Saturday 28 January 2017

Honeymoon Trip : Phuket & Krabi [Phuket]

Before we got married, I've asked him if money and time were not a problem, where would he want to go.
Anywhere in the world. 

And his answer was ........ Phuket   *rolling eyes*

That's my husband, ladies and gentleman. 

So I took the liberty to plan out our honeymoon trip. Initially, it was supposed to be a 4-day thing in Phuket but I thought what the hell. Let's go to Krabi too. 

We've booked the one-way flight to Phuket during promotion period and got RM80+ for 2 tickets. 
I think that's a steal, right there. 

Our flight was at 6.50am [18th January], and someone didn't get ANY sleep the day before because he was too excited. Haha

We parked at Putrajaya and took the ERL to KLIA2. After 1 1/2 hour flight, we've arrived. The crowd at the airport's immigration was not too bad at the time so everything went smoothly.

Phuket International Airport  kinda have the same structure as Incheon's. Except for the grass.  

Then we took the minivan to Patong town which took around an hour. 


                                                  
Our first honeymoon selfie ❤

Okay I lied. This was the first selfie 😂

It's our first time in Phuket and we chose to stay in Patong, the party city. Our hotel was smacked in the middle of everything interesting.


It's 5 minutes away from Patong Beach, we had the Jungceylon Mall behind our hotel and the famous Bangla Road is 2 minutes away. To top it off, one of the best massage parlor in Patong is right across our hotel!

I love the hotel for the well-lit room, decent breakfast, cleanliness and comfort
Rating : 8/10
Hotel Star : 3 star
Pros : Location, comfortable bed, decent breakfast, strong water pressure (shower), mini fridge in the room, clean, there's a pool at the rooftop
Cons : The comforter is a tad too small for 2 person, the AC can be too cold at times, limited English TV channel, the breakfast is served at a different building; 150m away

First things first, we went for a stroll at Patong beach. It was indeed a very nice day.

It's no secret that I've been to Thailand a lot of times, since my mom is Thai and my aunt is living in Pattaya, near the beach. I've always loved the endless rows of beach-chairs with umbrellas. Where street vendors will come to you with myriads choices of street food and drinks. Fond memories.

The beach-chairs and umbrella
So I've had my expectation high, going to Patong. However, to my dismay it has been WIPED CLEAN.

It's a part of anti-corruption campaign ran by the military who took over Thailand. The aim is to return the public land to the people by removing all private businesses that illegally built bars or any commercial activity (ie renting beach-chairs) on the beach. 

Patong Beach, minus the tempat-lepak-makan  *sad*
Later we walked to Hard Rock Cafe for my fridge magnet hunt. I had a thing for HRC's fridge magnet.
*sample
The magnet I bought at Ho Chi Minh was RM40ish. So I thought I could buy a few here in Phuket, for me and my mom.

A quick look at the price tag *gasp*

It was RM115 a piece. A single fricking piece!

I'm not THAT carefree to have bought magnet at that price. I could have gone for 4 massage session with that money *frustration talks*

So, the walk to HRC was a total waste.

On our way back, we tried looking for San Sabai Restaurant; the highly raved halal restaurant in Patong.

Cari punya cari tak jumpa. Sampai kena Waze, Google Map segala. Rupanya signboard betul-betul 50m depan mata husband. LOL

Signboard yang terlepas dari pandangan

For reference, just find the Grand Mercure Hotel. It's near HRC. The restaurant is right across the hotel. 
I had pad see-ew, my all time favorite

Husband's Prad Ka Pao [I still think the one near UIA PJ is better]

San Sabai Restaurant
Rating : 4/10 
Pros : The waiter can speak a bit of Malay, the restaurant is spacious, the orchid in drinks was a nice touch
Cons : The cha yen tasted too milky [Boat Noodle's is way better], the food is acceptable 
Total : 300 Baht

We got back to the hotel, take a nap [mind you, husband has been awake for 30 hours now]. Hahaha

In the evening we went back to Patong.

Seronok ada personal photographer #instagramhusband
Bangla Road gets raunchy at night. With pole dancers, adult shows, sexy ladies, bars, discos... You name it. 
Then we walked to Malin Plaza, which is 2.2km away. Kegigihan. Just for dinner.

