Lijiang Attractions - Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and Tiger Leaping Gorge

Jade Dragon Snow Mountain
Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (玉龙雪山) is the second place we visited in Lijiang, which was our original main focus. My expectation on this attraction was much higher than what we got. I later learnt there are 2 routes to view the mountain, one could be nearer to the snow mountain but would probably more demanding on physical strength.

Due to high altitude, we get tired easily. Though we didn’t get any altitude sickness, I’m glad we didn’t go the other route coz at the end of this trip I was exhausted. There was some uphill walk (very minimal).

This is the cable care that we took that brought us nearer to the mountain. Without that, I guess we won’t be able to make it in such short timing! :p This cable car is very similar to the one that we used in HongKong’s NgongPing 360.

When we reached the end of the cable car, we were required to walk around 30 min before seeing the snow mountain.


A bit disappointed coz the mountain can only be seen from this far distance, unlike in New Zealand where we could even walk on it. Later, we found out that the mountain is not very high (5000+ m), but it has never been conquered! The mountain is Naxi tribe’s pride, especially with this fact! No wonder we can’t get very close to it! LOL!


Here is the bottom of the hill. Water from the mountain’s snow is their main source of water, for all activities (drinking, washing, agriculture, etc). Here is the first stop of the water. It is very beautiful, and the water looks like jade. It was regarded as mini JiuZhaiGou (小九寨沟).

Tiger Leaping Gorge
There are 3 parts of the Tiger Leaping Gorge (虎跳峡), namely the Upper Leaping (上虎跳), Middle Leaping (中虎跳) and Lower Leaping (下虎跳). To view the gorge from Lijiang without going to Shangri-la, we were only able to see the Upper Leaping, and it was 3-hour drive away from Lijiang town.

It was a long walk from the entrance to the site. We had to walk along the cliff of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, and on two parts of the walk we had to walk pass tunnels that cut across the mountain.



Look at the photo above, we had to walk along the cliff. There are stones falling from the top, and we have to walk close to the cliff and walk fast. But read the sign below, it is quite funny to read their translations… :p

After walking about 20 to 30 min, we finally arrived at the site here. The view was breathtaking! It is hard to imagine what would happen to me if I fall into that water…


The big rock in the center of the river is called the Tiger Leaping Stone. I think the Naxi tribe is very imaginative. They have a story for this as well!


They said many years ago, there was a hunter hunting down a tiger, and the tiger leaped to this stone and then hopped to the other side of the river, hence named the Tiger Leaping Gorge, and this stone is called the Tiger Leaping Stone!

The First Bay of the Changjiang River (长江第一湾)
Changjiang (长江) begins at the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. On our way back to Lijiang after visiting the Tiger Leaping Gorge, we stopped by to view the first bend of Changjiang.

It is supposed to be a brief stop here, but we spent quite some time just to enjoy the scene. It feels so comfortable and the place was really full of serenity and peace.

Where is your toothbrush?

My friend WW has a strange habit. Whenever she stays in hotels, she'd keep/hide her toothbrush. We thought she was paranoid. Then...

Later on, 2 weeks ago, she forwarded this video to us. Aiiyyykk!! This is disgusting. From now on, we all follow her practice. LOL!

Lijiang Attractions - DongBaGu

There are a few places we visited in Lijiang, which worth to journal down. Today, I will focus on our first top in Lijiang - DongBaGu (东巴谷)

This is a cultural village in Lijiang, displaying some major tribes and their cultural activities. Unlike the Yunnan Cultural Village (云南民族村), they do not really have a schedule for performance. As and when tourists are grouped together and led by their tour guide, when the group arrives at any tribal village, they would perform.

They also display some of the Yunnan 18 Peculiarities (云南十八怪), which were explained in their cultures.

Entrance to the cultural village.


Here is one of the 18 peculiarities – They sing more than they speak. As we read that, we entered into Lisu tribe’s village, and we were welcomed by this couple, who sang us a Welcome Song (video).


