Korea: land of kimchi

martial art performance in Suwon

 Me and Colleen had made the leap of faith when we booked our ticket to Korea. It was purchased more than a year ago, and the price was rather tempting. It only cost us RM1500 for two, which is a fraction of what people used to pay to travel oversea.

The journey itself took us 6 hours, but given the improvement in Airasia lately, the flight was bearable. However, I still have difficulties in my leg room. Expected.

Nami island

Arriving in Incheon, we took the airport bus to reach Jonggak station, whereby we checked in Ciara 920. The budget hotel resemble more of a dormitory instead. The room was tiny but the location was just right in front of Jonggak metro station. Going around would required a T money card, much alike to most advanced country.

Night 1: After quick dinner, we walked to Gwanghwamun square whereby we checked out few statues and free admission to King Sejong and Admiral YiSun exhibition below the square. Not bad for a free exhibition.Continuing the free night walk, we strolled along Cheonggyecheon, a decorated stream, which by now, one can find lots of locals just sitting here and enjoying each others' company, Walking along the stream brought us to Dongdaemun (bout 2 km+ walk) which supposed to be the place for fashion shopping. Expect more of shopping complex style rather than street stalls (although there is lots). Still prefer wufenpu in Taipei which I guess was more lively.

drawing at Gyeongbukgung

Pungyu performance at Deoksugung

typical chess playing outside Jongmyo

Day 1: The first day was palace hunting day. Starting from Gyeongbokgung, this is the biggest and the most tourist friendly palace. The only palace to visit if one had to pick one. Arriving just in time for guard change, there are more activities here, eg the free trial of traditional costume. At the back is Blue House, Korea's own white house. At the side would be 2 worth to visit museum, Folk Museum and Palace Museum. We then travel to Jongmyo Shrine, in time for the 2.30pm tour. One must join tour in order to enter Jongmyo. Basically tomb for dead king, it was the peace and quiet that attracted me. Travelled to Gyeonghuigong later, although free, it is small compare to the rest. No need to travel here unless have plenty of free time. Night would be Deoksugong, since this is one of the palaces open til night. We managed to catch Pungyu performance there too, for free.

wedding shots in Changgyeonggung

Day 2: DMZ tour by USO, totally worth it. Travelling to JSA, which is the border between south and north, we later visited 3rd infiltration tunnel, Dora observatory and end with Dora station. It helped us a lot since we did bit of reading of Korea history so we could appreciate more of the tour. Since the tour finish early, we still manage to visit Changyeonggung. This palace is special since that much of the area is a garden itself, with lake. Nice for a evening stroll. We end the night with visit to Seoul tower. We did not visit the observatory since the queue was super long, but spend more time in Teddy Bear museum instead.

Day 3: We took the subway to Suwon, started with a brief walk along the fortress, but gave up looking at the uphill climb. We went to the palace instead, Hwaseong Haengung. It was rather a mistake since by now, we were very familiar with palaces. Even the free martial art show did not interest us much. We should have go to Cultural Village earlier. There are few notable performance, especially the farmers' dance. There are so much to do here that we regretted that we arrive late. Spend the night in Insadong, it was fair, though I prefer Ximending in Taipei, since both place boast of modern art and young vibes.

Cheonggyecheon

Day 4: this was suppose to be our reserve day in case we miss anything. We went to Bukchon Hanok Village first thing in the morning. Just walk around, looking at traditional houses which real people actually stay in. Interesting the first hour, but nothing kept us here longer. Walked to Changdeokgung, and joined Secret Garden tour. They also limit the visitors to Secret Garden so had to come earlier to book our place. Afternoon was Hongdae area visit and we managed to catch Nanta show there. We took the night off and stroll along Insadong and area near Ciara.

view in Changgyeonggung

Day 5: sort of our last day, we traveled all the way to Nami island. Took the subway to Gapyeong and taxi to the wharf. Although the scenery is breathtaking, but to me, it was not worth the long journey unless one is a true Winter Sonata fan. Spend the late afternoon in Namdaemun for shopping. Catering more towards tourists, this probably is a better place to shop for souveniors.

Day 6: this was our day to journey back. Went to the airport earlier, there are lots of things to do there too. Look out for cultural centre in the airport itself, and we were impressed with art drawing and traditional costume trial.

Overall, we truly enjoyed our trip, though i hind thoughts, we could have limited the palace hunting. Food is something not exactly awesome, I still do not understand much about the fascination of kimchi, but we truly enjoyed our dakgalbi. The place is totally tourist friendly although most of the Korean can only speak limited English. Recommended!

ratings: 4 poink!
comments: DIY trip is really do-able. Do not miss DMZ trip (look for the tour with JSA in the schedule, it is more expensive but standing in front of North Korea soldiers are worth it)

Bourne Legacy: still the Bourne formula

I started off not really liking the Bourne stories. I always thought the name was bit sissy. However, few movies down, I am a Matt Damon fan. And in the last outing, Bourne Ultimatum, I found myself cheering for Bourne. Ah well, they refuse to let the premise dies, and therefore, supposedly continuing the legacy.

