Sepanjang saya belajar di England in the late 90s dulu, memang fenomena biasa pergi shopping bawa beg sendiri. Rasanya jarang sangat lah guna plastik kalau setakat nak shopping groceries. Seingat saya dulu banyak supermarket yang dah kenakan bayaran for each plastic we require. That was long before Malaysia implemented this effort.
So bila balik ke Malaysia pun, dah agak terbiasa sumbat-sumbat barang dalam beg sendiri. Dulu saya suka the green bag Cold Storage, kuat kukuh. Pendek kata boleh sumbat apa saja. Now ni Selangor dah implement free plastic on Saturday, what a great effort! Kita mungkin rasa benda kecik using plastic ni, sebab kita tak nampak the effect immediately. That's why kadang-kadang kita take advantage and tak berusaha sungguh-sungguh nak implement. dan kita tak perasan pun kematian animals yang termakan plastic (lepas animals tu mati dan dah reput, plastik masih tak reput-reput).
Speaking about plastic ni, semalam, saya tak ada plan pun sebenarnya nak beli groceries. But later on masa tengah berjalan teringat nak beli toothbrush yang dah due for replacement, so masuklah Carrefour kejap. Alang-alang dah masuk ke Carrefour, stock up lah food supply kan. Masalahnya bila tak ada plan nak bershopping, of course I didn't bring my bag. So, terpaksa lah membeli plastic because I can't just stuff those wet things in my handbag!
Hari ni masa kemas-kemas barang baru perasan - the plastic provided by Carrefour is biodegradable. Excellent! So lepas ni boleh recycle plastic ni buat letak-letak barang. Best kan, the awareness dah semakin berkembang kat Malaysia ni. Nanti lepas ni, mungkin all the supermarkets tak guna plastic ke kan.. then it will be awesome!
Plan asalnya malam ni nak dinner di Big Plate, tapi Mr D balik rumah dah pukul 9pm, jadi rasa macam tak sempat dah nak ke Big Plate. Melencong ke Section 7 Shah Alam, cari D' One Steak. Baru dua kali makan kat sini, ala-ala western food yang simple yang biasa served kat Malay restaurant. Bolehlah... not bad.. edible.
D' One Steak ni jenis open concept, maknanya sistem pengudaraannya pun datang dari angin di luar dan juga ceiling fan. Boleh duduk di bahagian luar, boleh duduk di bahagian dalam. Suasana agak bising juga lah, ye lah kan tepi jalan, and in between the restaurant dengan the next restaurant tu ada macam lorong kecil yg kereta lalu lalang. Kalau rasa-rasa nak berdating tu, di sini bukanlah tempatnya :)
Order drink, Mr D mintak pineapple juice, saya mintak barli suam. Kenapa baik hari ni tak minum ais? Sebab tekak dah merah dan batuk dah tak terkawal. Kalau tak memang tak sedar diri minum ais hari-hari. Dah sakit baru fikir nak cari alternative yang lebih baik untuk kesihatan. Sadis betul. Lupa prinsip mencegah lebih baik dari mengubati.
Kenapa ada dua gelas untuk saya, satu warna keruh satu warna jernih? Haa... itulah penangan betapa murahnya harga gula di Malaysia. Bila saya minum je barli tu, terus saya angkat tangan mintak waiter tu bawakkan air suam lagi segelas. Tahap manisnya macam nak potong kaki, dah campur setengah gelas air suam pun masih manis juga lagi. Memang lah government patut hapuskan subsidi gula :)
Ni food yang Mr D order.. lamb chop yang sampai cepat. Tapi kata Mr D :
Mr D : This is not lamb, this is sheep Mrs D : How do you know? Mr D : the level of fat indicates it is sheep Mrs D : Oh.. OK
Saya tak tau betul ke tak, pandai je Mr D ni macam dia pernah kerja rumah sembelihan pulak. Maknanya yang dalam pinggan tu dah terlebih umur lah tu ye. Harga ni sepinggan RM13++, Mr D komplen kentang rebusnya kecik sgt sebesar wedges KFC sekeping.
