my head would be able to cook a sunny side up. Since there's Go-Kart centre there, we decided to give it a try at RM35 per person for 15minutes of Go-Karting...sounds ex right? BUT 15mins under the hot sun, with my vehicle breaking down for 3-4 times is notch fun ..at the end of 15mins, I'm so pek chek with heat >_<.. however K enjoyed himself thoroughly.

The Desaru Grand Prix






Inside our go karts..the guy in charge insists on taking peeks for us..eh ok lor??




Had lunch back at hotel cafe and waited..waited..waited for 5.30pm to arrive from 2pm onwards..Thank god there was "WHITE CHICKS" on tv @ the hotel lobby..else I would have died of boredom..so learnt a few lessons here:
1. Do not always choose late return timings
2. Do not leave your passport in ur luggage ever
3. Always ensure your aircon in the hotel room works, maybe u shldn't even switch
it off if its working >_>'

Home sweet home~

Trip details:
Duration - 2D1N
Location - Desaru (Malaysia)
Cost - $88 per person incl. ferry tixs, breakfast and room (+$15 to upgrade room)
Exchange rate - S$ 1 = RM2.30
Resort - Desaru Golden Beach Resort (not the bestest choice though -.-)

K chose the departure time at 7am plus at first..phew I managed to dissuade him and we fixed it at 10am+ , afterall we can only check in at about 3pm as mentioned. Thanks to K's parents, we had breakfast at Changi Village before setting off.

At 9am, we are at Changi point ferry terminal..*snores..cos I woke up so early* Finally at 9+am ~10am, we breezed through the customs and boarded the ferry. Bright and sunny day..woot~

From top left in clockwise direction: ferry terminal aka the customs , bright sunny morning x2, the ferry we are taking.





After about 30mins ride, here we are in Desaru..got our passports chopped and this driver from the Desaru Golden Beach Resort appeared and vroom vroom~ off we went to the resort. In the van, we realised there were 4 other malay youngsters whom we met on the ferry as well..what a coincidence?! There were so little pple residing in the resort, i think its less than 50 for occupants.

Clockwise direction: The swimming pools, the path ways in the resort, resort lobby, reception counter



Clockwise: Here's the bellboy who expected a tip for dropping us in front of the room, but we just jumped off and there~ i caught his face on camera -.-'' ; next is the resort room..4 rooms in one block; view of the resort from the beach; sun setting at the other side of the resort.



Upon reaching the room, we saw a large puddle of water on the floor under the aircon...zzzzzzzz! So we called for the repairman and he simply added coolant, not much use eh -_-

After leaving our luggage(excl passports) in the room, we decided to go for lunch in the hotel cafe *no other choices lah* But wonders wonders....the food is damn good, please forget all the Al Azeer, Al Amin late night supper areas.

K ordered Nasi Kandar - RM22 or was it 20 *ouch..i know* Very nice stuff.. there's fish curry,
pappadam (great crispy cracker) , fried boiled egg, sambal chilli prawns, chicken wing, cabbage and salad like stuff with plain rice.



My lunch was Nasi Goreng (priced at RM15 >.<), looks innocently plain fried rice..it was damn spicy but fragrant due to the cripsy ikan bilis inside. The rice left me fanning my tongue =p after each bite. I suspect the rice has been cooked using water that was used to soak chilli padis in >_>'' The meal was complete with nice cripsy pappadam, chicken wing and sunny side up egg and salad.



After lunch, we went to request for a change of room. Well, the new room is colder and we slept in the cold aircon room for the next few hours. I had a hard time waking K up to go watch sunset..but there was NO SUNSET in view T_T..but we saw her..

A CAT in desaru~ It seems she has a cataract in her right eye, which may be totally/partially blind cos she ducks when we approach from right. This kitty is so friendly, rubbing herself ..and when i whipped out my cam, she posed for us.
It was also quite hilarious to see her sitting down on the grass in an unsettling manner due to the casuarina fruits(since young, i have been fascinated with these little durians)

Oh man, look at her..so shiok from all the patting (pic on left top and bottom)! Once K touches her head, she goes into orgasm mode >.<'' or maybe it was K who orgasm..cos he got so 肉紧 after that n_n



Pose..smile..click!



At the beach, grr sunset is at the other direction aka the back of us.

