Will be making my 2nd attempt to conquer Mount Kinabalu in March 2009.
Mt Kinabalu (Gunung Kinabalu) is located at Kinabalu National Park, a World Heritage Site in the state of Sabah, Malaysia. At 4,095 metres, it’s the highest summit in Malaysia and the fourth highest in South East Asia.

Near the summit of Mt Kinabalu… (Image by
Matthew)
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Cheow Sang was one of my most frequented restaurants in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, before I moved to Bukit Jalil in Sept 2007. In fact it’s almost a year since I dined there prior to my visit last Saturday (Nov 1).
The restaurant is popular for its Bak Kut Teh, spicy fish head and herbal chicken etc. Bak Kut Teh (literally ‘meat bone tea’ in Chinese-Hokkien) is a popular delicacy in Malaysia and Singapore. It’s primarily a thick herbal soup with pork, innards and ribs.
Cheow Sang’s BKT is just ok to be frank… what I like is their spicy fish head (pic) instead, which is cooked with fermented soy beans and fresh chillies. Not too spicy, but enough to make people sweating on their forehead… and its fish head (which was cut into cubes) is almost always fresh.

The bill was RM65 (~USD18) for three person.
Restaurant address: 24, Jalan SS 2/10, Petaling Jaya (Chow Yang area).
Phone: 03-7875 1998; closed every Thursday.
Dim Sum breakfast a couple of weeks ago at the Clan Restaurant in Sri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The restaurant’s signature dish is a creation of its own… the gai wo bao (鸡窝包 - literally chicken nest bun) which is basically a combo of two popular dim sum dishes i.e. the loh mai gai (糥米鸡 - chicken glutonous rice) and chicken bun.
To be frank, I am not a fan… it’s a clever idea, but the taste just doesn’t click for me. My sister kinda love it though; and judging from their business, lots of the folks seem to like it too.

These days almost all dim sum restaurants in the Sri Petaling area is selling this chicken nest bun, but Clan Restaurant is still the most popular place for the dish… originality still matters obviously.
For KL folks, the address of the restaurant… 140, Jalan Radin Anum, Sri Petaling.
Singapore tops the Asian ranking in The Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009 conducted by the World Economic Forum (and partners) using both publicly available data and the Executive Opinion Survey.
The annual report assesses the ability of countries to provide high levels of prosperity to their citizens, which in turn depends on how productively a country uses available resources. Thus, the index measures the set of institutions, policies, and factors that set the sustainable current and medium-term levels of economic prosperity.
The top 10 overall ranking are USA, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Singapore, Finland, Germany, Japan and Canada.
The top 10 Asian economic entities are Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, China and UAE.
Fast Food Fish Head is the (weird) name of a Chinese restaurant in Seri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The restaurant is famous for its steamed fresh-water fish.
Dinner with my family on Sunday (Oct 5)…

Steamed catfish with Chinese fermented black beans
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Took a flight from Penang to Kuala Lumpur last Wednesday (Sept 24); almost made a costly hoo-hah… as I somehow managed to mistaken the arrival time in KL as the departure time from Penang. Luckily it’s a short (50 mins) domestic flight, thus still managed to check in just 10 minutes before the check-in counter was closed.

Life is colourful with these silly moments once in a while… hope that these stupidity won’t occur too often though lol.
Ramadan is a Muslim religious observance that takes place during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, in which the Qur’an was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.
Ramadan is the Islamic month of fasting… Muslims would not eat or drink anything from true dawn until sunset [more on Wiki]
Ramadan is huge in Malaysia with Islam being the predominant religion; temporarily food markets (pasar ramadan) would be set up in various places during the month for the convenience of the Muslims to buy their food for breaking of fasts.
As for non-Muslim, it’s a month to sample a great varieties of dishes and cuisines from the Ramadan markets; it’s also quite a popular season for foreign travellers to visit Malaysia for the traditional food and cultural experience.
Sharing some photos from a Ramadan bazaar in Seberang Jaya, Penang…

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Went to the National Rice Museum (Muzium Padi Nasional) in Kedah, Malaysia, in March 2008. The museum is near the city of Alor Setar, and is famous for its huge 360-degree ceiling painting on one of the interior domes.
The painting is a nice piece of art work, featuring the bird-eye-view of the surrounding environment around the museum, as well as the growing cycle of the rice crops from ploughing to harvesting and celebrations etc…

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