Punyalah lama tunggu my order, orang meja sebelah yang datang kemudian pun dah dapat order mereka. Mr D dah habis makan lamb chop baru saya nampak grilled fish ni. Nasib tak menggigil kaki tangan tunggu food tak sampai-sampai.
Saya order grilled fish, mereka guna ikan dory. Served with chips, coleslaw, a slice of cucumber and tomato. Harga ni dalam RM8++ tak silap. Okeylah fish tu, tak hanyir. Tapi dory mana hanyir pun kan?
Apa lagi saya nak komplen? Oh.. tak ada salt and pepper atas meja. Mana boleh dekk... nanti macam mana nak adjust rasa kalau chef tersilap letak perasa? Haa.. lain kali letak salt and pepper atas meja eh. So verdict nyer? Condition kedai : 6/10 - panas sampai berpeluh-peluh. Or mungkin sebab saya memang tengah demam. Food presentation : 5/10 - sadis.. tengoklah comot tu pinggan. Food : 7/10 - okeylah edible, kalau bertanding dalam kategori western food murah, ada harapan lah. Boleh datang lagi? : Boleh lah.. kalau rasa-rasa tak tau nak pergi mana nak makan. Harga : 9/10 - Cukup puas hati
Esok-esok, ada rezeki, boleh try food lain pulak yer.
Saya demam hari ni.. dah a few days dah tak baik-baik. Work from home aje dua hari ni [masalah kerja dari rumah ni sebab banyak distraction, browse internet lah, tido lah.. akhirnya keje tak siap]. Dua kali dah Mr D bawak pergi klinik, and yesterday my doctor ambil sample darah, sebab takut anything wrong ke kan since baru je demam last month, ni demam lagi.
So sebelum balik tu sempat doctor pesan - 'no fried items, no spicy items, until your throat is OK, your throat is horrible'. Betul lah, dah rasa nak telan pun tak boleh dah batuk punya kes. Batuk dah macam orang kena tibi, especially kalau dah duduk dalam aircond. Tu yang work from home je tu, kalau dalam ofis sahih susah nak control.
Lepas je jumpa doctor tu terus nak pergi lunch... alahhh... nak pergi lunch kat mana dah kalau there's so much I can't eat! I mean, Malaysian food ni punya lah payah kan nak cari yang tak berminyak dan tak spicy. Unless masak sendiri - nak masak sendiri tu yang masalahnya tu, bukan rajin sangat pun dah demam-demam ni :)
Sebelum pergi jumpa doctor tu dah ada angan-angan dah nak pergi makan kat satu Kelantanese stall [saya rasa owner dia orang Kelantan] in SS19, Subang Jaya. Kalau rasa tak ada selera sangat tu, kadang-kadang saya suka juga makan kat sini. Sebabnya, banyak pilihan lauk kampung, banyak ulam, banyak ikan bakar. Tapi udah fikirkan tekak yang tak baik-baik, saya batalkan lah niat. Tapi ni dalam kepala memang terbayang-bayang je lauk kat situ.. hik hik. Nantilah.. dah sihat nanti pergi.
Kalau pergi sini memang tak lari lah menu, ikan bakar, ulam-ulam, dan sambal pencicah yang pelbagai. Sambal pencicah memang macam-macam, you just name it. Sambal belacan ada, sambal tempoyak, budu, cincalok, air asam dan pelbagai kerabu. Ulam-ulaman pun pelbagai - dari petai, jering, kerdas semua tu, sampailah pada yang macam jantung pisang rebus, pucuk ubi rebus, daun salad, pucuk pegaga, kacang botol, daun gajus segala. Saya memang tak makan petai, kerdas semua, tapi Mr D memang favorite dia lah tu kerdas tu. Sabar je lah dengan consequences lepas dia makan kerdas, i.e kesukaran menghilangkan bau dalam toilet.. adoi.. seksa tau mencuci...