Saw from hungrygowhere.com about U.d.d.e.r.s ice cream in Novena (near UE square).
Ben recommended Rum and Raisins flavour which was K's fav, so we went all the way down to try chicken rice(nt tt nice eh o.o') and this newly opened ice cream store.

They have alcoholic and non alcoholic flavours @ $2.60 per scoop. This is their storefront, not very eye catching as its facing the side (not the main road)

Self done painting..interesting tree branches, spanning across the walls.





Left is Rum and Raisin, to right is Mango Sobert. Each scoop is a pretty large helping @ only $2.60! K loved the rum and raisin so much..cos the alcoholic flavour is so distinct unlike others he tried before, so can conclude its kindda "Adult flavour". ..so much so that K concussed @ home(slept like baby) after this dessert.




One more perk in this shop is that plain water is FOC and refillable...but it would have been better if it was chilled water though.

Cooking expedition has resumed (have been cooking but not so large scale can?) and this time we have K's parents who are eating as well.

So something interesting for soup, sharksfin soup..of cos we never use sharks fin, we used:
1.) Fish Maw
2.) Hua Diao Wine
3.) Crab Meat
4.) Dried Scallops
5.) HomeMade Chicken Broth(By K's mother)

Serving instructions: Add red vinegar, white pepper to taste.

Dried scallops



Dried Fish Maw



Went to get two live crabs, steamed them and took the meat out..Manual work is always tiring ~

Cooking the fish maw..




Add abit of hua diao wine..



Finally done~ Tastes like the real deal, except scallop bits were tad too chewy for my real-but-function-like-fake teeth =.='



At the same time, in the same kitchen..K was trying out this new recipe called red wine curry pork bun. Onions,garlic and carrots needed for frying with pork.

Red Wine for the pork, add wine before curry.



Mix curry powder with abit of water..pour in after frying pork for awhile.



Fry fry fry~ add tomato paste to give the pork flavour and coloring



Fry till its non watery state, else its gonna flow out of ur bun bun.



Stuffed the filling into bun..and discovered that the oven was spoilt! Top element is not working zzz~



So many buns were "ruined" cos they had their bases cooked till cripsy brown/chao ta but the top is uncooked..lol~ so K turned it over and we had top and bottom brown breads..middle is white but cooked. Took the remaining 2 buns to my hses..the result below, K sifted flour on it.

Very soft bread with fantastic filing but cannot sell leh..too high cost -.-'

We have heard so much about Victor's Kitchen from other foodies' blogs..its time we find out the "truth" for ourselves. To be factual, Victor's Kitchen is not exactly cheap at all..(refer to earlier post on Ah Yat Abalone's Shaw Tower Branch with 50% off from Mon to Sat) Ah Yat's actually cheaper than Victor's Kitchen..this sounds damn crappy, but its true.

Other than the XO sauce, I was not impressed with anything else. Seriously~ at this price, I was expecting something much better..not half **** dim sum.

Ordered chao siew bao, steamed carrot cake(i craved for this since returning from HK), pork ribs and steam rice rolls below.



This is the XO sauce, which was good.





All in all, Victor's Kitchen is wayyyyy overrr rated.

This is the chicken teppanyaki, extra dish we ordered.

So far, we have ended up as satisfied customers for the past few visits =)

Following the very full lunch..we went shopping in orchard and bought some silver plated accessories @ far east lvl3 (great stuff i tell you..3pcs for$20) , cam whored abit..but since K is shy, I won't disclose the pics XDD

Dinner @ Da Paolo near cluny court ..somewhere along bukit timah area.

Secluded pathway lined with japanese bamboo, leading to Da Paolo




Bread served as usual *is this the usual practice for italian food?*




Balsamic vinegar with olive oil for dipping bread, pretty different feel compared to other types of pesto




My main course: crab meat pasta about $28, the noodles here are very interesting..reminds me of springy mee pok -.-' *how degrading to call pasta meepok?!*

K's main course: Duck liver pasta with baby tomatoes, VERY GOOD STUFF! Highly recommend 2 persons to share this actually..cos liver is quite oily,heavy in flavour. This dish tastes like foie gras..cheaper version that is abt $30

You must be wondering why we are eating @ so much places these few days (22/2 to 24/2) cos 25th is my birthday and this K is going for 3 weeks reservist..ah smart forces~ After dinner, I was presented with this present, whipped out my camera, snapping as I unwrapped it.

Ooo its solitaire style earrings..well, i managed to squeeze the price outta him later on, so chek ark of me XDD