Cambodia: Short Getaway to Siam Reap Part 9 (Tonle Sap, Artisans Angkor, Cambodian Barbeque)

Day 4 in Siam Reap

On the 4th day of our trip, we continued with our 3-days tour with the tour guide to Tonle Sap. Tonle Sap and floating village seems to be a must-visit tourist spot when you are in Siam Reap, Cambodia. 

Tonle Sap ("Great Lake") refers to a seasonally inundated freshwater lake, the Tonle Sap Lake and an attached river, the 120km long Tonle Sap River, that connects the lake to the Mekong. They form the central part of a complex hydrological system, situated in the 12,876 sq km Cambodian floodplain covered with a mosaic of natural and agricultural habitats that Mekong replenishes with water and sediments annually. The central plain formation is the result of millions of years of Mekong alluvial deposition and discharge. As one of the world's most varied and productive ecosystems the region has always been of central importance for Cambodia's food provision. Either directly or indirectly it affects the livelihood of large numbers of a predominantly rural population to this day. (click here for more information from Wikipedia)

On the boat at Tonle Sap Lake, going towards the floating market.

Floating village

There's a boat with 2 kids holding a snake. We tried to capture photo because we find it interesting. Then, the boat rowed towards us and asked for money. We can actually carry the snake and snap photos on our boat. Friend tried it but I just paid $1 as I took a photo of the small boy. Pity them too, have to earn a living under hot sun.

Then, we were stopped at a house at floating village, where we can rest and enjoy the view.

There are lots of crocodile, I would said is a farm, where they are being caged. Not sure what are these crocodiles for, maybe just as tourist attraction site?

Turning back to the platform and I saw these! *scream*

Dried crocodiles! O-M-G. So those that I've seen in the photo above, will become dried crocodile? 

These kids sitting on these huge metal bowls, kinda cute.

Of course, they are the same as the kids with snake. They will ask for money if you wanna take photos with them. 

Me with Tonle Sap & Floating village

Last shot before leaving back to town.

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Then, we went to Artisans Angkor to check out how people do crafting. 

The lady arranging gold leaves to become a picture. 

The man doing wood crafting.

Elephant crafting in the making. This is very nice. 

Kedah: Tiffz Coffee Gallery @ Simpang Kuala (Take 2)

#throwback

I posted about Tiffz Coffee Gallery before in December 2014 (click here for the link). Last time I had their cakes and this time I am gonna blog about their food. Actually, I visited Tiffz several times and hence this is gonna be a combination of those visits.

Recently, I have a lot of alone time, which I have to settle my dinner on my own. Often, I will just simply grab some food in the town, but my cafe cravings still come on and off. I have no idea why I always thought about Tiffz Coffee Gallery in Simpang Kuala. It is actually quite far from my place, but it has good lighting, spacious, nice service and simple menu (which makes my life easy as I always have hard time choosing =P ).  Taste wise? Let me tell you more when I show the photo.

Alone. Empty seats. Good place for me to do some reading and enjoy my own sweet time.

Ordered green pasta with chicken.

Yeah. It is called 63 degree pesto pasta (?) (can't remember the name. fail blogger) as it is served with a poached egg.

Close up!

I find this combination is awesome as the crispy chicken melts with the egg yolk in your mouth. Yumzz... Though I do find the pasta a bit too dry and portion too small XD Big appetite monster.

During my visit to try out their green pasta, I tried their green tea latte! SO GREEN~~

I think it is newly added to the menu because both items I've never seen during my previous visit. 

Green tea latte is nice if you are someone who like the bitterness of green tea. If not, I don't think it will suit your taste buds. 

After a week or two, I visited Tiffz Coffee Gallery again. This time, again, alone. To go there to settle some work and also enjoy the dinner. This post totally make me sounds like a loner. How sad. 

This time around, ordered their carbonara as I'm craving for something very cheesy. 

And yes! This fulfills my cravings. =D Though the bacon is a bit too salty for me, I like the overall combination. Thumbs up.

Trying to take some hipster photo. It looks really weird taking hipster photo of food when you're alone. XS

And! I ordered a cup of latte too.

That time I was a little emo and this cup of coffee comes on time. 

Beary nice latte art makes me beary happy =) THANK YOU BARISTA.

Kedah: Langkawi Trip Part 4 -- Dayang Bay Resort, Lagenda Park, Breakfast Bar, and Eagle Square

Continue my Langkawi short trip in mid-April. Last part!

This part, I'm going to share my experience staying in Dayang Bay Resort, my first visit to Lagenda Park for World Kidney Day, lunch at Breakfast Bar and last minute photo at Eagle Square. Ready......... GO!

Dayang Bay Resort is a very nice resort, with comfortable rooms, awesome view and a pretty swimming pool. The swimming pool looks like an infinity pool. Too bad I didn't bring my swimsuit along to get some nice photos with the infinity pool >.<. 