There's a lot of food vendors here and a healthy selection of halal food. 
I had the octopus tentacles, so good. So fresh!
Before we end our night, we went to Sansabai Massage. Well actually it was the second time for the day. First we had the foot reflexology and then later at night we opted for foot scrub. The place is quite good! Here are some pictures from their website.




Sansabai Massage
Rating : 8.5/10 
Pros : Nice interior, professional masseuse, very clean, fair price point, separate room for couples [oil massage]
Cons : Nothing that I can think of at the moment

The service was so good that we came by another 2 times throughout our stay in Patong.

That's the end of our first day in Phuket.

We rented a bike the next day for 250 Baht. Our main destination was Promthep Cape.
Quick tips : make sure the bike you rented had decent padding. The journey is quite far and you'll hurt your back if you didn't choose your bike carefully. Like us. *urgh*

Promthep Cape is at the end of the island. It's the go-to spot for sunset in Phuket
But we went there in the morning and the scenery was very nice nevertheless.

Special thanks to husband for buying me those sweet-ass prescription shades

Perfect companion, perfect weather.
Tired wife waiting for husband 😔
Along the way to Promptep Cape, you'll come across several beaches and view like this.



With the rented bike and its flat seat *backache*
 We did go to other beaches, seeing how nice the weather was.


This banana cake/bread is my favouriteeee!! You can buy this at any 7 Eleven there
For lunch, we ate at a Fried Chicken place near Patong's mosque. It was surprisingly good!



Later that day, we went to Banzaan Fresh Market. They have everything there. Fruits, seafood, vegetables, food court and they even have hawker stalls in the evening.



All the fried rice we had in Thailand was superb!
Basically that sums up our second day in Phuket.

The third day we went out early to catch a swim in the sea only to come out of the hotel to a drizzle.

So change of plan, we went to Phuket  town to find something that my mom ordered. Punya jauh nak cari..

#swimmingsuitdontcare
At last, I found what I was looking for

I looooooove Thai curry paste!!
Later that evening we checked out and got into a minivan for the journey to Krabi.

Here are some of the random things I wanna share.

I loveee the sausages at 7Eleven. Make sure to choose the halal ones. The fish burger is quite good too!

I tried the rotee at Sansabai Road. Good enough

Easily amused 

How is this so cheap in Thailand?
Next post will be about Krabi ❤

Will I repeat my vacation in Phuket? Absolutely!!!
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Tuesday 17 January 2017

Recipe - Kuih Keria Gula Melaka

The sudden popularity of kuih keria gula melaka makes me wanna go all the way to Melaka to have a sample of the original version of this delicacies. But reading all the bad reviews online on the customer service there made me change my mind. I might as well do it on my own, as it's not that difficult of a recipe. 

I did a quick search on the internet and saw many version of this recipe. Some version asked for sweet potato, baking soda, rice flour etc. I guess you need to try each one to know which combination works best. 

So the ingredients and the recipe are as follows;

Main ingredient - White Sweet Potato (Ubi Keledek Putih)
I peeled the potatoes and cut them into cubes so that it will cook faster later on. 

I used 1.25 kg of potatoes and I got around 40-50 kuih 
Give them a quick rinse and boiled them in water with a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer.
Make sure it's tender all the way through then you can drain the potatoes in a strainer

Now it's time to mash the potatoes. Since I don't have the potato masher I just used the old school pestle. Well actually Nazli did the all hard work

After a while I add in 1 1/2 cup of flour. Make sure you did not add in too much flour. 

Then make a ball in your hand, poke em in the middle. Kind of mini donuts. 

Heat the oil and deep fried those doughy goodness

Trust me, these babies are even good on their own. Especially when they're still hot!

While waiting for them to cool off a bit, get ready with the glaze. I've made the mistake of right away adding the keria in while they're hot and they...... deflated. That's not a nice sight. Haha

For the glaze, you'll need gula melaka, sugar, pandan leaves, some water and a bit of salt. 

My husband doing his thing with the gula melaka 

Put everything in a big pan and let it simmer and bubble a bit. Don't add too much water in!

Then add in the fried keria. Keep on stirring  the kueh until it thickens and hardened a bit
The heavenly outcome.

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