IEat @ Smashed avocado with sour dough bread

It is a quick and healthy breakfast for a lazy. It literally took about 10 mins to prepare. 

Ingredient:

1 avocado

a handful of cherry tomato, chopped

2 tablespoon of lemon juice

2 tablespoon of feta cheese, crumbled

Method

1. Place the halved avocado in a bowl, use fork to mash it

2. Add lemon juice, crumbled feta, chopped parsley, dill and tomato. Mix well.

3. Smear the smashed avocado onto toasted sour dough bread.

iEat @ Healthy Banana Chocolate shake

It's a good way to use up the bananas. You can use either frozen or fresh banana. I'm using fresh banana.

Ingredients :

- 2 ripe banana 

- 1 1/2 cup of almond milk

- 1 cup of ice

- 2 teaspoons cocoa powder

- a splash of vanilla

Put them all into blender and blend it well. The recipe can make about 2 glasses of banana cocoa shake.

It is perfect for sunny day!

Iplay@Koh Lipe, Thailand

My friend and I took a vacation to Koh Lipe to escape from our boring routine working life. 

Koh Lipe is a small yet beautiful island that located in the souther Thailand. It was not popular and only known to a handful of travellers many years back. But nowadays Koh Lipe seems to be one of the hottest islands in Thailand. Because of the beauty of the sea and the beach, it often known as Maldives of Thailand.

Before we depart to Koh Lipe, we did some basic research such as how to get there, weather, accommodation and so forth. 

There are 2 options to get to there from Malaysia. You can either take a boat from Telaga Harbour Marina, Langkawi or Pak Bara, Hat Yai. Koh Lipe is accessible from Bangkok and Phuket too.

We went to Koh Lipe from Langkawi . This is the cheapest way as we managed to grab the promotion air ticket while Airasia had the ticket sales.

The ferry took approximately 90 mins from Langkawi to Koh Lipe. Please note that the ferry service from Langkawi to Koh Lipe will be closed during low season (May to Oct). The only way to get to Koh Lipe during low season is via Pak Bara.

You can visit http://telaga-terminal.com/langkawi-lipe-return-trip.htm for more information.

We landed at Langkawi on evening. Langkawi is a duty-free island in Malaysia. You may enjoy the duty free alcohol, chocolates and cigars here. The price is significantly cheaper than the rest of Malaysia.

We stayed at Kampong D Langkawi Guest House for 1 night. It’s a budget yet cozy guest house. It located near to Kuah town and Jetty. It was perfect for those who want to catch early ferry to Koh Lipe like us. 

We took the ferry at the morning and arrived at Koh Lipe and check-in at Ricci House Resort around 12noon at the second day. After checking in the resort, we took a good rest before exploring around the island as the sun was so blazing out there.

Pattaya Beach - Upon arrival at Koh Lipe, there is immigration checkpoint too.

These boats appear to be floating in mid-air.

Holiday is all about beach and food! Ricci House near by to walking street and beaches. We were glad that we stayed at here. Plus the clean room and friendly staff, I would definitely recommend this resort for you all.

The main public transport of the island. 

It was time for food hunt. Tomyam, sticky Mango Rice, Som tam, Thai Tin Krab are all in my food hunt list! All the restaurants that we have tried served very tasty Thai food with reasonable price. I wish I could stay here for a month!

You can catch the sunset at end of Sunrise beach or Sunset Beach. Both of the location were nice, but I would preferred view from Sunset beach.

My friend and the sunset.

See you tomorrow. Mr Sun.

There were many activities that you can do it at here; you can join the tour to go for snorkeling, diving, island hoping and etc. Due to only 3 days 2 nights at this island, my friends and I made up our mind not joining any tour but to spend the good amount of times within this island. We felt great for spending time for doing nothing at here while facing the white sandy beaches and crystal clear ocean.

MuiMui: Can I swim? Please~

Pattaya Beach - My favourite and crowded beach in Koh Lipe

We managed to wake up at 6am to catch the sunrise during last day of our trip.

He reminding me - It's time to get back to work :(

The trip were great but it was a bit pricey compared with others trip due to the ferry fare and the accommodation in Koh Lipe.

Anyway, I’m feeling recharge now. It was really joyous to have a short break at here. Thanks for being such a perfect destination for my short break. 

iEat @ Pyttipanna

I can't resist pouring away the bacon grease. Who can? I usually make Pyttipanna with the bacon grease that I had from the breakfast. It never failed me. The Pyttipanna always taste great with you cook it with bacon grease. 

