olddog-samesame

Artisans Pizza – Pantai Cenang A small pizza restaurant along the Cenang Beach painted red and decorated, complete with large lettering delivery phone numbers, like any other pizza outlet. We ordered Hungarian goulash, fish & chips and 4 cheezy pizza. Goulash comes with mashed potato, bread & beef stew and is a main dish by itself. The 4 cheezy pizza is simply out of this world for those who love cheese pizza. The generous topping with 4 different types of cheese blend well together. The texture is just right, not too runny and not overcooked & dry, just perfectly gluey to sink your teeth into…yum. The pizza is so good that we make a special detour for an early dinner on the way to the airport on the last day. Oriental Restaurant – Pantai Cenang A trendy and chic restaurant along the Cenang Beach. The simple rectangular white building has high ceiling and decorated with teak furniture, art pieces, water features, beautiful landscape and complete with subtle lighting. 5 s...

Langkawi reminds me of Phuket. Geographically, there are many similarities. A hilly main island with beautiful beaches and surrounded by many smaller islands. Winding hilly roads crisscross the island linking the beaches and the main town. Then there are the tourist belts along the mains beaches lined with hotels, inns, eateries, restaurants, shops, spas and tour agencies. The only glaring difference is there is no pub in sight in Langkawi! A simple 3 stars hotel in Langkawi will cost anything from RM200+ a nite and most are fully booked with the start of the year end school holidays to the end of Feb 2008. Despite trying to book 2 weeks in advance, we ended up staying at 3 different hotels on the 3 nites we were there. Sunset Resort is a smallish boutique hotel along Pantai Tengah. The 40 odd units of semi-d chalets were laid perpendicular to the beach connected by a winding beautifully landscaped path leading from the small reception to the Dining pavilion fronting the sea. The small...

On the way back from Kuala Kangsar, I decided to take the old trunk road going through Sungei Siput. Exiting from the town I was in an unfamiliar part of the country and was following the signboards to the Plus Highway. The signboard indicates left turn to join the highway. The trouble was, there are so many junctions before the actual turn and I turned one junction too soon only to realize it was the wrong one. To cut the story short, I was stuck in mid lane at a traffic light. And as luck would have it, up came a fat moustachioed traffic cop on a bike behind me. He stopped behind me, and I knew I had it this time. Sure enough I was told to pull to the side after the lights turned green. I winded down the window as he came up to me. Cop: “Tunjuk lesen.” (I showed him my driving license.) Cop: “Tahu kah ini kesalahan denda berat.” Me: “I nak balik KL lah. Ini papan tanda arahan salah....I pusing terlalu awal ..... kena pusing balik.” Cop: “Ini compaun mahal…. Mahu saya tulis…?” Me: “Se...

The journey by car from USJ to the quaint little town of Kuala Kangsar, including toilet and coffee break at Tapah R&R should take about 3 hours under present circumstances i.e. with road widening works along major stretches of the highway all the way to Ipoh. The speed limit on these stretches is 60kph including sections where the road is reduced to a single lane. If one is to strictly follow the 110kph and 60kph speed limit and not commit any traffic offence, the journey will probably take 5 hours. Raikonen can probably cover the trip in 2.5 hours (i.e driving my car and not the Ferrari). With neither the luxury of time nor the patience since it is working day trip, it was one long tiring journey. To make matter worse it rained incessantly, alternating between light drizzle and heavy downpours the whole journey to and fro. On top of that, one has to be mentally alert to be on the constant lookout for traffic cops hiding behind bushes and under bridges. The whole country seems to ...