Apparently, in Lisu tribe, they believe in relieving evil/ghosts from pains. So, in some sacred activities, they climb knife ladder like this:


The ladder was really made of sharp knifes!


In the same Lisu tribe, they also have a ritual to chase away ghosts (ghost-buster?). In the performance, this old lady actually burned the steel till it was red hot and she actually licked the hot steel.


I think it was just too painful to watch. A tourist voiced that out to the guide, pleading them to stop this, which I think is a brave action! And I think he was doing the right thing!


Here is another peculiarity in Yunnan. Their wok cover is made of straw hats! Look at the smaller pots in the lower right of the picture above, they are all covered with straw hats.


Here are some fried rice cakes, which they fried on the spot and selling for RMB1 per stick. Delicious!


In some tribes, their doors are very small and low. This is to pay respect to the people staying in the room – you have to dip/lower your head as you enter the room!


In the old days, they do not have fridges, so the best way to preserve meat is to air dry the meat. In the pic above, the pig (left) is already mummified, and was already 8 years old! The ones hanging at the ceiling are dried pork and their jaws. Can’t imagine how they would use them. In fact, later on when we went to some restaurants, we also saw these air dried meats in their kitchen and storage area – really wonder if those are the meat they served us. :p


There are just so many snacks available. We bought a few others in DongBaGu. But nothing beat the rice cake mentioned above.

I have to admit one of the most unique culture I observed in Naxi Tribe is their environmental awareness and practice. Their religion teaches them to love and respect the environment, to observe ecology balance and not to destroy the nature. There was a section in the cultural village that exhibits things that help create the awareness.


In the pic above, they have a graveyard for extinct animals, with reasons of extinct and the animals last words. The writings are quite critical. Take the right one as an example, what was written are:
巴厘虎
产地: 亚洲
灭绝时间: 1937年 9月 27日
死因: 皮好, 肉鲜, 骨可入药
凶手: 人
遗言: 森林, 多保重, 我走了

(Bali Tiger
Geography: Asian
Extinction date: 27 Sep 1937
Cause of death: Good skin, delicious meat, bone has medical benefit
Killer: Human
Last words: Forest, take car, I’m leaving)

Related Topics
Overview of My Lijiang Trip
China Lijiang Trip Itinerary – useful for people planning to visit

China Lijiang Trip Itinerary

Here is our itinerary for our Kuala Lumpur – Shanghai – Kunming – Lijiang – Dali – Kunming – Shenghai – Kuala Lumpur trip. You can buy Kuala Lumpur – Kunming- Kuala Lumpur flight ticket from MAS and reduce the trip by 2 days.

Day 1 Kuala Lumpur-Shanghai
We (SM & I) flew MAS to Shanghai, arrived around 2pm. Went to TM’s house to refresh, then out for dinner near XinTianDi. Slept in TM’s house.

Day 2 Shanghai-Kunming
The 3 of us (SM, TM & I) flew Southern Airline to Kunming, arrived around 3pm. Signed up local tour package in the airport, purchased ticket for YangLiPing (杨丽萍) show. Headed to check in Hotel YunLiang (云粮大酒店), left to KunMing Hall (昆明礼堂) for YangLiPing’s show at 7pm. Dinner nearby the hall before show starts.

Day 3 Kunming-Lijiang
Flew first flight to Lijiang, arrived around 9am. Went straight to Naxi tribe’s DongBa Cultural Village, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (玉龙雪山), and a few other Naxi’s interests. Had our lunch at one of the attractions. At night checked in Motel TianYuanMuGe (田园牧歌) inside Shuhe historical village (束河古镇). Dinner in the motel. Joined local to dance in the dance square after dinner.

Day 4 Lijiang-Tiger Leaping Gorge-Lijiang
Departed from motel at 8:30am to Tiger Leaping Gorge, which was 3 hours driving distance from Lijiang town. Lunch nearby the gorge. Dinner in Lijiang historical village (丽江古城), in a Naxi restaurant - Amayi (阿妈意).