Dayang Bay Resort is located at Kuah, which is near the jetty. Location wise, it is quite far from the happening Pantai Cenang, but we chose that because it is near Lagenda Park, which we have to go there early in the morning. Nice experience. We paid around RM390 for 2 rooms. One of the rooms has balcony and a living room with sofa bed. So it fits 7 of us very well. =)

While some friends are enjoying the pool, the rest of us stroll around and took photos. 

The bench and the sea. So relaxing. ^_^

The view from another angle. The resort! Looking very nice right. =D

Random shot taken by friend. The infinity pool at the back.

Close up the pool and the sea. Beautiful isn't it.

The sea. Not stunning but it calms my mind.

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After wash up, we decided to move out for dinner. 

Our Langkawi friend recommended a place for us to have seafood dinner. Yes, we trust locals. So we ended up our dinner at Teo's seafood restaurant. Waited for almost an hour for the dinner. Duh.... almost die of hunger. haha... Hence.... The food tastes so tasty. I think it is because we were all too hungry. Price is quite cheap. Each of us paid RM20 for the dinner with 6-7 dishes. 

The group.
OS: WHERE IS OUR FOOD??? 

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Lagenda Park: World Kidney Day

The next day morning, we went to volunteer at World Kidney Day event at Lagenda Park.

This park is surprisingly pretty. We were there in the dark at 5.30am until noon. 

The mysterious park in the dark becomes very beautiful when the sun comes out. It is a very nice park to jog. Really jealous those langkawi peeps. haha....

Huge and beautiful park with lots of flowers... Oh! I can't get enough of flowers.

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Second last stop before going back to Alor Setar at 4pm -- Pantai Cenang for lunch and souvenir shopping. 

We were all very hungry because our breakfast was just a pau at 5.30am. At 1.15pm, finally we have our lunch at Breakfast Bar. Took a while to choose our lunch place and this Breakfast Bar which looks so Angmoh-style became our choice. 

A decorated wall beside the breakfast bar. Artistic. *like*

At the entrance of the Breakfast Bar.

Go green! The menu at the back isn't applicable anymore. They don't serve pastas now. *Disappointed*

Photobooming of food photos -- a phenomenon

Read a few articles about taking photos of food. One of the articles that I read from Elitedaily (Click here for the article) shows photos of people taking photos of people taking photos of their food. It seems like taking photos of food is an Asian thing. Of course, there are plenty of articles complaining photobooming of food on social media. Why people want to take photo of their meal?? One article says that it is merely to show off and of no meaning. Hmmm.... Perhaps it's true!

Being someone who take photos of food TOO, I have some statements to defend myself against showing off on social media. First of all, I take photos of food for my food blog and the blog is a place where I keep my memories and share my thoughts. NOT SHOWING OFF. Secondly, it is a way for me to keep track of the quality of my food. There's one cafe that I always visit shows deteriorating quality for their waffle design. So disappointing. Sigh. NOT SHOWING OFF as I only post that once on Instagram (other ugly ones I keep to myself) XD

In general, I do agree with people that got frustrated with food photos on social media. 

"YOUR HOMECOOKED FOOD DON'T HAVE TO BE ON FACEBOOK EVERY SINGLE DAY!"

"YOU DON'T HAVE TO POST YOUR BREAKFAST, MORNING TEA, LUNCH, AFTERNOON TEA, DINNER, SUPPER AS IF YOU ARE DOING A REPORT"

However, if someone posts it during a trip, or a celebration, I can accept tonnes of photos on my news feed (I can just scroll down as if it is transparent.. haha!)

Google image from:
http://fusionfoodtruck.wordpress.com/2012/05/26/what-americans-think-about-asian-foods-and-even-asians-2

Food photography is an art! Maybe asian will excel in it! XD 

Kedah: Caffe Diem

Now! Time to be a little classical. Introducing a cafe in Alor Star, with a very meaningful name -- Caffe Diem (taken from the Latin word: Carpe Diem)

Carpe Diem is a Latin aphorism usually translated to "seize the day", taken from a poem in the Odes (book 1, number 11) in 23 BC by the poet Horace. Carpe is the second-persons singular present active imperative of carpo "pick or pluck" used by Ovid to mean "enjoy, seize, use, make use of". Diem is the accusative case of the noun dies "day". Thus a more literal translation of "carpe diem" would thus be "enjoy the day"~~~ Information taken from Wikipedia. 

Carpe Diem means "the enjoyment of the pleasures of the moment without concern for the future" ~~~ Information taken from Merriam-Webster.com

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Caffe Diem is quite a new cafe in Alor Star and I find it located in a hidden place. This is the first cafe I visited in Alor Star and hence I have special feeling to this cafe. 

