Kaya Toast at quiet Kampung Cina, Kuala Terengganu - Mingstar Hotel

Came to Kuala Terengganu when the whole of East Coast was submerge in water as if!! The rain never seemed to stop at all for the whole two days.

George the engineer was suppose to fix a machine in Universiti Darul Iman in Terengganu, so I had to wait for him. Since his wife happens to be in Terengganu, George promised me a very nice breakfast the next day. Heh.

As for the night, his wife recommended this nice cozy little hotel call Mingstar. I was almost going to stay at the run down Permai Inn that charge RM160++ a night but felt luckly to check into this one instead.

Mingstar is very new but does not lack of the routine facilities. I paid RM138 nett a night for a Deluxe Room that actually fit a family of 4! It has got lift service too although just a mere 5-story shoplot.

Card Access Door

CCTV

Wooden floor finishing

Ultra spacious, sparkling clean toilet with hot shower

Apart from there, there's free broadband internet in the room. Just ask for the ethernet cable from the front desk for free. Later on I also found 4 tin cans of drinks and two small bags of peanuts complimentary. What a treat really!

Mingstar Hotel can be rearched here: http://mingstarhotel.com/

Next morning, George and wife came pick me up for breakfast. We drove to Kampung Cina and stopped at the wife's father coffee shop.

They ordered me a standard Kaya Toast with Half Boiled Eggs and Coffee.

Apparently their Small Buns with Kaya is very famous in Kuala Terengganu! The Malay macik toasted 4 small bun at a go on the charcoal stove, and then laid on the plate with loads of kaya and margerine spread. The customer help themselves with however much of Kaya and margerine they like.

George says that even the half boiled eggs were requested as takeaway! How hard issit to make half boiled eggs really?

After that I ordered myself a bowl of meehoon with shredded chicken in black looking herbal soup. It is quite tasty, not too much salt. The herbal tasting isn't bitter at all, somewhat reminded me the mild version of Bah Kut Teh. Go figure yourself!

How to get there: I also dunno how to direct you there, but... Go into the main entrance of the Kampung Cina (One way street I think), pass by the Golden Dragon restaurant on your right and the T-junction. Then you will see this small little looking coffee shop right next to another small little junction on your right.

It opens only till about 11am everyday. Lunch time then followed by this auntie that fried fairly good noodle, as blogged by this other guy I found on the net.

http://eatingasia.typepad.com/eatingasia/2006/01/marvelous_mee_i.html

Trip to Gunung Keriang, Sg. Petani

After a week back from Taiwan, I got tagged by mom to her friend's bus trip up north. Something like a 2 day 1 night thing, with overnight in a salesman banglow somewhere deep inside Bukit Mertajam.

The highlight of the whole trip was this 20 people water color painting in the Gunung Geriang Museum. It is said to be located in Alor Setar, but some said Sg. Petani. You go figure out yourself on Google I guess.

Hmm... the building itself look pretty new... but strange is that they have the toilet located outside way behind (must brave to hot sun to it, beware : only 3 stalls available. No guaranteed all stalls working!!!). It is surrounded by vast laid out of paddy fields, with a large stone hill right next to the building. Later we found out that's the Gunung Geriang that the museum painting based upon!

The ground floor has some pathetic looking exhibition, mostly about paddy farmers' life in Northern Region.

The main first floor lobby looks really empty for the space it command. Mostly people came here to que, so that they can climb up to the middle Dome to see the painting.

No camera here cause tourist must pay RM1 for bringing camera inside.

The whole situation gets really ugly when we discovered the same spiral staircase is being used to go up and down from the Dome. Surplus is that the tunnel up there gets very dark for god knows what reason. DUH!

So, here's are some of the 'secretly captured' pics of the painting. The painting rumoured to be based upon a circular view captured on a helicopter. Wonder how true is that.

While we all shouted about Malaysia boleh, funny thing is that this painting was painted by Koreans instead of the people from bolehland. Besides that, the circulating platform was announce malfunction for the past 3 weeks at time we were there. I wonder if it is already fixed now...

Anyways, after that we headed on to the other side of the Gunung Geriang.

Here there are some small stalls selling very 'young' crystals quarried within the Gunung Geriang itself.

This is the first time I am hearing that Malaysia has crystals too, albeit they look too amber like.

Erm... hardly a semi precious stone as their density still way too low. Apart from that, the color of it just look so miserably yellowish. Hardly high class at all.