Day 5 Lijiang-Dali-Kunming
Morning returned to Lijiang historical village, visited House of Mu (木府). Had lunch nearby, then depart to Dali in a car. After dinner in Dali, took a train back to Kunming (arrived 6:30am next day).

Day 6 Kunming
Checked in hotel in the morning, refreshed and out for lunch in town. Visited DaGuanYuan garden (大观园) after lunch, adjoined to Yunnan Cultural Village (云南民族村) by boat. Dinner in cultural village.

Day 7 Kunming-Stone Forest-Kunming
Departed from hotel at 8:30am to the famous Stone Forest (石林), which was around 3-4 hours drive from the city. On the way back, visited Seven Colour Yunnan (七彩云南) – a commercial place set up by government to ensure quality of Yunnan’s specialties. Dinner in Kunming city center.

Day 8 Kunming-Shanghai
Checked out after breakfast, free & easy in Kunming city. Flight back to Shanghai at 4pm.

Day 9 Shanghai-Kuala Lumpur
Morning flight back to KL.


My Recommended Itinerary
I would recommend the following itinerary, especially if you have time. We didn’t really research well, and due to the detour to Shanghai we wasted some time. A few attractions were missed out as we were short of time. Shangri-la was missed too due to the recent Tibetan issues.

Flights from Kunming to Lijiang can be obtained from this website: http://flights.ctrip.com/.

Day 1 Kuala Lumpur-Kunming-Lijiang
KUL-KMG 0935-1310.
KMG-LJG 1630-1720. (Costs from RMB 200 to 600)
I would recommend staying in one of the motels (客栈) in the historical villages, good experience! Enjoy the night activities in those villages.

Day 2 Lijiang Sightseeing
Visit Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, and a few other attractions like DongBaGu (东巴谷). Seriously, I feel that only the snow mountain and dongbagu worth visiting, though we went to quite a few others (which we can’t remember them!).

Day 3 Lijiang Sightseeing
Spend a full day strolling the historical villages - both Lijiang Old City and the Shuhe Old Village are worth visiting.

Day 4-5 Lijiang – Tiger Leaping Gorge – Shangri la
Depart to Shangri la in the morning. On the way, visit Tiger Leaping Gorge. There are 3 spots to be visited. To save time, can visit the most famous spot – the Upper Tiger Leap (上虎跳).
Shangri la is best visited in May, June and July. In May they have lots of activities. June and July are the most beautiful period.
Spend 2 nights in Shangri-la.

* Day 4-5 Alternative: Lijiang – Luku Lake
Luku Lake is very beautiful and worth visit due to its special tribe – the Mosuo People (摩梭人). Mosuo tribe is also regarded as the Women Kingdom (女儿国), the famous kingdom in Journey to the West (西游记).
Spend 2 nights in Luku Lake.

Day 6 Shangri la/ Luku Lake – Lijiang
Return to Lijiang

Day 7 Lijiang-Kunming
LJG-KMG 0840-0930.
Rent a car to the Stone Forest.

Day 8 Kunming Cultural Village
Take a cab to the cultural village, worth spending a full day and should start in the early morning (8am), as every tribe has their own cultural dance, scheduled at different timing.

Day 9 Kunming-Kuala Lumpur
KMG-KUL 1420-1750

Related Topics
Overview of My Lijiang Trip
Lijiang Scenes & Activities - Dongbagu

Overview of My Lijiang Trip

As my Enrich points going to expire last year, I redeemed return tickets to Shanghai, intended to visit its surrounding areas (Suzhou, Hangzhou, etc) since two of my friends are living there. After further discussion with my friends, we ended up going to Lijiang from Shanghai, and it was decided very late – almost near our departing date. :)

So, the route that I take is definitely not a recommended one to anyone intend to visit Lijiang, as you would end up spending too much on flights! I went to Shanghai, then flew China Southern Airline to Kunming, then flew over to Lijiang. The total trip was 9 days 8 nights, with actual time spent in Kunming-Lijiang only 7 days 6 nights.

