Malaysia (Peninsular) - Cameron Highlands, Pulau Pangkor and Kuala Lumpur

 Kuala Lumpur 

 

Batu Caves

 Cameron Highlands

Tea plantation

 

Pangkor Island 

Introducing my "Grigri" - The Glorious Coral Deer

The next pictures are courtesy of my friend, travel buddy and photograph Nora Fadlaoui

Malaysia (Borneo) - Sarawak

 Sunset at Kuching

 

Sunset on the river Kuching, Sarawak, Borneo, Malaysia

Sarawak Cultural Village 

Seafood restaurant, Kuching

Bako National Park

Nepenthes, a carnivore plant

Semenggoh Orang Utan Rehabilitation Reserve

52 Weeks 52 Tests - Week 10 - Homemade Granola

Week 10 of 2015!
I feel like I have already done quite a bit of testing this year, and a lot of it was leveraging outside providers, like dragon boating with the german association, taking a singing class, crafting leather, and more....

Since I also barely recovered from a hectic CNY trip to Vietnam, and I almost feel I'm on the verge of burn out and an overdose of tests, it is a good time to experiment something in the comfort of my home....
I have heard of homemade granola through my friend Alexandra (thanks! ;), and since I love a solid and hearty breakfast, this has been in the to do list for a long time...

First of all, you need the ingredients. Luckily, there is a gem of a chain of stores in Singapore, named Phoon Huat, that caters to enthusiastic bakers, amateur and professionals alike, with an immense selection of baking goods and tools. They even have a dozen locations across the island, and there is one at a walking distance from my home.

After making my list following a recipe online, I went shopping at Phoon Huat. Well, it was quite an experience in itself, as I discovered a world of tools and a selection of products I had never seen before.
I even found a big box of my beloved Soignon goat cheese and pastry bases! OK, these are frozen items, but the price is unbeatable and I will get to make nice vegetable tarts and quiches.

I did not go too crazy and stuck with the basics for this first trial.

Plastic jars, sultanas, chocolate chips, almonds, oats, sunflower seeds, caramel & maple syrup, honey...

In total, only $3 for the plastic jars, and S$65 of ingredients: Oats, diced Almonds, Sunflower seeds, Sultanas, Cranberries, Blueberries, Maple syrup, Honey, Caramel Syrup. I sense that this should make a good number of batches...

I put on some good rock music: Spoon, Little Dragon, Brian Eno & Karl Hyde, Liars, and started grooving and baking, feeling like an amateur Jamie Oliver.

 

Making Granola

First, mix the dry cereals and seeds into a bowl in the right proportions

Add those liquids you want to bake your cereals in, and stir

Stick it in the oven for about 30 minutes

Stir every 5-10 minutes, making sure the granola is as spread out as possible. The more it is in contact with the baking tray, the quicker it will turn golden, and thus, the larger the baking tray, the better.

When the cereals have reached the desired bakedness, remove from oven and let it cool down for an hour completely, before adding your preferred fruity and sweet additions...

Since i made 2 batches, I tried two mixes 

Batch 1: SuperFruity 

SuperFruity, looking all shiny and glamorous in its jar

Oats, Almonds, Sunflower seeds, Sultanas, Cranberries, Blueberries, Maple syrup, Honey, Sunflower Oil

Batch 2, baptized: Decadent Morning Glory

Oats, Almonds, Sunflower seeds, Sultanas, Chocolate chips, Caramel Syrup, Sunflower Oil

Ta-Da! Super Decadent Caramel roasted, Chocolate Chips Granola with Raisins

Results and tasting notes

My personal preference goes yet to the Decadent version, which almost burned in the oven, but developed a more affirmed roasted flavour too.

Next time, I'll need to pay extra attention to the last 10 minutes of cooking, as the roasting really accelerates at some point. Maybe I should add some more sweetness too, and get a larger baking tray for a more homogeneous roast, and less mess in the oven after stirring oats around out of a tiny pizza tray.

I will probably try again with new ingredients, such as dried mangoes and coconut slices, macadamia nuts, and more... I'm also thinking that I should add some cut fruits or those french classic preserved abricots and pruneaux d'Agen, just before eating this granola.

