slowcatchupkuan | slowcatchupkuan

Author Archive

Music and Memory Lane No.1

Pleasant chit chat with a certain someone left me feeling nostalgic. We talked about music, the past songs we listened to and the present. Made me miss those good ol’ days in school. Made me wonder about my taste and selections in music.

Memory lane…

Alanis Morissette
**************

The first ever cassette i bought was Alanis Morissette’s. Not her first album released but it was her best. Her style of music was different. Hippie and rebel persona. Dramatic voice. Self confessional bald-faced lyrics. Best for screaming your heads off at karaoke sessions. Anger management therapy *yeah, those were the days. And who could forget her long long hair! I was an Alanis wannabe *not funny.

‘Ironic’, Heads Over Heels, Hands in My Pockets…My personal fav is ‘You Learn’ *sublime. Her albums after ‘Jagged Little Pills’ were just so-so, although i still listen to few selections of her songs.

My frist Alanis ~ Jagged Little Pills (1995)

NOW WHAT?
Truck loads of awards. Extensive tours and unplug concerts. Recorded soundtrack *remember ‘Uninvited’?. Made MTV in the nude. More scathing lyrics. Chopped of her long hippie hair. *boo hoo. Admitted being a homo and smoked pot. And recently recorded this *O_o

‘My Hump’. Familiar?

Backstreet Boys
*************

My first BSB ~ Backstreet Boys (1995)

I loved these guys! Still do *i do!. Up-tempo music, great voice, even better harmony. I fell in love with their acapella act. Back in the 90′s, I used to listen to them every single day, everywhere. In the car going to school, back from school, in my room before taking a nap, before going to bed at night *i think you get the idea @_@. Remember the nice MTVs?… ahhh…

NOW WHAT?
After years of hiatus, the back-together album in 2005 released was a run from their original pop style. The single ‘Incomplete’ received massive support. *was da bomb!. Now they’re back with just 4 members (minus Kevin). The latest album, ‘Unbreakable’ to be released in October. I’m watching out for it :). Truly unbreakable.

911
***

My first 911~The Journey (1995)

OMG! I remember going for their showcase in Kuala Lumpur during high school years. All my classmates used to have their pics on the cover of their school folders. I still have 2 of the cassettes in my store room. Looking back, i have no idea why i was chasing after these guys. Extremely embarrassing. *oh, sue me!

Good lord! ‘The bodyshakin’. I can’t believe this move was ‘the fad’ in those days.

Remember this??

NOW WHAT?
They eventually split up *thank god. Lee (the looker) got married and got a job playing Peter Pan in theater *no. I was not one of his fans. Jimmy (the old hag) still trying to stay in the music scene joined a new wannabe boyband Upper Street which turned out to be a disaster. Spike (the dancer) proved to be most successful, set up a youth program teaching kids dance choreography.

Hanson
******

My first Hanson~Middle of Nowhere (1997)

Who could resist this cute band. The acapella was great but they sounded a lil’ like chipmunks *wakaka. Catchy catchy acoustic tunes that i used to hum all the time. ‘Mmmbop’ was so popular i could hear it at every nook and corner. Hanson was the first well-known ‘kiddy’ band which paved the path for other bands like The Moffats.

NOW WHAT?
All 3 brothers are happily married! With Taylor being he first to get married, now with 3 kids. Isaac on the other hand got hitched last and had just welcomed his first child *congrates. Career wise, all is good. Earlier this year they had released a docu-series in iTunes and in July released another album ‘The Walk’. *look out for the song ‘Watch Over Me’ and ‘Running Man’! Again the songs in this latest album sounds very catchy and some songs sound very…um… ‘Hanson’ but very modern rock. Nice album. Full length of songs available for preview at the official website.

Preview of ‘Running Man’

To be continued…

Malaysia’s 50th Merdeka!

Tried to get tickets for the Malaysia International Fireworks Competition 2007 held at Putrajaya, but no luck. Should have known better… *how to get tickets just one day before wor…-_-”... *whacks head with spoon

So to avoid traffic jams and the ridiculous crowd on Malaysia’s 50th National Day, EatAllYouCanShung and i went to makan Thai food and tried to get tickets for an angmoh’s movie *wakaka! We’re so damn patriotic!

Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!