The recommended route would be to fly directly to Kunming with MAS. This will save you time and cost. For me, I don’t mind this as I also intended to meet my friends who are currently staying in Shanghai. :)

I will split my Lijiang trip into a few posts, starting with the next one on our itinerary and my recommended one!

Related Topics
China Lijiang Trip Itinerary – useful for people planning to visit
Lijiang Scenes & Activities - Dongbagu

Hotel Drinking Glasses - Are they safe?

This is one of the few things I would like to share this week.

Below is a video taken from hidden camera, showing us how hotel staff cleans our drinking glasses. It is a shocking fact, but why I'm not surprised? There are just too many things done behind us nowadays... :(



Maybe we should just bring along our own glass, plate, bowl, fork and spoon, etc, whenever we travel? :p

LED rope lighting

I've been asked to review this LED rope light from Birddog Distributing.

I've never heard of this LED rope light, so I did some research. I am pretty much surprised with its beauty and its benefits.

Basically, LED (Light-Emitting-Diode) is the kind of light bulp used in most of the cars' tail lights. My old Satria's 3rd break light used LED. And lately I've bought some torch lights with LED bulps as well. They are usually brighter than the traditional light bulps. Because it doesn't involve burning of filaments like traditional bulps, LED uses less energy and producing more lights/brightness.

And these LED rope lights are slowly replacing conventional rope lights due to its energy saving, low heat and long lasting attributes.

Though I could see there are various types of rope lights (2-wire, 3-wire, 5 wire), but I could only see 2-wire LED rope lights in Birddog Distributing, maybe that's the only one available. Currently they are running promotions and prices are slashed for a limited time. Some are bout 37% discounted.

This LED rope lights comes in 7 different colours, i.e. red, blue, yellow, warm white, cool white, green and RGB (changing colours). This allows outdoor light decorations to be done more creatively.

I actually find the rope lightings quite fascinating. Never knew we can do so much with LED rope lightings. It would be good if the site can share more examples of the usage of rope lights.

Here is an example picked from the site to show how beautiful they are. Mostly for commercial usage though.



[Sponsored Post]

Great Japanese Dinner at Zipangu, Shangri-la KL

My sister has decided to give me a treat last weekend, and she brought me to Zipangu at Shangri-la Kuala Lumpur for a Japanese feast.

She chose this venue because she is the Shangri-la's Prestige Platinum cardholder, which entitles her for 50% discounts on the bill (before tax). She highly recommended Zipangu's foie gras, and has been mentioning it many times. This is the first time I try that out.

These are the things that we ordered...

First, it is the not-to-be-missed sashimi. As both of us like only Salmon, she ordered Salmon Belly (Sashimi Harasu). Salmon Belly is more tender and juicy. It basically melts in your toungue, and it is a lot sweeter than other parts.

RM65
Then, the rice came. We ordered Rice in Green Tea and Salmon Mustard Onigiri (Rice Ball). We are very Asian, must eat rice. LOL!

Tea-Rice: RM16, Rice-Ball: RM10
To eat the tea-rice, we must pour the tea into the rice, mix well before eating.

The above were for sharing, and while we were eating our rice, the highlight of the night arrived - Unagi Foie Tohga (eel and foie gras). There are 3 items in the bowl. The one on the top is foie gras (i.e. goose liver). Underneath it is a slice of eel, and at the bottom is a piece of winter melon.

RM35
We had one bowl each, and they gave me a very generous size of foie gras. It gave me a very satisfying bite. The foie gras was fried outside, and then braised (or steamed?) till cooked inside, and the juices from the foie gras and unagi were absorbed fully by the winter melon. So, every single pieces of items were delicious, and one can accidentally swallow your own toungue!

The last dish came, and it was called Mentaiko Gratin. It is basically mixed seafood pieces, baked in cheese sauce. A dish quite westernized. Though this is also a nice dish, I think it is overly priced, and nothing so special about it that you cannot skip. Hmm, perhaps we were already full that time?