Watching Bourne Legacy is like watching Bourne Identity again. Same in most ways, different in some, it is basically set on the same universe, sort of a spin-off from Bourne. Bourne did not appeared in any scene (except in news), but the movie happens because of what happen with Bourne. Now, that is a nice idea.


Like Bourne, Aaron Cross is also product of a top secret government project. Because of Bourne expose in Ultimatum, the rest of the super soldier project were at risk of suffering similar fate. Therefore, to safe keep the secret, the top rank official had to pull the plug, and therefore erase the whole thing. That includes killing every agent and scientist involved. Cross survived and in the process, rescue one of the scientist and travel around the globe to sort of stabilize the enhancement they improve on his body and mind. Now, do you see the resemblance of Bourne Identity? Secret super soldier agent, double cross by the employer, surviving.



The pace of the story is good. It may not have the physical intensity, the suspense is still gratifying. Seeing how Cross outsmart the government is somehow nice. Not much of fight scene, but the mental suspense would keep you on your seat. Pacing is good, though draggy in certain stretch. Jeremy Renner as Aaron Cross? Ever since Hurt Locker, he played his card well. He portray Cross well, someone who was forced to the corner, to survive on his own wits. Rachael Weisz. Elegant. Chemistry. No complain in that department. So, does the movie shine? Not exactly. As much as the pacing is good, nothing much happen in the movie except seeing the pair escape from the house, airport, factory in Philippines, and last motorcycle chase. That basically summarize everything. As much the acting is solid, the character was not properly develop except only one scene where Cross showed his own obituary where you can sense his sadness. Then again, this movie, like Bourne Identity, serve more of a prologue to the rest of Cross movies.

ratings: 3 poink!
comments: there should be sequels. And I do like Aaron Cross name better than Bourne.

Taste Good: suprisingly nice noodle!

 My third post of the day. So will try to make this short. Was driving around in New Town, Kampar to look for a good family Sunday dinner, and found this joint, Taste Good. This used to be My Dream so obviously the dream did not last long. Just beside the main road, behind Ochado, and next to the new Domino pizza, you would not miss this place.

Deco: modern, love it. Service is nice. They even have their own orange uniform. Good!


The menu: essentially this is a Chinese noodle fare. Even the chinese name meant King of Fried Noodle. And the writing on the door showed Buntong fried noodle.  To be fair, have not tried Buntong fried noodle and did not know they were famous in the first place. Service is fast, with a smile as well. They trained their staff well. There is even a big LCD TV inside so  it is simply cozy to eat and watch TV at the same time.


The food. That is the most important thing. Living up to their name sake, the fried noodle is really nice. I ordered fried meehoon with kueitiao (RM 6.90) and it was simply "cun"! Cooked with such " wok-hei" it should be eaten hot, otherwise it would be too oily. It reminded me of the Hainan fried noodle when I was a kid, and this, definitely is really good. It do mimic the road side stall style but of the better ones.




The soup noodle on the other hand, is average at best. Dad took the curry beehoon (RM 5.50). Somehow when the bowl came, the beehoon probably had been left too long and became soggy. So the noodle swelled to twice the original size. The curry is actually nice, which is a pity how the dish turn out. The curry mee is lacking stuff though. Mostly served with chicken meat, I preferred my curry mee with more stuff such as taufupok, chasiew, cockles and stuffs. You get the idea. Mum ordered chicken horfun (RM 5.50) which is actually quite good. The soup is one of the nicer ones with tinge of prawn taste. The only draw back is the soup is too sweet. Do not know how it turn out that way. Pity though, the soup could be a winner. Lastly, Colleen ordered laksa (RM 2.90). The size is small, even for my wife who is a small eater by the way. It actually taste quite okay, except that it was, again, too sweet. Too sweet for me or my wife liking....too bad. Again, it could be a winner. There are some simple western dish and bread as well, but not sure whether they are worth it though.

Overall, the fried noodle alone is worth the visit. The rest, well, is average and worth to try though.

ratings: 3 poink! (1 out of 3 is super nice)
comments: road side "tai-cao" style food in a cafe environment and price.

Taste Good
2234, Jalan Batu Sinar,
Bandar Baru Kampar,
Kampar
05-4661266

Sin HupKee: decent Chinese fare

the crowd on a weekday

This will be a fast review. Why? Although so many people and bloggers have good words on this place, I was bit on the ambivalent side. Do not be confused though, the food is actually rather nice and decent.