Well that was a really good test, and a tasty one at that ;-)
See you next week for week 11

Note To Self

Do not organize too many exciting activities outside of business hours to look forward to, like for instance, a 52 Weeks 52 Tests challenge. It makes the business hours all the more boring.

Extraits: La Faim du Tigre de René Barjavel

Je viens de finir la lecture d'un texte particulièrement intéressant de René Barjavel, intitulé La Faim du Tigre.

Le sujet de fonds est celui de la condition humaine, et celle-ci est mise en perspective d'une manière radicale et provocatrice, puis étayée et démontrée dans la suite du livre. On pénètre bien dans la pensée de Barjavel, d'un réalisme parfois glaçant, tirant les hypothèses vers leurs extrêmes, parfois trop, attiré qu'est l'autreur par la fiction, et parfois teinté de désillusions réalistes, toutefois non dépourvues d'espoir...

Voici ci-dessous certains de mes passages préfères, qui j'espère vous donneront l'envie de lire ce très bon livre.

Sur le combat des espèces, et la nécessite de la brièveté de l'existence

"Toutes les espèces vivantes jouent le jeu (...). Elles s'entre-massacrent inexorablement et si ingénieusement que la mort nourrit la vie et permet à la partie de se poursuivre et de progresser. Le but est si lointain, si improbable, que si la matière vivante ne constituait qu'un seul être dont la vie n'aurait pas de limite temporelle, il est probable que cet être parviendrait à la lassitude et trouverait le moyen de renoncer à vivre, toute la Vie disparaissant alors avec lui." 

Sur l'amour

"L’amour véritable engendre le bonheur vrai. Mais pour que cet amour véritable s'établisse, il faut que les deux êtres qui forment le couple aient des physiologies qui soient en harmonie, des mondes mentaux qui puissent communiquer, des gouts qui s'accordent et se complètent, des désirs synchrones, des éducations semblables ou voisines. Et que chacun d'eux ait suffisamment de qualité pour penser d'abord à l'autre, avant de penser à lui."

Sur le caviar et l'anthropologie

"L'homme n'est pas le seul à aimer le caviar. Lorsqu'une femelle de poisson saisie par le printemps pond les millions d'œufs qui lui gonflent le ventre, elle traine souvent derrière elle un groupe d'amateurs qui les avalent à mesure de leur sortie. Nous en faisons bien autant avec la poule. Cela nous parait dans l'ordre, et pas le moins du monde inquiétant, car nous ne sommes ni poisson ni poule, et ne pondons pas nos œufs.

Mais si quelqu'un s'avisait de manger nos enfants? ...

Manger les enfants d'autrui, et les parents avec, c'est la règle générale, la condition de base de la conservation de la vie."

Human Skin Rug by Chrissy Connant

Sur Dieu

Comment puis-je me permettre d'écrire ce nom, moi qui ne suis ni "croyant" ni "anti"? Seulement l'homme qui cherche à comprendre...

Les fidèles vont me vouer au bucher ou me plaindre, les rationalistes m'accuser de punaiser clandestinement les sacristies.

Mais que puis-je écrire?

L'Esprit? Le Créateur? L'Etre suprême? L'Ordinateur?

Le Grand Architecte? L'Incréé? L'Un? Le Tout? Le Père?

L'Impersonnel? La Cause Universelle?

Mille noms, aucun n'est bon, chacun détermine, limite, donne une sorte de personnalité a ce qui ne saurait en avoir. Seul le mot Dieu est assez indéfini pour ne pas tordre la direction de notre quête vers une impasse particulière. Mais il faut faire l'effort d'oublier deux mille ans de propagande des églises et les Himalaya de niaiseries qu'on a entasses sur le nom de la Vérité."

Sur le déséquilibre humain et le prochain combat

" Les enfants des hommes ne sont plus mangés.

L'homme ne craint plus, ni pour lui ni pour ses fils, le tigre ni le loup, la peste ni le croup. Les grands fauves sont en cage, les microscopiques tenus en respect. L'homme ne nourrit plus de sa chair fraiche la vie des autres espèces. Il n'est plus mangé que mort.