RM80
We ended our dinner with glutinous rice skin rolled in ice-cream for each of us. I forgot to take down the photo, but this is really GOOD! The ice-cream that we ordered was black sesame ice-cream, instead of the green-tea ice-cream that I usually would order. The rice skin was very fresh and thin, when it wraps the ice-cream, it blends in very well with it... Yummy... The dessert costs RM15 per bowl.

With the above, the total was over RM300+, but since my sister is a Prestige Platinum cardholder, she only paid RM155.83 for the above (2 Unagi Foie Tohga, 2 Daifuku Goma, all others 1 each).

How to become a Prestige Platinum member? First year subscription fee is RM499, and subsequent years is RM488. First year you get only 1 card, but subsequent years you get 2 cards. One card entitles 2 persons dining, so if you have more than 2, you'll need more cards (that's why the second years onwards more worthy). If you always go for fine dining, this is definitely a good offer. It is not only limited to the Japanese restaurants, it is to be used in all the restaurants in Shangri-la.

For enquiry on card or make reservations, dial: +60 3 2032 2388

Massage in Bangkok

If you have been to Thailand, but not experienced a Thai massage, then you are considered not visited Thailand!

That was what I was told, when I first visited Thailand many years ago.

I am not a person fond of body massage because I dislike strangers touching my naked body. And I don't like the typical Thai massage, as I have fear of breaking my bones when they twist my limbs. :P

So, I settled for foot massage, and I trully love it. Thai's foot massage is different from the Chinese, though they both refer to it as Foot Reflexology.

As my job now requires me to travel a lot, everytime when I go to Bangkok, I never missed it. However, year on year, I feel a drop in the quality. I got disappointed on many occassions. My colleagued even stopped doing massage completely.

But then, my friend who works in Bangkok now, brought me to two very good ones in my last visit. If you are looking for good Thai massage, you should visit them. They are not too pricey and the massuers are very well-trained.

They are both very good, and we would use them depends on vicinity and availability.

Asia Herb Association is near to the hotel that I always stay, very convenient for me. It is located on Sukhumvit Soi 24, just walking distance from Phrom Phong BTS and Davis Hotel.

In my last visit, I paid BHT 450 for 90 mins Foot/Head & Shoulder Massage (BHT 350 for 60 mins). It was really, really, good. I didn't know how tired my feet was, until the massuer gave them a good touch. It was sooooooo GOOD that I fell asleep. If I had stayed longer, I would have visited them more. :D

I missed it the first night because they were fully booked. So it is important to make advanced booking. Their number is: 02261 7401, 02260 8864. It is very popular amongst tourists, and particularly the Japanese. For more info, visit their website: Asia Herb Assiciation.

Another recommended one is Health Land, this is very popular amongst the locals. I tried it once, on full body aromatherapy massage. It was very good as well, but as I generally dislike full body massages, and the outlet is located quite far from the hotel, I didn't visit it again - not if my friend drives! :P

Whatever it is, I have a strong believe if the locals go there, it must be good and reasonably priced. True enough, compared to other outlets, it is a lot cheaper. Foot reflexology is only BHT 250 for 60 min.

For more info you can hop over to their website: Health Lang Spa.

Fuji restaurant, Bangkok

When I was in Bangkok, my best friend took me to this place in Tesco -- Fuji Japanese restaurant. It is a chain, and my friend said the price is very reasonable.

I was very hungry the time when we had our dinner. It was way passed my usual dinner time, due to time difference and shopping done. :P

In the beginning I still able to take photo, but when my main course came, I've just forgot about it. LOL!

Here is fry asperagus. Very fresh and juicy. I like it with a little bit of chilli.

Egg sushi and seaweed:


Here is the mushroom salad. I don't quite like it, coz there is too much of glass noodle.


This is the usual egg pouch sushi (dunno the name). It is quite different from what I had in the past, coz the rice inside is not just plain rice. It has a mix of some pickles and finely chopped mushroom.


The rest, I forgot to take photo. They are: unagi teriyaki, salmon sashimi and garlic rice.