Ask around, in Jln Leong Sin Nam, on the side road from Central coffee shop, you would find Sin Hup Kee in the middle of the shop lots. It used to be a single shop lot, but since business is booming, now they actually expanded into the next shop lot. The crowd would tell you the food would not disappoint. Even on a weekday, the place is so crowded.

3 yolk steamed egg

salted fish with "falam"

On the menu is the normal chinese dish, so there is basically no menu at all. The price is rather on the economical side, so prepare to spend bout RM10 per person depending on what one order.

kangkong

The dish do come super fast, so for one so hungry as me, this is joy to my tummy. Now lets see... the 3 yolk steamed egg is smooth, one of the better ones. Recommended by some of the blogger and yes, I do agree to their taste buds as well. Next, the salted fish in a pot with "falam"....now, that is my favourite dish anywhere, and I felt they had not done the dish justice. The falam lacks the fat, making the whole dish rather dry. The kangkong is, well, rarely people would spoil the dish, so they do not disappoint in this area. The marmite pork ribs is rather tasty, though I prefer my ribs to have bit of fat. Hey, I just realize they are trying to be healthy, but hey,  if I want healthy, I would just cook at home.

marmite pork ribs

I can understand why some people would have high regards of this place. The food is decent, service is fast, the place is clean. However, some of the dishes is good, some are fair, some lacks the ummph. Do come and try, you may disagree with me.

ratings: 3 poink! (extra poink for being super fast)
comments: still cant dethrone Sun Mapoh which is as fast, and the food is consistently good, though the place felt rather old.


Sin Hup Kee,
Jalan Leong Sin Nam, Ipoh

Ray of Hope: sometimes, it is more than food

 I first heard of Ray of Hope from my grandaunt, I was surprised. Then with some search on the internet; I am further impressed with the settings; with CIMB and Hong Leong bank on board, this place should be a gem.

cheese tarts: simple and nice

The place, however, is not easy to find. Even with the map; and GPS coordinate, it is still hidden. Therefore, do some googling before embarking to find this place. One of the easier way is from Aeon (JJ) to Bercham; you would definitely bound to come pass this place. If you are coming from Bercham, it is hidden behind WongKam food court, go beyond the residential area, heading towards Ipoh Garden, one will pass by some shop lots beside 2 big fields, this cafe is tucked in the corner. However, they are only open from 0900 to late tea time so make sure do not come here for dinner.

Thai fried rice: not so thai though

Something about Ray of Hope. It is essentially a foundation to train less fortunate group. In one of the section had been renovated to serve as a cafe. As far as I know, there is a small bakery beside the cafe as well. The trainee will serve as waiter and waitress beside helping out in the kitchen. So do not be surprise when they actually come to serve you and take your orders. And they are friendly too!

The deco is homely, simplistic and that works well. Service may not be as fast, but it is the heart that matter most. The smile they show is straight from the heart; and that itself, should make the trip here worth it.

cheese baked rice

The menu is essentially western and local. The usual western fare of chicken chop and pasta is there. I manage to come on 2 different occasions and if strictly speaking on food; they fare from good, decent to much room to improve. The western dish is okay, I guess. One of the one we tried was cheese bake rice, which is not so much cheese flavoured. It tasted more like nasi pattaya. The cheese taste was bit too subtle for me. Then again, cheese bake rice is not a true western fare either. The local dish is better on average. The other day, I tried their nasi lemak with rendang ayam (RM5.50), and frankly, that was one of the better rendang I tasted. It suit the nasi lemak well. My friend Ngou tried seafood crispy egg noodle (RM5.00) and his comment was good. Tried their Thai fried rice however it tasted more like nasi goreng kampung though. Then again, it is still nice though.

The dessert is more consistent I guess. The cheese tart are quite good as dessert or even starters. Last but not least is their bakery product. Not exactly the best but definitely decent, and nice.

Overall, if good food is all that you are looking for, then maybe there are many more cafe who serve better food. But then again, if you want good food served and cook with a heart, there is no better place than here.



ratings: 3 poink! (considering the food, and the nice place; if considering the whole concept, the place do deserve a higher ratings)
comments: It is the experience that counts. Food sometimes, is secondary.

Cafe Ray of Hope
26, Persiaran Bercham Selatan 31,
Taman Sri Kurau, Ipoh
05-5488796

Hantu Gangster: polished but artificial

I may be very bias with Namewee's movie. I actually like Nasi Lemak 2.0. I followed his songs before Negarakuku. I emphatise with him when he go and give Tenaga Nasional staff a headache. And naturally, people would make comparison between Nasi Lemak 2.0 with Hantu Gangster....