Mais il continue à tuer. Il tue plus que jamais. Il détruit avec frénésie des pans entiers du monde vivant, rase les forêts, stérilise les étangs, massacre les oiseaux, égorge par milliards les agneaux et les poulets. Aucune espèce ne peut lui résister. Aucune ne peut plus le vaincre. Il a rompu à son seul profit l'équilibre du monde vivant.

Il tend à occuper à lui seul la planète, après avoir extermine toutes les autres espèces. Mais la loi d'équilibre est inéluctable. Une telle modification apportée a la structure du monde anime ne pouvait rester sans conséquence. Une effrayante compensation s'est établie. Le tueur trop bien défendu a vu se lever devant lui un ennemi à la mesure de ses forces et de ses défenses: lui-même."

Sur la guerre

"Il n'y a d'ailleurs pas des guerres, mais seulement la guerre, comme il y a la mort.

Comme la mort, la guerre est un phénomène biologique. (...) La guerre est un processus d'automutilation déclenche au sein de l'espèce humaine par la violation de la loi d'équilibre du monde vivant"

Sur la vanité

"Vanité des vanités, tout n'est que vanité"

Ce n'est pas là un soupir amer, une remarque désabusée sur le peu d'intérêt que présentent, a la réflexion, les biens et les plaisirs de ce monde.

C'est étymologiquement, et exprime de la façon la plus précise, l'affirmation que le monde qui apparait à nos sens, notre monde est compose de vide. Ce que nos savants constatent aujourd'hui avec effarement, l'homme qui a écrit ce texte, il y a trois mille ans, et peut-être beaucoup plus, le savait.

"Vide des vides, tout est vide".

Voilà ce qui a été écrit a l'origine. Relisez le livre de l'Ecclésiaste en donnant à la phrase ce sens-là, et non le sens vaguement mélancolique et sans grande importance qu'on lui donne d'habitude.

Vous verrez alors quelle profondeur et quelle résonance extraordinaires prend le texte tout entier"

Sur le futur

L'Homme, sommet de l'évolution terrestre, en détruisant ceux qui l'ont précède, produit, servi et nourri, mettra un point final au temps douloureux de l'obscure gestation. Tel est peut-être la raison d'être et la justification de l'espèce humaine.

Un autre temps déjà se présente.

La Terre a muri sa graine et s'apprête à la semer dans les Etoiles.

L'homme se trouve devant deux destins possibles: périr dans son berceau, de sa propre main, de son propre génie, de sa propre stupidité, ou s'élancer pour l'éternité du temps, vers l'infini de l'espace, et y répandre la vie délivrée de la nécessite de l'assassinat.

Le choix est pour demain.

Il est peut-être déjà fait.

Par un homme? Par l'Espèce? Par la Vie?  Par le Plan?

Par qui?

Ou par Quoi? 

52 Weeks 52 Tests - Week 9 - Singing lesson

Back to Singapore, after a hectic CNY holiday and back to the Tests.

Also, back in high school, where I should have turned into a rock star, if I 'only" had had the curiosity of taking a singing class. At the time I was singing/screaming in an alternative indie metal rock band Mushroom Gear (don't try to find it, there is nothing online, I make it a point), but in retrospect I am pretty sure the whole point was to drink and smoke a lot, and make some noise, not a career...

It's never too late to learn how to sing. Maybe. I love music, i love singing, or rather "imitating singers", because I clearly don't have the technique...

I booked a private one-to-one trial class at The Vocal Studio, where the absolutely charming teacher Jazmin tried her best not to tell me that I'm actually singing like a saucepan (French expression, I'm keen to know what's the English version?).

Since I booked last minute, I received on Saturday a confirmation that also instructed me to come with the song I wanted to learn singing... I quickly browsed through my mp3s, and settled on the two following...

Well, I was more at ease on the second song, but I still really struggled.
It was a pleasant experience, because the teacher was so cool, but I'm not too sure I will carry on just yet. I have some brochure on singing to study first, and to practice my respiration technique first anyway...