I dislike the unagi teriyaki, couldn't finish either. I might be prejudice on the dish, coz I dislike anything to do with teriyaki anyway. Another reason I dislike this is, it has a lot of bones, all over the piece of the fish. Every single bite I am stuck with bones which I couldn't swallow. I am just not good at unagi - also not my favourite fish. I ordered this out of no choice, they have sold out gindara shioyaki. :(

Anyway, they didn't give me the itemised receipt, so I don't know the cost of each item. In total, we spent RM 138 for the whole bill! It wasn't cheap at all, for the type of things we ordered.

Compared to the fine dining Jap restaurant in Jakarta, Nadaman in Shangri-La, this is definitely not worthy at all. Imagine, the meals I had on the second day was less than RM50 (as it turned out in my credit card bill). If we ordered 2 sets, it would still come out less than RM100, in oppose to RM138 for what we had here in Fuji... Interesting to know why she thinks it is cheap, must check with her again.

Pratunam Market

In my last visit to Bangkok, I had a very busy schedule. Meeting was from 8am to 5pm everyday. On the second day evening, right afte I dropped my stuff back to the hotel, I took a cab to the Pratunam market.

I was deterined tha I must do some shopping. I have been grounded for more than 3 months and havn't got the chance to buy any CNY clothes for the children and even myself!

I went to the Pratunam wholesale market, despite knowing it was probably too late. When I arrived 80% of the shops were closed, and the rest were in the process of closing. I managed to catch one shop before they closed the shutter. It is a shop for children's clothing.

As I was in a hurry (can't believe that my bladder was full at this critical hour!), I didn't have the energy and time to negotiate, but I was pretty happy with the price despite knowing I probably paid higher than I would if I have time.

Here are the pants and shirts bought in that shop. All shirts are priced at THB100 (RM10), pants at THB150 (RM15), and jeans at THB200 (RM20). Ya, some of the sizes are too big - remember I was in a HURRY?


I then quickly went to the toilet in a mall nearby (nearby? 10 min walk!!). After than, when I returned, all shops were closed INSIDE the main block of the Pratunam market. What were left, only those outlets along the main road.

Still not too bad. I found a shop selling very little choices of children's clothes, but VERY CHEAP! Look, the Cheongsam for Isabel are only THB250 (RM25) for all the 4 pieces!


You can't even get this in Beijing, not to mention KL. I checked at Isetan KL a week later, similar dress (not same of course) costs RM89.90!!! Well, of course the ones at Isetan is a branded one - 'China Town'. But come one, 'China Town'? I don't really recognize that brand. LOL! Furthermore, for kids, I won't spend that much just for a dress that would probably last for 6 months only.

I then went to Carrefour and shopped at the stalls nearby. Wasn't keen to go to the SuanLum night bazaar as my aim is really clothes only. At Carrefour stalls, I only found black and white coloured clothes. Then, remembered it was the mourning period for the demised prince, which the citizens would mourn for 150 days.

Though they are all B&W clothes, their design is quite interesting. I found many nice B&W clothes but didn't really want too many of those. Hey, my aim was for CNY, how can I wear mourning clothes for New Year celebration? I will be killed by all the elders. LOL!

The Davis, Bangkok

This is my second time staying in Davis hotel in Bangkok. It is not as convenient as the other hotels on the main street like Intercontinental, when it comes to transportation. However, in terms of food and massage, it is fantastic.

Staying in Davis do not require breakfast. I came out of the hotel, and could see Starbucks on my right.

I went in and ordered some simple breakfast, just sandwiches and coffee.


While I was sipping my coffee and reading my book, I found 2 other nearby cafe for great breakfast. Could have gone there earlier, but I took the shortest way!

Just opposite the Starbucks, it is the Kakao Cafe, which serves chocolate stuff - drinks nad food.


And just on the opposite right of Starbuck, is AuBonPain, a bakery with nice chicken wrap - I ate there the night before. :)


Further down the street, there are nice dining restaurants too, but for lunch and dinner. I went there the last time, not this time around though...