Chiang Rai Style Thai Food Restaurant is located in Aman Puri, Kepong. It’s very easy to find once you’re in that area. A small shop just opposite the King’s Confectionary at Jalan Desa 1/3, right next to the big Old Town White Coffee.

It’s not like those expensive posh looking restaurant like Bangkok Jam or Just Thai. A small shop and look kinda old.

Food was yummy-licious! We ordered 2 dishes. The tom yam soup with chicken and sautéed pork with cashew nuts. Served with rice, of course. Both dishes were quite good and come in moderate proportion.

I love the tom yam! Not too spicy or sour. Just right! The sautéed pork was quite good but bit too hard. *sorry no pics coz i didn’t bring my camera… *whacks head again… With drinks, (Chinesetea) it only cost us MYR22.50 :)

I think can just fit in bout 25 or so patrons at one time. Worth a visit if you don’t mind waiting long for your food to be served (we had to wait for bout 30mins!). There were only 3 floor staffs when we were there preparing drinks, taking order, serving, etc… -_-”

Good thing is the Myanmar staffs speaks excellent Cantonese!

Happy Merdeka Malaysia!

My DEAMON

True or not? You decide.

What Is Your Daemon? Your Result: Wolf You are a clever person who is untrusting of people at first encounter. However, once you warm up to them you make lasting friends. You are more of a follower than a leader, and dislike being alone. You are very thoughtful, but do not try to challenge the view of the majority. You are often competitive.
Horse
Dog
Cat
Elephant
Coyote
Dolphin
Hawk
What Is Your Daemon? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Tips, tips & more tips [Siem Reap]

TIPS FOR A TRIP TO SIEM REAP => ANGKOR WAT
==================================

I’m no expert but here you go :P

THE 8 ‘MUST-BRING‘ FOR THE TRIP:-
===========================

1) Slipper/Sandal
*it’s bloody warm there. Sneakers just won’t do
2) Sleeveless shirts/spagetthis
*you’re going to end up will pools of sweat
3) Sun block
*unless you luv looking like a life size roasted chicken
4) Cap
*also to avoid being a life size roasted chicken
5) Tiger-balm/’minyak angin’
*to help from getting bitten by giant red ants at the temples that you can’t avoid
6) Tooth-paste
*weird tasting tooth-paste…um

7) Bring along a power socket to re-charge your gadgets
*they are using 2 pins only
8) Map
*aahh…of course to navigate… and to avoid ending up looking like us clowns

15 ‘HANDY THINGS‘ YOU SHOULD KNOW:-
===============================

1) ‘Or-Kun’ is ‘thank you’ in Khmer.
2) Most Cambodian in Siem Reap understands Chinese and English.
3) Get a lesson on basic numeral in Khmer (at least 1 to 10). Very useful.
4) National currency is Riel, but USD is more popular in use.
5) USD1 = 4,000 Riels
6) Junks in New Market are cheaper than any other markets or souvenir shops.
7) Junks sold by peddlers (mostly kids) around the temple are the cheapest.
8) Artifacts they are selling in the markets are probably fakes.
9) Great collections of silk and gems could be found in the markets.
10) Never buy anything from those kids at the floating village.
11) Survey survey survey and negotiate negotiate negotiate! Don’t get reaped off.
12) Cambodia has the best not to mention dirt cheap beer in South East Asia.
13) Scour the town in late evening to find local snacks (must try the baby-duck in shell)
14) It’s the best way to check out the town and temples is on foot. Experience the lifestyle of the locals.
15) Get a copy of the ‘visitor guide’ available at most eatery outlet in town for FOC to find out more spectacular temples for visit.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In a nutshell, Cambodia (Siem Reap) is a wonderful and amazing place to travel to. The panoramic landscape and magnificent temples are enough to take your breath away. A backpacker heaven so to speak. Locals are extremely helpful and friendly considering the hard-ship they have gone through. I personally fell in love with Cambodian people. The food was great as well… and um… interesting. Too bad we missed out on the ‘fried tarantula’ dish. I think it’s you can find it in Phnom Penh. All in all it’s suffice to say i will be planning another visit hopefully soon.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Jalan Jalan Cari Makan in Siem Reap…Syok!