It is open from 12pm - 12am, so it can be a place for brunch! However, their kitchen opens at 5pm, which means you can only get your Egg Benedict after 5pm =P

Very nicely decorated corridor seating.
You may choose to sit here if you need some alone time with your cup of coffee. 

Jeng Jeng! Here's to my cup of Hot Latte (RM7.90). 

Love their latte art, which looks so solid. (OMG, wondering if the barista can teach me how to make this... Oh please....)

Coffee. Coffee & Cake bar. Comfy environment.

KL: Artisan Roast Coffee TTDI

#throwback

Continue from previous post. After having breakfast in Frisky Goat TTDI, we went to Artisan Roast Coffee TTDI to try out the so-called very nice coffee and also meet up with my pharm babes. 

When I stepped in the cafe, the coffee aroma really attracted me. Environment is quite nice in this cafe but seating isn't really spacious. Luckily, we went there early in the morning, around 9.50am, and hence we could find a nice spot. =)

Here I am, for freshly roasted coffee

The coffee bar -- like the design of the wall and the friendly cashier.

Coffee-inspired design. Quite nice to me because I really enjoy seeing arts on walls.

And here is my Latte (RM10)! Very convincing latte art and the coffee is a "bomb"! 

As good as my expectation. Thumbs up!

Taiwan: Day 4 Gaomei Wetland 高美湿地 and Jam Hsiao's Music Video

                                              Are you a fan of Jam Hsiao (萧敬腾)? 

Ever heard of a song called "Shou Cang" (收藏)? That's the song of his first music video in 2008. 

Can you recall???

Watch the music video below if you can't remember. =)

This music video is mainly taken in Gaomei Wetlands (高美湿地), or officially known as Gaomei Wetland Preservation Area (高美湿地野生动物保护区). It is a wetland in Qingshui District of Taichung. It is first established on 29th September 2005, spans over 300 hectares (only about 10% of Dadu River (大肚溪 or 乌溪) wetlands) ~~ Information from Wikipedia.

You won't believe how pretty is this place until you step in. Before I go, I was like "wetland? water and mud? What? Seriously?". Driver uncle told us that it is very famous now, even among the locals. We are going there to watch sunset, and I'm really thankful that uncle planned such nice thing in our itinerary. Such a romantic place, even I'm watching it without a partner. XD Being alone and being lightbulb can be very romantic too. (PM me if you want to learn how)

Uncle told us, you don't have to go Holland for windmill! LOOK!
(Did not edit this photo, other than putting my blog url.) 

The windmills weren't spinning when we reached. So it was a pretty quiet visit.

The wetland. Where I took this photo isn't the famous tourist spot, where Jam Hsiao took his MV.

The famous spot is right opposite, see the red & white stripe building? There it is! We headed there  for sunset after some photos with the windmills. 

Better view compared to the second one. Love it!

Group photo is a must! Wanted to take with the windmill right behind us, but our tourist friend failed our photo. But there's windmills behind. Alright. Alright.

Bangsar: Antipodean Cafe

[throwback]

I was quite sad for not being able to enjoy nice coffee like in Melbourne after my student exchange for few months there. I miss Aussie brunch. I miss their coffee. I miss my cuppa Mocha while listening to lecture. 

After some time, I realized that there's a new cafe in Bangsar - Antipodean. It is open by Australian and I was so excited to see photos of their food on Instagram. Yes, I'm not too adventurous in food, especially when it comes to above-average-price ones. I will do some "research" looking at blogs and photos to make sure it is worth trying. 

Till now, I've been to Antipodean Cafe, Bangsar, for more than 3 times. I ordered the same dish, most of the time. I can't deny that I love their mushrooms and hash brown. I like to stalk their boss too. He is always there to open the door to welcome the customers. So nice! 

Inside the cafe. The walls are red. So energetic!

Penang Street Art

It has been a while. A lot of people had posted photos of Penang Street Art on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Tempted, but I have no time to pay "them" a visit last year. The TVB drama "Outbound Love" (单恋双城) also have a lot of street art scene. Argh... I wanna take photos of those arts before they fade out. And yes!! Finally, my super duper long holiday allows me to do so. 

Penang Street Arts are painted by Ernest Zacharevic, a Lithuanian-born artist, and some by other artists. They are located at different streets so you need to do some homework to look for all of them. I learnt from mistakes. We did not check the locations of any murals beforehand and missed out a lot of murals on Day 1. Thus, we need to go and walk under the hot sun the next day to finish the task. Sounds very serious to take photos of all murals. XD

#1 Ernest's Murals

"Boy on a Bike" mural at Ah Quee Street (Lebuh Ah Quee). There is another mural beside it but already faded. It should be a "Little Boy with Pet Dinosaur". Wasted. Sigh.

"Boy on Chair" Mural at Cannon Street. 

The little boy is so cute! And this mural appears many times in the drama I mentioned. =D