Oh, I have decided to pursue my training in leather craft, after my first test in week 7 which I absolutely loved, and I made this lady's hand pouch this week (did not lose that one yet)

 

Speak to you soon for week 10...

52 Weeks 52 Tests - Week 8 - a Great stay and a Hellish travel to Phu Quoc, Vietnam

This is cheat week. 

I will cheat because I will write about my trip to Phu Quoc for Chinese New Year, so technically, it's not new to me as I already travelled there in 2010, but trust me, some travel experience give you this sense of never seen before...  

When it's not your day...

We had 4 days to get out of the hustle and bustle of SIN city.

Freshly dropped in the early morning at Changi Airport, we walk confidently to the Tiger Airways counter. Zohria checks in. I check in. Not. I don't have a Visa. I confidently reply that no visa is needed for Phu Quoc island, which is a special economic zone and has travel extensions for travelers from several citizenships, including French. Our flight is to HCMC, and we were going to connect to Phu Quoc a few hours later with Vietnam Airlines. For the airline, I am traveling to HCMC, Vietnam, and I need a Visa.

Drama.

2 solutions: 

- say good bye to the holidays and brace for an immense frustration. 

- try to get an emergency visa and get to the island anyway. 

Zohria goes checking-in already thinking she will spend lonely holidays.

I grab my smartphone and search for emergency visa. The expert I call at Vietnam Visa guarantees I don't need a visa for Phu Quoc, even flying through HCMC, even with different companies.

Confusion.

I have the vietnamese visa expert speak to the line manager at Tiger's check-in. It's airline procedur anyway, no way I can change that. I need a visa, so I buy it online, and fast, under the category "Holiday, Rush Visa" and get to pay 200 USD for it.

Pain.

I receive the approval letter 20 minutes after via email, and have now a chance to catch my connecting flight at HCMC, providing I find a flight for HCMC. Found it, bought it, checked it. Singapore Airlines. 500 SGD. Fuck it.

More Pain.

The breakfast was included, at least something I did not have to pay for :$

SQ breakfast... Eggs, potatoes, ham, coffee, bread, butter, fruit & water, 500$ only

I land in HCMC, and someone with my name on a board asks for my passport. I give it to this guy from this Vietnam visa agency him and he tells me to sit down and wait for a little while. He says "maybe 20 minutes. I see him shortcutting the queue to the visa on arrival counter, and I think: "good, I paidthe super duper extra extra, but at least, shit gets done, and faster... Anyway, I have plenty of time, my connecting flight is in 2h30 minutes..."

20 minutes wait,

30 minutes wait, I ask about the situation, guy tells me to wait,

45 minutes wait, I ask again, same reply,

60 minutes wait, I start to feel stress coming, what's going on? "It's holiday, Tet, so maybe the people not work", I'm told.

Great.

75 minutes wait, meaning 75 left to my flight. I still have to get my visa stamped, clear immigration, get to the other terminal, and check in in time. My finger nails have significantly shortened in the last 30 minutes. If I miss this flight, then I paid the Singapore Airlines flight for no reason.

I now look at my guy every 2 minutes, in hope.

90 minutes wait, still nothing. 

95 minutes, my guy gets agitated, it's coming! 

He hands me back my stamped passport, I thank him, and start running to the immigration counter as I have exactly 10 minutes to get out of the airport and check in at the other terminal next door. 

Then followed a running sequence full of obstacles that made me feel like I was the character of some silly video game: 

Run with cabin luggage, picks the line with no queue for immigration. Gets bounced off at the counter with no queue, closed, tries his luck at a 2nd counter: closed too. 

Chooses the escalator to walk fast down the stairs. Cannot pass, blocked by a grandma protected by her grandson. 

Finds the exit, runs right with his old flat slippers, slips and falls on an invisible patch of water spread there by some evil mind. 

For once this sign was needed, but just wasn't there

Gets back up, runs out of the airport to the domestic terminal. New villains in the game: large CNY crowd welcoming family. Accelerating, until next obstacle: convoy of old people in wheelchair, randomly changing direction. Obstacles: more cleaners sweeping in front of my feet, jump. Reaches Vietnam airlines, check in counter, checks in, in time.