What kind of balcony is this?

I came across this in Bangkok:

I kept wondering, why would people build a door that leads to no where, on the first floor? The roof of the lower unit is just made of thin aluminum. From the look, I can tell it definitely cannot support human weight.

So, why have that door? And they are all opened. Yes, I used ‘they’, coz the whole stretch of the wooden shop lots are like that! Interesting…

Car fell off from 8th floor, 1 dead 1 traumatized

When I was in Jakarta few days ago, there was a tragedy in the building that I visited. It happened in the morning, before I arrived – thank God I didn’t have to witness such thing. It could happen just in front of me, just at the taxi drop-off area!

There was a car fell off from 8th floor parking bay. When the car fell off, it went upside down, and hit another car on its left passenger’s side. Luckily the car on the ground, driven by a lady, has no other passengers. She was traumatized, of course, but alive.

The driver of the fallen car died on the spot. Some witnessed told me that the scene was very scary, with blood and brain everywhere. They said his body was half gone!

Apparently the driver wanted to do reverse parking, somewhat went over the edge, hit the grill. It is very common for Indonesia’s building to have such grills for upper floor car parks. That is only to prevent human from falling off, but definitely not cars!

I was told a few months ago, there was a similar incident in a shopping mall, where the whole family died on the spot – a mother, father, 2 kids.

This makes me chilled, when think of parking my car at upper floor.

I remember many years ago when I just got my license, there was a minor accident for me. I wanted to slam on the brake, but something has blinded my senses, I slammed on the accelerator instead! Luckily it didn’t hit any one nor any cars. It just went down to a drain. With some help of a few guys, my car came off easily. Imagine if this ha happened on upper floor? I’d have died long time ago, before I graduated!

Nadaman restaurant, Shangri-la Jakarta

This is the first time I stayed in Shangri-la hotel in Jakarta. They have a very nice Japanese restaurant, with very good food and services. I liked it so much that I revisited the second day – both for lunch as my meeting ended too late.

First Day
I always like to eat gindara shioyaki (grilled cod fish), but not every place serves it. Teriyaki is more common than shioyaki, but I dislike teriyaki sauce.

The Gindara Shioyaki set includes 3 servings of sashimi. As I was recovering from food poisoning, I requested to change that to tempura.

The appetizer is very good. A small portion of chopped toufu covered in some fish flakes. I like the fish flakes, yummy!

They served the tempura first. Ordinary, but fresh.

This is the salad, which has the jellyfish on top, quite different.

And here is the gindara shioyaki. Some simple cooking, just rub some salt on the fish and shallow fry it. Really don’t understand why some restaurants don’t serve this!

Here is the hot ocha, which they serve in individual pot! A luxury, I’d say.

Finally, fruits to end the meal.

Total Cost: IDR 242,000 (RM 84)

Second Day
As I was in a hurry, I ordered from the quick lunch set menu -- mini donburi set. Donburi is usually served in a large bowl, with a lot of rice at the bottom and covered with your choice of topping. Usually chicken, beef, egg, or veggie.

This mini donburi set is very cute. It comes in 3 small bowls, each containing rice about the amount of 2-3 sushi. One topped with salmon sashimi, one with unagi teriyaki, and the last one with prawn tempura. They are really delicious, and I guess their sauce is nice, which makes them different.


It is served with 3 other items, 2 from the pic above – salad (similar to the previous lunch) and agedashi toufu. And here is a bowl of chawan mushi (steamed egg) too.


This time, I ordered cold ocha (green tea), hoping it is not served in pot as it is too much. Well, they still served it in a JAR. LOL!


The dessert that came with this is green tea ice-cream. Very nice, not those type that is too sweet without any ocha fragrant/taste.

Total Cost: IDR 155,955 (RM 54)

Nighmare dealing with accommodation rental

Since JohnChow has blogged about this, you'd have already read this. If not, let me share this ridiculous travel story with you.

Before reading on, let me ask you a question: When you stay in a hotel, are you charged by day or by night stay?