The story? Namewee had gone patriotic. The Malay, Chinese and Indian gangs used to be good friends.Their respective leaders were suppose to be "brothers". That was before one of the Malay gangster, Ewan plotted and murder all the 3 leaders. The 2nd generation began to fight among themselves, thus upsetting the unity among races. Namewee is a street thief, and while he stole a ring belong to the Malay leader, manage to see the ghosts of the 3 leaders. So, naturally the ghosts forced him to help uncover Ewan's plot and restore the unity among the 3 gangs.

Despite sounding okay on paper, the story really come across forced. It sounded like a Merdeka film (which coincide with August anyway). The unity among the 3 races sounded cheesy, but work on certain extent (what happen to "lain-lain" on the ethnicity list?). And they keep reminding us that this gangs started to look after the welfare of the people and only now, people lost their meaning and become monsters. Even the end credit song remind us that gangster is suppose to be good. Come on, gone is the era of Young and Dangerous. In a movie to remind us to be nice to each other of different skin colour, and yet it glorify gangster(despite reminding us of true meaning of Geehin and Haisan era); I just do not buy it. And the way unity message is preached across? It was even worse the a Jack Neo movie. There were moral message of unity every corner especially when the 3 ghosts appeared together. Spending 1 half hour preaching the same message is too much.


The jokes? Probably most people entering the cinema expecting to laugh their butts off like Nasi Lemak. But, alas, the jokes are not as funny. Even some of the jokes are repeated from Nasi Lemak. It may meant to be a Namewee trademark (ie the broken Chinese English subs which sounded still funny, but the head shaking chap is not), but most do not come in as funny the second round. However, the opening sequence is good enough to tickle anyone. The songs are okay, and boy, do I miss the songs from Nasi Lemak. Those songs are enough to tickle me. The songs here are well produced, but lack the funny moments.Having said that, the end credit rap song is really well done.

So, am I saying it is a bad movie? Not really. Namewee did improved a LOT in film-making. This movie is more refined; better directed; and well produced. Only some minor editing issue (which I suspect was censor problem instead) sort of caused some disjointed flow of the story. Good job! The main saving grace is the acting. Some really solid work from everyone, especially Farid Kamil as Ewan. Mind you, Namewee is NOT the only main star in the show; seems everyone get a fair airtime. It is still great to see so many big names collaborating. The best part is, their guest appearance do not appeared forced. Even Amber Chia's role sort of suit the story (unlike in some movie, the role is sort of created for the star to make guest appearance).



Overall? If I did not ever watch Nasi Lemak, Hantu Gangster would be more enjoyable. However, since I did watch it before, this film come across still lacking and bit forced no matter how refine it is comparatively.

ratings: 2 half poink!
comments: Namewee lost his rebel identity, and worse, appeared to lost the ability to laugh at ourselves. Despite that, I would still pay to watch his next film. Happy merdeka!

The Dark Knight Rises: deserved end to the trilogy

Good things don't come in pairs. They come in 3. Matrix. Lord of the Ring. And now, of course, Christopher Nolan's Batman. And now, the ending of the trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, rises and live up to the hype and expectations. 



The story, picks up 8 years after the 2nd movie, The Dark Knight. Harvey Dent aka Two Face is dead. However, Gotham City did not know the truth and basically Dent died a hero, presumed killed by Batman. It does not matter, as the whole city is now at peace. Comes along Bane. He basically has his own army of mercenaries, kidnapped an atomic bomb from Wayne's company; single handedly isolated the police force and threw Gotham city into chaos. People riots, the rich was executed and prisoners freed. Batman, who was defeated before this, (as the title of the film suggested) rises again to save the city. The end.

Sound simple? The story may sound corny, but under Nolan's hand, is actually good. Different take on Batman from the highly acclaimed Dark Knight which deals more with inner struggle, identity, and therefore Joker did make a really suited villain. This deals more with hope and despair on a bigger level, on the society level, and Bane did make a decent villain. At first, I was bit skeptical whether would Bane be a good choice, but now, I am just thankful that it was not Riddler as the choice. And of course, there is always a Nolan twist to the story, so am not spoiling it here.

Acting is good. Expect nothing less from Bale. Action is awesome, then again, this is not a usual action movie, so do not expect Transformer kind of action here. This is more of a psychological thriller. But, the plan/ copter is nice; and the bat cycle is really cool, especially how it turns. Which I have a bike like that. Anne Hataway as Catwoman? Well, lets just say she did a way better job than Halle Berry. Then of course, there is always some hole in the story here and there, but again, Nolan manage to distract us from the hole, and keep our eyes on the bat.

Overall, as a stand along movie, this is definitely THE summer blockbuster to catch. But if anyone compares to The Dark Knight... now, I still like the Joker better.

ratings: 4 poink!
comments: bit too long. Otherwise, it is a fitted ending to the Batman trilogy. However, do not compare with the second movie, it will make anyone enjoy this movie less.