18th July 2007
==========

The agency’s bus was our main means of transit in Siem Reap for the past few days. On the last day, we figured we should at least check out the town on foot by ourselves. First, we hitched a tuk-tuk to Central Market (New Market) *woo hoo!

Central Market area

There was nothing much in the Central Market that you could not find in the Old Market. Most of the trinkets selling in both places were similar. But surprisingly, the stuffs in Central Market were much cheaper than in the Old Market. We thought things in the Old Market (emphasizes on the word ‘OLD’) should be cheaper. *kena con again -_-”.

EatAllYouCanShung managed to get a great bargain though. He got for himself a beautiful oil painting of Angkor Wat for a mere price of USD18. The seller quoted it for USD65 initially! Thanks to me *wakaka we had it at such good price. (I suspect we can bargain for an even lower price. Maybe as low as USD10).

They have beautiful paintings, especially oil paintings. Great as mementos.

Pics of the Central Market…looks alot like the Old Market right?

There’s a food court within the New Market. The food wasn’t bad and the price was reasonable. *can’t remember how much was it lar.

.
.
.

Decided to check out those nice looking cafes or coffee houses but guess what?? We got lost! I don’t understand how we could have gotten lost in a tiny winy town like that *@_@ So idiotic. We didn’t have a map with us either. Geez… Went in circles. Locals stared at us clowns, watching our blurpot faces. We kept on returning to the same damn place. *smacks forehead

.
.
.

Finally, found a so-so Cambodian style cafe. Cambodia beer is really good and were ridiculously cheap …USD0.50 per can *OMG!! How cool is that?! My personal favs are Angkor Beer and Beer Lao.

Late noon is the best time to explore the town. That’s when it wasn’t that hot and humid. That’s when the town comes to life.

There were many mini mobile hawkers selling local snacks and such. They made rounds around the town looking for tourists.

Mobile stall selling Cambodia instant noodle

I had the best instant noodle i’ve ever had! I’m not exaggerating. Tad too spicy but reeeaaal goooood!! *yummy

The best instant noodle ever!

Nanpuchai is something like a flat dumpling with veges as stuffing. *tasty stuff! Comes with some ‘watery’ chili sauce or something. Sweet and spicy :)

MicrophoneChiang learning to cook

Come join me

Oooo… mouth watering

Last bite

There were something like ‘mamak’ stalls there too. *wakaka. Some we tried but some we did not coz those could also be found in Malaysia.

CRAP WE ATE:

This tastes like the daikon cake (white radish) or ‘lo bak gou’ in Malaysia but not as sweet. It’s quite small in size (as big as an egg only). To deep in chili sauce before eating :)

Cambodia ‘lo bak gou’

White-duck egg & brown-chicken egg

Ahh… The popular chicken eggs in Cambodia. The yolk had already been drained out from the egg. Inside, were inserted pepper and other spices before roasting. The texture and taste is like our ‘agar agar’ sprinkled with salt and pepper.

Eggy roasting in the sun

Ooooh … If you ever go to Cambodia, this is a must-try! A very very popular snack in Cambodia. It’s called ‘balut’. It’s fertilized duck egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell. *damn gross! I think this delicacy could be found in most South East Asia except in Malaysia.

It’s good to go with salt, pepper and lime. If you’re lucky (should i say unlucky), the embryo would have begun to form a real chick in the shell. Imagine eating a dead baby duck … with feathers, beak and all… *ewww! Once you peel off the shell you can actually see the blood veins vessels *+_+!

The famous ‘balut’. See the feathers and blood vessels.

Well you see, #*@!FoulJoe dared everyone to eat it. We looked high and low for these babies! (no pun intended) He didn’t eat it but his face expression was priceless! *wakaka

I can’t really describe the taste of ‘balut’ but i for your info, none of us who tasted barf or got sick after eating. You have to try it for yourself :P

CRAP WE DIDN’T EAT:

Something like rojak

Pau!

Roasted chicken

We found quite alot of interestingly named restaurants. To name a few, ‘Angkor What?’, ‘Dead Fish Tower’ …even ‘Kamasutra’! *cheeky!

Kamasutra????