Ikan bakar pun variety, tapi paling saya suka of course ikan keli bakar dia.. sebab saiz besar punya, so lemak-lemak kat perut dia tu memang banyak. Haa... makan lemak ikan tak apa, banyak omega 3 . Sup tulang dan daging pun ada, dimasak dalam kawah panas-panas.
Selain dari tu ada lah lauk lain kan, sambal-sambal, gulai-gulai tu tetap ada. Tapi tak tahulah kenapa, kalau saya ke sana, menu saya cuma ikan bakar, ulam dan sambal pencicah [tempoyak, air asam atau sambal belacan] je. Sampai rasanya lelap mata kakak tu dah boleh kira berapa yg saya akan kena bayar, dah asyik makan tu je day in day out.
Pernah juga saya makan gulai cili padi dia.. tapi tekak N9 saya tak berapa nak boleh terima gulai cili padi dia.. orang N9 kan, fussy sikit lah bila tang gulai cili padi tu.. ada je yang tak kena kan. Saya pernah makan gulai rebung dia [curi sikit dari pinggan Mr D], memang tak kena lah dengan selera saya.. sebab gulai rebung ni kena buat pedas menyengat baru dia lawan dengan rasa rebung tu, especially rebung masam. Kalau dah terasa manis santan tu, memang out lah bagi tekak saya... hehe.. banyak komplen eh?
Kalau nak kata saya ni suka sangat nasi lemak, tak juga. Jarang sebenarnya ambil breakfast yang berat, sebab selalunya tak sempat pagi-pagi. Almaklumlah, bukanlah rajin sangat pun datang awal-awal pagi kan :)
So apa yang saya biasa makan, is benda-benda yang 3 in 1 macam oat sebab senang bancuh dan minum je dekat workstation sambil-sambil buat kerja. Tapi sesekali tu tekak ni memang teringin lah sangat-sangatnya nak makan nasi lemak pagi-pagi. Tekak orang Melayu memang tak lari kan dari nasi lemak.. in fact, ada my friend chinese, pun macam tak lekang dari nasi lemak.. synonim dah nasi lemak dengan warga Malaysia.
Nasi lemak kat mana yang saya suka? Kalau berdekatan office ni, saya memang suka nasi lemak satu pakcik ni yang meniaga berhampiran dengan Menara HP di Jalan Gelenggang, Damansara Heights. Pakcik ni meniaga weekdays lah, sebab Jln Gelenggang tu kan penuh offices je kan, so weekends tak ada business lah. Dia meniaga betul-betul dekat simpang nak masuk ke Menara HP tu.
Biasanya nak membeli nasi lemak dari pakcik ni kena awal lah.. dekat-dekat pukul 9 tu biasanya dah habis dah nasi lemak tu [tu yang saya jarang makan nasi lemak dia tu, sebab sampai office pun dah lepas pukul 9 kan hahaha]. Yang saya suka nasi lemak pakcik ni sebab sambal nya tu sedap lah kat tekak saya, lagi-lagi kalau couple kan dengan lauknya. My favorite sambal kerang dengan sambal daging, daging tu macam ditumbuk-tumbuk dicarik-carik sedap lah sangat.. agak-agak rasa pedas-pedas manis gitu.
Haa.. gitu rupanya nasi lemak pakcik ni. Jangan tertipu okey... rupa tak melambangkan rasanya. Tu dah siap tergolek-golek bungkusan nasi lemak tu sebelum dibuka tu yang agak kurang senonoh sikit rupanya. Tapi rasanya sedap okey...
Biasa ni kalau saya ambil lauk kerang dengan telur mata ni tak silap dalam RM3 gitu.. tak ingat lah... maklumlah beli pun jarang-jarang.
Lauk apa lagi yang ada? Okey.. biasa saya nampak sambal ikan bilis [ni yg sambal ikan bilis garing dengan kentang tu, boleh pilih ni on top of sambal nasi lemak biasa], sambal paru, sambal ayam, sambal daging, telur dadar, sambal sotong, sambal udang, sambal kerang... pendek kata macam-macam pilihan lauk.