Pyttipanna is a swedish dish. I learnt about this dish when I traveled to Stockholm a while back. I'm not a big fan of potato but I love this dish.

Ingredients :

- 4 diced potato

- 2 diced carrots

- 2 diced onions

- 1/2 cup of chicken broth

- a handful of cilantro

- salt and pepper

Method:

1. Heat the skillet and add int bacon grease. 

2. Stir in onion when the grease is hot.  Cook the onion until it become translucent and fragrant.

3. Add in carrot and potato. Stir fried it in with medium heat for 8-10 minutes. 

4. Pour in the broth and let it simmer for a bit until the potato and carrots is tender.

5. Taste and add seasoning. You can add a good pinch of pepper and salt.

6 Garnish with cilantro and serve.

Top with a fried egg for protein. This dish usually serves with beetroot pickles.

iEat @ Carrot Lentil Soup

Lentils are widely use in Indian cuisine. It contains high amount of protein. I love lentils because it is cheap and easy to cook. 

We decided to go vegan last weekend and so I made carrot lentil soup as dinner!

The soup is easy to make. It tastes pretty good :D

Ingredients :

- 2 tablespoons olive oil

- 7 cloves of garlic, minced

- 2 tablespoons of minced ginger

- 1 large onion, diced

- 2 large carrots, cut into smaller chuck

- 3/4 cup dried red lentils, wash and soak for 30 minutes 

- 3/4 cup coconut milk

- 5 cups of water

- 2 tablespoons of coriander, finely chopped

- 2 teaspoons of curry powder

- 1 teaspoon of salt

Direction 

1. Heat the oil in a pot with medium heat

2. Stir in garlic, ginger and onion. Stir until onion translucent and fragrant.

3. Throw in carrots and cook until softened. 

4. Add in curry powder and salt and stir for about 1 minutes.

5. Pour in lentils and water and bring it to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until carrots and lentils are softened. About 10 minutes.

6. Add in the coriander and coconut milk. Stir well. 

7. Transfer the soup to the blender. Blend it until smooth or to the texture of your liking. 

The carrot lentil soup is ready! It make a complete dinner with few slices of bread. 

Happy cooking :)

iPlay @ Penang, Batu Feringghi

Penang (as known as Pulau Pinang) is an island of Peninsular Malaysia. It's has a lot beautiful beachers. It also rich with multicultural history. Penang is Malaysia's food paradise as well. But for this time, I only going blog about sunrise.  

As usual, I celebrated Chinese New Year with my family in Penang. I managed to sneak out to catch sunrise at Batu Ferringhi before the celebration started.

It took approximately 30 mins car ride from Georgetown to here. The sunrise time at Bat Ferringhi is around 730am. Early bird catches the sunrise and I'm one of them!

  

Beautiful sunrise in orange. 

The gentle ocean waves. 

The beach where i catch these photo.

The last photo is taken from Gurney drive. The sun was already rise up so high.

I like the sun reflection on the sea. 

iPlay @ Shangrila, Yunnan - Part 2

We have visited Fei Lai Si monastery. It was walking distance from our hostel. It is a beautiful temple that nestled high above the Mekong valley at an altitude of 3300 meters on the road to Lhasa. This is the place for Tibetans to pay homage to the sacred mountain.  Feilai Temple has a viewing platform for tourist to enjoy the view of Mount Kawagebo. October and May is the best season to see golden sun rise hitting on snow capped peaks of Mount Kawagebo. We are not lucky enough to see it as we went to there on Jun.

Fei Lai Si monastery

White blanket of the snow covered the mountains

We left this beautiful town and headed to Pudacuo (or Potatso) National Park. The national park is qualifies as a natural wonderland. It contains endemic species of fish found nowhere else in the world, rare and beautiful.  The entrance fee is 258RMB per person including the shuttle bus fare in the park. Pudacuo has two huge lakes which is Bitahai and Shuduhu lakes. The park shuttle bus will take you from visitor centre to Shudu Lake and follow by Bita Hai Lake. Visitor can either take a boat ride (RMB 50) around the lake or walk down the roughly 2km path to the exit of the park.  

