Ipoh Beansprout Chicken (Restoran Onn Kee)

From Penang to KL, you need to pass through a state called Perak. At Perak, there is a town famous for pretty girls, Ipoh.  Ipoh is also famous for one particular dish – Beansprout Chicken (Tauge Ayam).

 

With this 2 attractions surely I would stop by this little town. The shop we visited called Onn Kee Restaurant. Time for me to examine how tasty is the beansprout and how tender is the chicken.

Entering the restaurant, there was a wall of famous folks – a photo of Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong superstars who had visited this place! Before tasting the meal, I could already feel that it must be something! Good first impression. Don’t know when my photo will be there? Next next next next life maybe…

The main dish, steam chicken was really tender and tasty. I guarantee that when you put the chicken inside your mouth, you would only spit out the bones.

Accompanying the chicken was of course the beansprout. They were bigger than the normal beansprouts and you could feel the crunchiness and the natural sweetness when you bite on them.

As for side dishes, we ordered Char Siu Sauced Pork, which comparatively same par as the main dish because of the juiciness and sweetness of the meat; 

and meatball soup that was so juicy that you could feel the juice spitting out into your mouth when you bite on it, truly a heavenly feeling.

Another thing that we should not miss was the sha ho fun (a kind of noodle made famous in Ipoh). It was available in soup 

or dry.

I did not try the dry type (my bro had that), but the soup one was cooked with chicken, so essence was all there.

 

 Fuuuuulll (*breathless*), the end of one of the greatest battle of my life! This was the aftermath. And I still said want to keep fit!

Mount Gambier @ Australia (Not Malaysia Ones)

Need to clarify 2 things before I proceed with this entry to avoid confusion:

• First of all I am not talking about the Bukit Gambier in Penang, Malaysia.
• Lastly, like what I mentioned before about Australian naming places, Mount Gambier is not a mountain but a city.

 

Mount Gambier was just like a normal city with very well-organized roads. We took a different route this time, traveling from Adelaide to Melbourne. This was where we spent the night and it was Christmas Eve.

Blue Lake  

One of the famous places at Mount Gambier was the Blue Lake. This place was nicely name because the lake was really blue. Not like those places in Malaysia where the name did not coincide with the place. Eg. Pulau Tikus was not famous for the rats; Kuching had less cats as compared to other places; and can’t find black river at Air Hitam.

 This lake supplies water to everyone here, so we were not allowed to go near it. But I thought I saw a flock of seagulls dropping something from the sky… hmmm…

 

By the way, according to this board, this was how the lake was formed. From a piece of land into a volcano then becoming a lake. If it explodes one day, I guess the people would be drinking lava here.

Next, we went to Mount Schank which was not far from this spot.

Mount Schank

Mount Schank was also a volcano but it seemed died off. 

The problem with this place was that we need to climb the mountain! Luckily, the mountain was not so tall and neither it was steep.

 

These were the views on top of the mountain.

As you could see, there was no longer any lava or smoke coming from the center of the mountain. It was our opportunity to go and touch the centre of the volcano! Yoo Hoo!

 

With my brother sacrificing himself to take photo, my Dad, Mum, my youngest brother and I began our journey to the centre of the dead volcano.

 Yup, that was me and my Mum!

It only took 15 minutes for us to conquer the place.

The feeling of standing in the center was wonderful. When I yelled at my brother above, it seemed the whole structure amplified my voice. It was that cool! These were the views from the centre of the dead volcano.

 

On our way out of the place, we bumped into a girl whom I learnt to admire and respect.

She seemed to travel alone from West Australia (judging from her car plate number and this was South Australia), visiting places along her journey. So, inside her car, you could find lots of stuffs with her. It seemed that her car was not only her transport but her sleeping place.

I think in future I shall learn from her and start traveling across Europe, Australia and US. Unfortunately I could not do so in Malaysia because it would be very hot to sleep in the car, and who knows, I might end up being robbed or murdered!

D’Arenberg, Mclaren Vale @ Australia

Nearby Adelaide (around 35 km), there is a place famous for the wineries called Mclaren Vale. On the way there we stopped by an information centre to get direction to a famous winery called D’Arenberg.

 

Beside the information centre, there was a Lavender Farm. The place was full of sweet Lavender smell, creating a very soothing and relaxing feeling. Cannas should love this place since her favorite flower was lavender…if I remembered correctly.

 

We went to D’Arenberg winery. Are they open for business?

Instead of the usual winery, they too operated as a restaurant. So, there was some wine recommendation written at the front door.

 

Dining at this kind of peaceful environment must be pretty relaxing, but we decided not to because honestly our family was not good in drinking, except for my 2 brothers.

Our intention there was for the free wine-tasting. Just order any wine from the list and they would it for you.I learnt the difference between dry wine and fruity wine. 

I prefer fruity ones. If the wine did not suit you, just spit it out. There was no need to swallow it and the people at the counter would not stare at you like you owned them money (not like some shops in Malaysia where when you decide you don’t like something, they will scold you for wasting their time).

 

Wine tasting not just involved the sensory part of your tongue but also the smell. That was why they prepared a sensory kit for you to smell out different kind of available wine.

My brother introduced a fruity wine which I fell in love with and bought one straight. It was called the Noble, dated year 2005. 

I shall reserve it for important occasion, or till I managed to get a wine glass and a cork to open it.

Granite Island, Victor Harbor @ Australia

Warning, this entry might be boring for some because i just want to share some photos of Granite Island.

Have you heard of Granite Island? It is an Island made of rocks. The interesting part of this island is that you could see little Penguins if you are lucky or even seals and dolphins if you are luckier!

Granite Island is beside a place called Victor Harbor. 

There was no dogs running around because of the rule there.

Since Victor Harbor is by the seaside, there is speed limit for personal watercraft or jet ski – 4 Knot Limit. If you study the sign board closely, you will realize one thing.

 

Australians either hate or really love their King and a person called Rosetta, until they buried their head somewhere.

To go to Granite Island, we need to cross a very long causeway.

There is a speed limit also, so I made sure I don’t walk too fast.

Underneath the causeway, there are a lot of delicious seafood that I could see but could not touch.

Along the causeway, there are multi-animal signs.

I think the left one is for human, 

and the right one is for animal.

If you are too lazy to walk, you can always torture this house horse (thanks Harmony for spotting this spelling error), 

but the ride is not free.

Phew, finally I am at Granite Island. 

What’s my purpose again? Oh ya, Penguin; else I will be watching rocks only. It’s a very windy place but very peaceful atmosphere. By the way, my header photo is taken at Granite Island.

Does this rock looks like an umbrella? I think it looks like my head.

These white plants could be seen scattered everywhere.

This is a very strange yellow plant and only can be found at one spot.

Does this little guy look familiar? Seen him from somewhere? Yup, this is a seagull.

At first I thought it will say “Mine” but it just sounds like normal bird. Too much of “Finding Nemo" for me:

Anyway, no penguin, no seal and no dolphin for me. It was not my lucky day