Dinner at Cincin Restaurant, Kluang

I was back home in Kluang last week, for a family dinner. It was the day of my brother's registration and my dad wanted to give a "makan" session for his non-Indian friends. We booked 3 tables in Cincin Restauarnt for the event. Friends, and family gathered for this rather small dinner party. Let's look at our first course...

For the first course, we were served with the Assorted Cold Dish Platter as our appetizer...with jelly fish salad, otak-otak, something that looked like siew mai(don't mind me, I am not Chinese), kam heong chicken, stuffed wan-ton...and all of these were pork free. Amongst all of it, we enjoyed the otak-otak, and the jelly fish salad.

Haven, Ampang Look Out Point

If you like to enjoy just the ambience of a restaurant, then Haven is the place to bring family, a significant other or just friends. It is actually  on a small hill at the edge of KL city.  There are various restaurants which shows off the panoramic view of KL city skyline as the backdrop.I do not think many people know of this place, but it is definitely a good place, just to chill out.
One of the reasons that you should come out here is the wonderful view that you get to experience while dining. In terms of the food, it is nothing to shout about, but the view is 100% excellent, and to die for...
You can actually get good and affordable food here, in contrary to popular beliefs that restaurants at Look-out Point is mediocre and expensive.

Short Trip Haridwar-Rishikesh-Mussoorie

Day 1 : I arrived in Haridwar after a 6 hour journey on Shabadhi Express, a tourist class train. It was a rather comfortable journey on that train. I checked in Hotel Ganga Azure, which is right opposite the railway station. The hotel was clean, and comfortable, but the food was superb. The Big Ben Restaurant is very famous in Haridwar, and you can check out the reviews on tripadvisors. everyone in Haridwar is a  full vegetarian and there is no liquor in this city. However, the food in Big Ben, will never make you miss the meat. We only had vegetable pakhoras for lunch, and ginger soup...and wow...oh..wow..it was great!

After freshening ourselves up and the scrumptious lunch at Big Ben, my friends and I decided to visit a few famous temples around the area, before proceeding forAarti in the evening.We visited two very significant temples, the Mansa Devi temple and the Chandhi Devi temple. Both of these temples can only be reached by cable car..interesting...

The Serenity of Vrindavan

Vrindavan is the sacred land where the breeze, the stream and every particle of earth is worshiped. The dawn starts with bells of the temple and ends with chanting of lord Radhakrishna’s name. You wander any street you will hear people hailing "radhe-radhe' instead of "excuse me", or "move aside". That is how divine, the land of Lord Krishna is.
I am not really, a true devotee of Lord Krishna, but my visit to this land, indeed brought divinity into me.  After a hard and tiring bus ride from Agra to Mathura (the nearest town to Vrindavan), my friends and I checked in to Hotel Wingston, a nice and modern hotel, with excellent vegetarian food.  We took a quick shower, grab some lunch, and asked the help of the front desk for an auto. Everyone was simply nice, from the front desk officer, to the guard, and even to the auto driver. The polite auto driver took us to the very famous ISKCON Vrindavan, Krishna Balaram Temple. those who Krishna followers, will definitely know about thsi ever so famous temple. I did not..but went along with the rest.
It is unbelievable what I  saw on my way to the temple. Old people above ninety years, young people walked the holy Parikrama  chanting Sri Radhakrishna’ s name with full vigour. The Parikrama route takes about 5-6 hours to walk through. They must have started early in the morning, and yet they seemed to have such high energy and devotion. It seemed as if the soul lives in this land with energy of devotion and age was just the external embellishment or talk of life.

Taj Mahal- The Epitome of Love

I had always wanted to travel to the countries that hosted the 7 wonder of the world, and India and its Taj Mahal is one. I had made 2 trips to India, and missed this magnificent destination. But my third trip, I made it.

After spending 2 days in Varanasi (also wrote about this mystical place in my blog), I took the Maruthar Express to Agra. The train journey was alright, because it was an overnight trip, and we mostly slept through it. I have to caution you not to eat any of food sold on the train. Our Malaysian stomachs will not accept it. I bought some biscuits just to munch fro dinner and limited my water intake,because I did not want to visit the washroom.  The train arrived Agra at 5am in the morning, and we took an auto to Taj Mahal.          

Catching a slight glimpse of the Taj Mahal

View Through the Entrance

The moment I stepped into Taj Mahal, I was in awe. Just imagine the rays of the sunrise falling on this white marble mausoleum. Wow, what a view it was,simply breathtaking. Taj Mahal is the top tourist destination of India, and is truly like a heaven for the travelers. Just enter into Taj mahal and loose yourself in the magical charm of love and beauty. Whatever I write, will not enough to describe the beauty of this magnificent monument, a “symbol of eternal love”.

Interesting Breakfast- Creative Indian Pancakes

During my brother's wedding, all my ever so talented aunts gathered for the occasion. Everyone contributed in the cooking activity, trying to outwit each other, and of course, when there is competition, there are results.

One of my aunt came up with this, really creative, nutritious and interesting dish that captivated everyone. Pancake made of dhall, vegetable, carrots and with rice flour as the base.

All of us were fascinated with her invention. It is an acquired taste, but those who had the taste buds for it, loved it. Serve with hot & spicy chutney, it was a heavenly combination. The pancakes sold out like hot cakes !!
 Just some pictures for you to savour..hahaha...

You might also like :
1.Idli- Steamed Rice Cakes & Mock Mutton Meal
2. Weekend Breakfast-Hotel Style
3.Breakfast at Day to Day, Puchong.

The Spirit of Varanasi-India.

Varanasi, India's holiest city, the perfect place of the existence of contradiction-the ancient and the modern, the mystical and the mundane, and of course, life and death. I was in Varanasi in April' 11, the place where souls attain "moksha". I stayed in Hotel Zeeras, and surprisingly I never expected such nice hotel in the midst of this town.