Warehouse here doesn’t sell clothes…sell food lar

Lunatics roaming the streets

Happening pub

Dinner at a local diner was fun and satisfying. Some food worth a mention are the ‘Mexican Cheese Chicken’, ‘Coconut Rice with Fish’, ‘Cambodia Steak’ and ‘Cambodia styled Curry’. Good stuffs. I especially liked the Mexican chicken dish and coconut rice. *thumbs up! For curry fans out there, i have to warn that the curry in Cambodia is not really spicy but sweet and a lil’ bland. Oh, well everyone else liked it, so…

Last dinner in Cambodia :(

Our last stop at the Night Market. The market was very difficult to find and the alley heading towards it had no lampposts. Extremely dark and very dangerous. Best to check it out in large groups.

The Night Market was nicely furnished. Very tropical like and classy. Same old junks but were more expensive though.

Night market

**** ——- ****
Note:
All nice pics taken with my Panasonic Lumix F8, the not so nice pics are courtesy of other PigDog Klan* members :P

Shopping in Siem Reap

17th July 2007 (still)
==============

You could get around town by foot, bicycles *there were many for rental, or by tuk-tuk . Always bargain with the tuk-tuk drivers for a cheaper rate. They asked for USD3 per tuk-tuk but we managed to get it for USD1.50. If you’re really good, you can get the ride for USD1 only (we found out later).

Oh yeah, the drivers didn’t seemed to understand ‘one fifty’ as in USD1.50. We had to tell them ‘one and a half’ instead.

Tuk-tuk in Cambodia

The Old Market is at the south of town. Quite a happening place where we found stalls selling souvenirs and other tourist junk. To name a few, there were miniature wood/stone carvings, silk shawls, paintings, bags, gems *not sure if it’s genuine though, etc… Things there were not as cheap as those sold by peddlers around the temples vicinities but there were more varieties.

From old market..nice hor?

Do bargain with the sellers for the best price. You can lower it down by at less 70%-80% of the quoted price. Oh, and you can get a better bargain if you buy in bulks of more than 3-5 pieces of each item.

Most sellers speaks Chinese and since PigDog Klan* had MicrophoneChiang as out trusty negotiator, we had no problem getting around *very talented negotiator, he is :p.

I managed to get 5 pieces of shawls for USD1.50 each and 2 Tshirts as souvenir for USD2 each. SweetToothTim, SnapMe!Eve and BigSistaJune bought some gem bracelets. Many stalls sell gems around there. Many varieties in many sizes.

Members of PigDog Klan* with pretty local seller (in black)

Most of the stalls sell similar stuffs but the price varies. So, it’s best to go around the whole market for a survey of price.

Talking bout surveys, EatAllYouCanShung got conned the day before. He bought 2 books *bookworm! from the peddlers at the temples for USD14 *so cheap hor? kena con got lar … We found out later that some other peddlers selling one of the books for only USD1 ! *whacks head So, do survey first before buying.

Small wet market inside the old market

Come get it! Come get it! Fresh veges for ssaaaalllleeee!!

.
.
.

PuppyEyes bought us to another souvenir shop before we went to Old Market. I forgot the name *sorry. You need to get visitors passes (FOC) to get in. The stuffs there were super expensive. Not a good idea to go to those big modern shop lots or souvenir shops.

PigDog Klan* and PuppyEyes (in middle) smiling like idiots in front of souvenir shop.

.
.
.

Next stop Cambodia Cultural Village. This park was well built and maintained. Within the village, there was a small wax museum and alot of miniature monuments. Here is a chance for tourists like us to watch dance shows telling about Cambodian cultures.

Admission fee is USD9 per person and additional USD5 to hire a guide. Ours are free :P

Just behind you my dears

Wax museum

BigSistaJune caught in the act

Noooo…errr…i’m not trying to steal it…er..

I found the museum a tad too boring for me. Nevertheless, it’s a great place to learn about Cambodia’s history.

.
.
.

It started to rain again. Instead of exploring by foot we took a ride on the Electric Tour Cars.

Monks running in the rain

See my trusty pasar malam slippers :P

There were cute miniature monuments all over the place. Nicely built, great for taking photographs.

Miniature Cambodia Royal Palace and Bayon temple

Druglaw: I’ve got stacks of weeds at home…bout this tall

Sleeping Buddha ZZzzZZZZzzzzz….

Small waterfall! Nice!

Oops! What’s these doing there????