Tapi biasalah kan... jangan lah makan hari-hari... berat kes makan nasi lemak hari-hari ni :)
Bersih punya penangan, nak ke SS2 makan durian macam tak lepas. Jadi ke K4 lah kami mencari durian. Ada musang king RM30/pack, ada raja kunyit RM25-RM30/pack. Beli 3 pack dapat RM40 - murahh. Ni kalau kat SS2 ni musang king boleh cecah RM33/kg - termasuk kulit [depa ingat kulit boleh goreng buat sayur].
Macam-macam jenis durian sekarang ni, semua nama ada. Macam mana diorang differentiate durian? Nampak sama je bentuk lonjong-lonjong, warna hijau, duri penuh satu badan. Ada beza ke? Hebat penjual durian.
Mrs D dan Mr D, suka D18 dan Raja Kunyit. Ada pahit-pahit sikit.. syiok makan :)
Punyalah banyak kali saya ulang-alik ulang-alik ke Hong Kong, sempat pergi dua masjid ni je lah. Satu kat Wan Chai, satu kat Nathan Road, Kowloon. If I am not mistaken there are 5 mosques in Hong Kong in total, of which 4 are in Hong Kong Island and one in Kowloon. These mosques also operate as the Islamic centres.
Masjid kat bawah ni located in Nathan Road, Wan Chai. Senang nak nampak because memang main location kan. Strategic place.. for err... ladies! [I found this mosque the first time while walking towards completing my 'mission' somewhere nearby.. hik hik]
Yang ni pulak masjid kat Wan Chai, where the Islamic Canteen is located. Saya ada cerita sikit pasal Islamic Canteen kat dalam this entry.
Dok cerita pasal fishing village in the previous post tu, teringat pulak betapa heaven nya seafood kat Hong Kong ni. Bukanlah saya makan sangat seafood di Hong Kong, tapi kalau lalu-lalang tepi jalan tu memang nampak squid [dah macam sama besar dengan ayam], udang etc bergantung-gantungan kat restaurant. Geram je tengok.
Kalau kat Lei Yue Mun pulak, ada seafood bazaar. Restaurant ada, nak beli seafood fresh pun ada. Ada yang beli seafood fresh, terus je bawak pergi masuk mana-mana restaurant kat Lei Yue Mun tu suruh mereka masakkan. Tak pernah lagi saya beli apa-apa kat sini. Nak beli yg fresh, nak masak kat mana? Dok kat hotel bukan ada kitchen. Nak suruh restaurant masak, risau kalau mereka campur wine etc, sebab chinese seafood cooking ni banyak juga campur rice wine gitu kan.
So tak apalah.. cuci-cuci mata je lah tengok seafood. Kat sini mereka jual seafood hidup-hidup, yang fresh gitu. One day tu tengah gila saya dan Mr D decided nak ambik tram dari satu point ke satu point tanpa ada arah tuju sebab bosan petang tu sementara tunggu my function malamnya. Ambik tram to North Point, merayap kat pasar basah. Ya Allah geramnya... seafood hidup-hidup. Ni kalau saya dok Hong Kong ni mau saya makan seafood hari-hari [lepas tu siaplah cholesterol level yer]
When I heard that Aberdeen is a fishing village, I memang teringin nak pergi juga visit. Sebabnya, it doesn't sound right - Hong Kong and a fishing village? How does a fishing village looks like in a 'city country' like Hong Kong? I am always a fan of the fishing village the style we have in Malaysia, yg tenang je, aman je.. alah the style yang kita tengok kat kampung nelayan belah-belah pantai timur sana. So macam terfikir, kalau kat Hong Kong, how will it looks like? Mr D dah pernah pergi Aberdeen in the 90s, so he warned me that Aberdeen is not a fishing village the way I imagined it to be.
So tengok-tengok, cenggini ha fishing village dia. Village? I rasa macam dok tengah KL je ni kan, with the exception that it is near to laut lah hihihi. There are a lot of high rise building around, and the fishermen's sampan is as many as the sailboats.