We estimated to spend around 4 to 5 hours at this place. So my friends and I decided to walk along the park instead of taking a boat ride as we can stop by anytime. We have stopped by a few time to capture the photo and enjoyed the quiet and leisurely of this park. But unfortunately, rain and hail started to fall before we exit the park! “Run!!!” We ran as fast as we could to the exit. That was how we end our visit at Pudacuo national park. It was a fun though *Crying*

I still can manage to take few nice photos while rushing under the heavy rain and hail.

Bitahai Lake

The Beard trees, Shuduhu lake

Rainy view at Shuduhu lake is still beautiful

At the evening, we reached ancient town of Dukezong in Deqin. Dukezong means moonlight city in Tibetan. It is a Tibetan town in Shangrila, Yunan Province. The town is over thirteen hundred years old.  Although it is a very old town, but that don’t impress me much. The town has been destroyed by the huge fire in Jan 2014. Most of the building is still reconstructing. Thankfully, the Guishan Dafo Templein Dukezong is well maintenance after the fire last year.

Religious architecture of Guishan Dafo Temple

The 60-ton prayer wheel is one of famous tourist destination in Shangri-la. Tourists and local residents twirl the giant prayer wheel to submit prayers. Remember, do it only clockwise, as religious tradition dictates.  

The prayer wheel. 

Guishan Dafo temple and the eye catching prayer wheel. 

This is where we spent our last night at Shangri-la.

iPlay @ Shangrila, Yunnan - Part 1

Shangrila, formerly known as Zhongdian. It has renamed to Shangrila City in 2001 in order to attract more tourists

The author of novel Lost Horizon describes Shangrila as a mystical, harmonious valley. The statement is so true to me because the city is consists of continuous snowy mountains, endless grasslands and azure lakes.

We went to Shangrila with a travel agent from Li Jiang – Aladin(www.ly234.com). The travel packages that offered by this travel agency were on the high side but hey this agency was strongly recommended with reliable reputation. Please be aware, there were a lot of local tour came with cheaper price, but the hidden cost almost endless. You can customize the itinerary or go with the standard itinerary that provided by the travel agency. We have designed the itenerary our own and sent it to them.

It took around 4 hours to reach the Shangri-La from Li Jiang. Our initial plan is to visit largest Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Yunnan which is Song Zan Lin monastery. But the tour guide from Aladdin advised us to visit to Dong Zhu Lin Si which also another Tibetan Buddhist temple. Because Song Zan Lin has been commercializing due to tourism and overcrowded too. The entrance fee for Dong Zhu Lin Si was much cheaper than Song Zan Lin!

Dong Zhu Lin Si as beautiful as Song Zan Lin. It was a serene and holy place. It has many beautiful intricate paintings inside and houses several precious status. There were monks chanting in the main hall.

The main hall of Dong Zhu Lin Si

Guardian lion statue

Inside the Monastery

After visiting the temple, we went to Feilaishi. It tooks about 30 mins from Deqin, a town in Shangri-la. Our tour guide shared the living cultural and historical of Shangri-la with us along the road. I found that the mythology of Kawagabo peak- highest mountain in Chinese province of Yunnan was very intersting. Kawa gebo means “God of Snow Mountain” in Tibetan. Many mountaineering team tried to conquer, but they all failed. No one ever made to the peak of the mountain. 

The first bend of the Jin Sha river

Prayers flag at here reminded me of the Nepal trip

Aladin travel agent arranged a cozy guesthouse for us. The view from the room's window was stunning! The guesthouse just sits opposite of Kawagebo peak. We took a good rest and get ready to Ming Yong glacier the next day. 

I loved sitting by the window to enjoy splendid view of the mountain

You can either walk up or hire the ponies to Ming Yong Glacier. It took about 4 hours to get nearer to Ming Yong Glacier. Trekking at high altitude was exhausted but we choosed to walk as I wonder will it be uncomfortable to ride on a pony for 4 hours?? We started our journey to Ming Yong Glacier early in the morning before the weather become hot.

Heading to Ming Yong glacier

We have prepared some snacks, energy bars and drinks too. You can get the compressed biscuit from mart too.

Passed by Tai Tze temple

Kawagebo peak with Ming Yong glacier

For those with good stamina can continue further up to the Lianhua temple. We were almost K.O so uable to make it to the temple. 

On a side note, I felt sad to know that Mingyong Glacier has been receding due to global warming.

After a tiring and fun filled day, we headed back to the guesthouse to enjoy the local food and free time with travel mates. 

Kawagebo accompanied by bright little stars