See the difference?? Nope. Me neither…

We went for 3 cultural dance performances that day. Loads of people there. There were locals watching the shows too but mostly tourists like us.

The narration during the shows were in 3 different languages. Japanese, Chinese and Khmer…. *why no English??!!

Err… the cultural dance shows were bit boring too. *yawn. Except for the last performance :)

The final skit told us about Cambodian traditional wedding ceremony. They even invited an audience to act as the bridegroom! *wakaka My favourite character in the show is the stooge in traditional Chinese costume. He plays one of the 3 suitors. He was so damn funny!

Very enjoyable show.

Comedy in the making

Heavenly sky outside the village

Nope it’s not a ferris wheel

**** ——- ****
Note: All nice pics taken with my Panasonic Lumix F8, the not so nice pics are courtesy of other PigDog Klan* members :P

Tonle Sap…Lake or Sea?? +_+

17th July 2007
==========

If you’re in Cambodia, don’t miss out on a visit to Tonle Sap Lake, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia.

Reasons not to miss it:

1) Because it’s really large.
*there was a point where we couldn’t see land. It’s that big!
2) Because you get to ride a boat!
*what?! i love boat rides lar!
3) Because you can see Chong Khneas Village, the floating village.
*there’s even a school and church floating on the lake!
4) Because you get to see the lifestyle of poor locals living within the vicinity *small kids on ‘sampan’ chasing after boats to sell bananas :(
5) Because you get to learn about appreciation
*floating wooden shacks not bigger than a tiny bedroom makes out their entire living quarters….
6) Because you get to learn about sanitation
*locals cook with water from the lake, bath with it, wash cloths with it …i don’t know if they do pee pee and shit there too…
7) Because you get to learn about agriculture
*locals fishing and.. breeding pigs and chickens on the lake..gulp

.
.
.

The road adjoining Siem Reap town and Tonle Sap Lake was in poor condition. The living conditions here were extremely terrible to say the least. Tiny wooden shacks belonging to locals decorates the landscape. You could see naked kids running here and there.

Run down wooden shack along the road…so small…

Boats were ready to be rented at Tourist Boat Arrangement Centre for i think USD10 per person. Again our ride was included in the travel package :) *yay!

Small size boats for rental

Our little hero, looking out for our safety on the boat

Floating Village.. living quarters are built on ‘sampan’

It was my first time seeing a community living on water. The water from the lake was extremely muddy. The locals used it to bath, wash, cook… basically everthing… *we saw a small girl squatting outside her home, washing plate using the lake water … Very poor hygiene…

Where’s the land?…only got muddy lake water @_@

Fancy a ride to school?

Or to church?

The boat ride brought us to something like a floating seafood restaurant. Once we reached the jetty, a handful of locals, mostly kids tried to sell us stuffs (especially bananas). *don’t but anything or everyone will be chasing you to buy after that! It was really difficult to say no coz they looked so pitiful…

On board there were stalls selling souvenirs and crafts. *so expensive compare to those we saw near the temple complex..almost double the price!

They are coming! Run! Run!

Guess what’s hidden beneath the restaurant? Crocs!

Did i tell you there were crocodiles beneath the restaurant? I think they breed them. Might be on the menu :P

Look at me! Roasted by the sun..skin so red…look at me lar not the snake

There was a little girl bout 7 years old or so carrying a big python on her shoulders. She was trying to persuade tourists on board to take pictures with the snake so she could make some $. It didn’t matter how much you paid her as long as you do after taking the photos. Some Japanese tourists obviously didn’t understand that *they didn’t pay her… so bad… she look so sad… :(

What a cool ride!

What did we learned from all this place?… One word. The word is HUMILITY.

**** ——- ****
Note:
All nice pics taken with my Panasonic Lumix F8, the not so nice pics are courtesy of other PigDog Klan* members :P

Author Archive

Music and Memory Lane No.1

Malaysia’s 50th Merdeka!

My DEAMON

Tips, tips & more tips [Siem Reap]

Jalan Jalan Cari Makan in Siem Reap…Syok!

Shopping in Siem Reap

Tonle Sap…Lake or Sea?? +_+

Advertisements

Help Save a Life!

Let’s Chat

Categories

Archives

Directory

Visitor

Meta

Recent Posts

Meta

Flickr Stream

Follow Us