So macam ni lah pemandangannya di Aberdeen, bot nelayan bercampur-baur dengan yachts and sailboats, and surrounded by the high rise building on the shore. I was told that in the past, it used to be only the fishermen's boat, where they run their activities, and also live there in the boat. Nowadays, though there are still people living in the boats, most of them already move to live in the residential towers around.
As I took a boat ride around the harbor, I saw some families living in the boat. Rasa macam nak imagine, how's life is like with the whole family in the boat, day in and day out? Space dalam boat tu as you can see takde lah besar kan, but they managed to function as a family unit in there, and I thought that's amazing. And that's life.
Nowadays ni Aberdeen dah jadi one of tourists attractions, so it is no longer purely a fishing village. Ada commercial boats yg they use to bring tourist around with some fee. Tak silap I dalam HKD100 gitu, dalam RM50 per ride. So tourists can see what's Aberdeen is like from that point of view. I thought that's an eye opener, especially looking at the people who live in the boat. I was told that in the past, it used to be the case where the children will not go to school and just live in the boat and inherit their parents' job as fishermen generation after generation. But now with the regulation Hong Kong government imposed on the fishermen with regards to minimum education level, it is no longer the case.
There are also floating seafood restaurants there, catering mainly for tourists. It serves fresh seafood and the cook pun cook the food using traditional fishermen method. Tapi biasalah kan, bila the seafood restaurants are catering mainly for tourists, jadinya pricing pun melambung-lambung lah. Overpriced kaedahnya.
And there's one cute thing I want to share, ni masa my boat ride tu. Masa boat ride tu the owner memang ada the dog kat dalam boat tu, so at the end of the boat ride, she asked the dog to drive the boat. It was so cute and the boat moves so slowly to the shore. Pandai dia cari attraction, using her dog kan.
Ni gara-gara nak lari dari kesibukan dan hiruk pikuk Kuala Lumpur. I didn't have much time to be spent, so Port Dickson it was. The thing is, PD is not much different than KL anyway, crowded, there are a lot of people especially for weekend. So I thought, OK, I'll have to find somewhere in PD yang less hectic. Finally, decided to go to Legend Water Chalet. Turn out it was quite OK, less crowded, less noise, and I had a very good sleep at night.
The Accommodation
Not bad juga Legend Water Chalet ni, it is built atas air macam kampung nelayan. When I booked the place via internet, I was given a choice whether to stay at the top unit or bottom unit of a double story chalet. The bottom unit tu is more expensive, but it was fully booked that day so I opted for the top unit. Masa tu frust juga because I heard that the bottom unit is better, because there's transparent floor yg you can see the water flowing beneath. But then when I was there, I thought the top unit is better because the water beneath was not that beautiful anyway.
This is the view from the top unit of the double storey Legent Water Chalet unit masa sunset. I was hoping for a better view, but that day was a bit gloomy so this was all I can get. But it still look so serene, just perfect nak duduk-duduk layan perasaan lepas-lepas maghrib hik hik.
The unit I stayed tu come with a small balcony. Balcony ni kecik je, ni kalau berdiri 3 orang sahih lah berlanggar-langgar bahu. But since there are only two of us, me and Mr D, cukuplah kan buat kitorang belomantik lomantik sambil minum kopi pagi-pagi. And also ada free show juga kat depan tu. The units opposite to our unit tu ada swimming pool attached to it, tapi ada wall yg quite high to cover it.. but ntah mcm mana ada juga yg buat free show kat depan tu.. 18SX betul hihi.
Ni gambaran dalam chalet tu. Quite small, but it is enough to cater 3 people in it. There was a King / Queen bed and a sofa bed near the window. Siang-siang boleh lah convert jadi tempat duduk-duduk. One thing I like about this chalet, though the area is quite small, but the lighting is just perfect to my liking. Gelap, just enough for you to see each other's face. Siang-siang pun boleh gelap gini. So memang sesuai sangat for us to just sleep and relax.