Pedro & Grace are frequent travlers, who has travelled to many places and stayed in many types of accommodations. They will start travelling around the world nonstop for 1 year starting from January 2008, with their second stop in NYC from 18 Jan to 18 Feb, i.e. 31 nights.

As they planned to truly experience NY Living, they wanted to rent an apartment instead of a hotel. They have booked themselves in Furnished Quarters (Jersey City).

Their nightmare has just begun after the availability is confirmed. First, they had to pay $1k for deposit which would only be returned 45-60 days after check-out. Next, they were asked to produced a lot of personal and financial documents including bank statements. And then, they were charged based on days stay, instead of nights stay - i.e. 32 days. The check-in and check-out time is like many hotels (or shorter): 4pm check-in, 12 noon check-out.

Just like many of their experiences, Pedro & Grace blogged about this in their travel blog.

The drama started here...

These guys from Furnished Quarters, apparently read the post, started to make disguised comments there, under various identity posting fake customer testimonials backing up the company. Their comments are not consistent, and their IP is from within the company!

One of the fake customer claimed himself to be a consultant, then later he said he is a real estate broker. LOL! I think he is none of these, but a joker. Hahahah!

You may want to hop over there to read more. Anyway, my comments here are:
1) I've also travel a lot (though not as much as the couple)
2) I've never been charged by days stayed.
3) I've also stayed in business apartment before. And they also charge by nights - instead of what they claimed to be 'standard policy' of daily charges. It is NOT standard.
4) I've never been asked to produce documents of such, really wonder what's the point, isn't credit card and deposit sufficient?

And my final words -- one question to ponder. I normally would check the quotations before making payment. I wonder what the process in their case when securing the booking. If they had checked the booking detail carefully, and refused to pay for the extra 'day', they'd probably not caught in this situation. They are uncomfortable of staying there now, but cancellin at this stage would cost some penalty. Maybe a good lesson learnt?

I hope this blog doesn't catch their attention to place a few fake customer testimonials. LOL!

'Personal' Steamboat

I like to eat steamboat, but I hate to sweat in front of the hot pot, in Malaysia's hot weather!

Recently restaurant with new concept of individual steamboat is mushrooming. Unlike the conventional steamboat where everyone shares the same big 'boat'/pot, this new concept gives everyone an individual pot - all by one self.

On the New Year Eve, we dined in one of these restaurants near Carefour Kepong. I guess people normally order 1 set per person, which costs from around RM18 to RM30 each, depends on the type of meat (beef is more expensive than chicken).

As we went in a group of 5 adults (incl maid) and 2 children, we ordered a 'couple set' (for 2) and another single set. With that, they gave us 3 individual pots. I had one, which I cooked for my 2 children and my maid, which MIL and FIL shared a pot, DH has one for his own.

This is the single set, for 1 person. As you can see, they give 1 noodle per person.


This is the chicken slices that came with the set.


After this, I couldn't take any more photos, as my kids were too curious about the whole 'game' and I had to 'control' them before they hurt themselves!

The experience, despite the mess of dealing with my kids, was extremely good. I agree with my sister - if you have one pot by yourself, you can do whatever you like with it, including throwing back a piece of meat that you bite and realize it is not cooked properly! LOL!

The soup and the 'balls' (fish balls, meat balls, whatever 'balls') are just ordinary. What I like the most is the noodle. It looks and tastes just like instant noodle, or even better. However, the noodle comes in very small size. I can finish it is just 2 bites! We ended up ordered many more. LOL!

Of course, what we ordered weren't enough for all of us. We purposely ordered that way (3 pax set), so we can add on many side dishes. There is one fried vege-balls that I really love, and I'm glad to see they have it on the menu! :)

I think it is a nice place for gathering, for meeting with friends, and for couples too! A place that you can eat slowly and chat for a long while. And since steamboat is rather easy to make, I believe any outlets that offer this type of steamboat would be just fine - as long as the ambience is good I'd definitely walk in!