Finally, we checked in our flight to Phu Quoc.  

Let the holidays begin

Landed at the brand new airport, we were picked up by the driver or our "specialty lodging", Freedomland, #1 on Trip Advisor...

I noticed that the number of construction is more than 4 years ago, not surprised somehow, given the island has a 25 km long white sand beach to cater for international tourism... 

Arrived at Freedomland after 30 minutes drive, we were greeted by a friendly german lady, who explained the functioning and collective spirit of the place and showed us to our room in this jungle clad homey little resort.

We checked in a roomy, breezy, comfortable Jungle Suite and have a good read and rest in the hammock and lounge bed, the holidays can finally start...

In front of the patio of our "Jungle Suite"

Dinner is served at 7.30PM at the large communal table, central to the place. It usually is a 4-5 course vietnamese - western fusion set menu, with several small plates of starters, main course with fish, meat and vegetarian options, and a dessert.

A camp fire is lit up every evening, not far from the communal area, a simple idea that feels really great.

 

After a great night sleep, we went for an equally good a-la-carte breakfast, with many options for egg lovers like us. 

I also had a delicious vegetarian Pho

Pho

The local black coffee also deserves a special mention...

Lunches are also a la carte, and you can even be served a limited selection right by your lounge bed on the beach, 15 minutes away from the kitchen! We were big fans of their large chicken salad... 

On the first morning we decided to visit the beach, of course, and were guided to it by the resident white Phu Quoc dog. 

Path to the beach

Sand dunes near the beach

Reaching the quiet, white sand beach after a nice little walk

After a good day spent in the sun, burning, we came back for a COLD shower, which was lovely. 

Taking cold showers in an open bathroom has clearly for me some immense wellness benefits, you just feel so great afterwards!  

On the second day, we rented a scooter to explore the north of the island. I was extremely cautious on the road / dirt paths, which are full of bumps... 

Crossing some dodgy bridge

Gotta love that colorful contrast

We stopped by a fishing village, I believe it was Ganh Dau.

All the shops were closed because of the Tet celebration, and people were lazying around in family, playing cards, gambling, watching TV

In Ganh Dau village

  Then, we stopped for lunch at Peppercorn Boutique Hotel, which has its own private beach,

 and an out-of- this-world starter of grilled calamari...

The end of the lunch was even more eventful with a lion dance that rolled throughout the resort, including the restaurant!

We also spent the last day at the beach, and went to a lounge restaurant bar named Itaca, to meet a group of people celebrating a birthday. The food was far from Freedomland quality, service very hesitant, and the fish, well, read-on...

Comes the time to return to Singapore after a great, too-short 3 days stay. I wake up feeling bloated, and a bit nauseous. "Fuck" I think, not today, not for traveling...

Hellish travel, part 2

We arrive at the check-in counter of Vietnam airlines, only to realise that Zohria does not have a confirmed reservation... She booked through a 3rd party agent and the itinerary she received shows a "no action" under that flight... There is no other flight seat available to return to HCMC for 4 days minimum... Luckily 2 other girls are in the same sort of situation next to us, and are enquiring for the next ferry boat timing scheduled to return to the mainland. Zohria goes with them and will have to rush with the taxi to the ferry, charge her low battery phone in the cabin of a pervert security guard showing porn western porn pictures to her pretty face, struggle to find a black market bus ticket to ride 8 hours to HCMC, sleep in a humid hostel, miss work on Monday and catch a new flight in the evening.

Simultaneously, I am bend in two for the whole journey back to Singapore, with a bad diarrhea and vomit-inducing nausea. Even had to get an anti-nausea jab at the first aid upon arrival in HCMC airport...

Lesson learned: if you travel during CNY:
- plan way ahead of time your flights (4 months min)
- your visa (one month min)
- beware fish during festive periods. Fishermen stop working for a few days, too.

Other than that, I still tasted something new!

Some "dragon" vegetable, cooked in soy sauce. Alright but not fantastic.

I am trying to catch up with this my challenge, because it's already week 10 and I'm only writing week 8! Ahhh

Speak to you soon for Week 9 !