And there's bath tub and shower also in it. The bath tab ni jenis yg kena duduk gitu, tak muat nak baring-baring, pendek sangat.
The Buffet Spread
When booking a hotel, I normally find something with breakfast buffet. Reason being, bila bercuti ni, malas kan nak fikir-fikir about food. Better just fill in your tummy with enough things in the morning then you don't have to think about lunch. Just concentrate to relax or sightseeing kan. The buffet spread at Legend Water Chalet ni I rate it as OK lah. Not that great, but not bad, and more than enough. The areas covered is quite large, the food are mostly Asian. Cuma ada seating yg quite exposed to the morning sunshine, panas juga. But you can always sit inside.
If you ask me for a rating, I would rate Legend Water Chalet as 7/10. The place is OK, pricing is OK (the unit I stayed cost close to RM400), and it is just nice to relax. For those with family, I think can try Legend Water Homes, it is bigger and more suitable for family.
Saja nak letak sini contoh-contoh halal food yang ada kat Hong Kong ni. OK sebenarnya kat Hong Kong, halal food banyak, Muslim kat sana pun ramai kan. Those yg first timer tu, boleh refer kat this websitefor the list of halal restaurants. There are other restaurants which are not listed there, though.
Kat Hong Kong ni nak carik halal food kena tau mana nak tuju, kena ada address readily in hand. Sebabnya banyak restaurant halal dok kat 2nd floor ke kat other floors ke of a building. So kalau main redah je dari jalan nak tengok kat mana ada restaurant ada tanda halal, tak dapek der dik.
Food pun ada few types lah juga. Mainly food dari belah-belah India, Pakistan dan Arab sumer tu lah yang banyak nya. Tapi ada lah Indonesian food dan chinese yang halal.
Saya kalau bab food dari belah-belah India sana nu, saya kureng sikit. Bukan tak makanlah, tapi prefer other things. So first choice kat sana selalunya chinese, so far saya tau ada satu je place jual dim sum halal kat sana, kat Islamic Canteen yang located at 5th floor of Ammar Mosque in Wan Chai. Tapi kalau ada sesapa tahu kat mana lagi boleh cari dim sum halal, boleh lah war-war kan yer. Next time ke Hong Kong boleh ke sana pulak.
OK lah dim sum dia, saya try banyak jenis dah, tapi ada yang a bit tawar gitu ada yang sedap. Kat sini bukan takat ada dim sum, mereka jual juga masakan panas, tapi lepas pukul 11 lah. Order senang je, tulis dengan pencil menu yang nak diminta, mereka sediakan pencil dan kertas kat situ.
Kalau ke Hong Kong, saya selalunya dok area Causeway Bay sebab regional office kami ada di sana. Jadi halal food yang saya tau kebanyakannya area-area situ lah. Rasa-rasa dah muak makan pakistani food, Warung Malang which serves Indonesian food ada. Mereka ni ada facebook, cuba click link yang saya bagi tu.
Kalau Indian, middle eastern or Pakistani food tu, memang banyaklah sangat di mana-mana. Kat area Kowloon tu lagi banyak kan. Kat Causeway Bay ni, ada satu restaurant namanya Aladin, ni saya frequently pergi lah juga sebab dekat dengan hotel. Kat sini owner dia Pakistani tak silap saya, food dia nice, Pakistani food, tapi ada a dash of chinese influence to it. Saya kata gitu sebab mereka ada jugak jual garlic stir fried broccoli. Very the chinese kan? Oh.. kat sini jugak saya makan mussel sikit punya besar.. puas..
Speaking about plastic ni, semalam, saya tak ada plan pun sebenarnya nak beli groceries. But later on masa tengah berjalan teringat nak beli toothbrush yang dah due for replacement, so masuklah Carrefour kejap. Alang-alang dah masuk ke Carrefour, stock up lah food supply kan. Masalahnya bila tak ada plan nak bershopping, of course I didn't bring my bag. So, terpaksa lah membeli plastic because I can't just stuff those wet things in my handbag!
