Ko Lipe Day #3

Day #3 21st March 2008
This day began early.
By 5:45am, we were already out waiting for the Sun to rise.

























Dawn is always cool............and full of hope!













The sea was calm, the boats anchored, while all fishermen were still in their sweet dreams.........













Then at 6:23am, the sun first show his face........













And within seconds, the whole beach came to life again.It's time to get ready for yet another exciting day. Today, we started with a place to witness some colourful soft corals. However, the current there was too strong for comfort. We had to clink on to a strong rope just to station at the right spot. However, the visibility was not too good after a while. Nevertheless, it was a good experience!

Next, we aimed to go for bigger groupers, but due to very strong waves, Pei Yean and Bee Gim were down within seconds. Hence, we resorted to some sheltered bay for smaller fish, which we pulled out quite a bit.

Bee Gim was lucky to hook up a small squid this time. It's pretty translucent, looked delicious too.













When it's lunch time, we headed towards a white sandy beach somewhere in Ko Adang, and you could see the corals in the crystal clear water behind PeiSun













This beach was incredibly beautiful, calm with crystal clear water.













We were the only group landed today.

























This hermit crab welcome us with a smile as we stepped on his private beach........Everybody asked, "What shall we have for lunch today?"
'What we fished is what we eat!' was the answer.
Lets look at our catch: and.....

Hmmmmmm! We voted for 2 ways of cooking:
First, we have our Japanese chef,preparing sashimi, fish and squid

And also, we hired a BBQ chef, doing some wild fire 'ikan bakar', Ko Lipe style.
with the help of 2 assistants
Almost cooked now..........OK Lunch is ready...........! Notice our wasabi and soya sauce :)

A very healthy lunch of only 20 fishes and squid!

However, we took so much time enjoying ourselves that the tide receded too much for our boat to depart when we were ready to go :( So we had to wait for some 1.5 hours, till the tide was high enough for the boat to glide out without damaging any coral. Meanwhile, we all had a good rest on the beach. As we left the beach, Pei Yean was back to normal- no more sea sick, as you can gather from her sweet smile.

Pit Fuh caught a last shot before leaving this unnamed beach..........
And we called it a day.

More on Ko Lipe : Day #1 & day #2

This is my 6th trip to Ko Lipe, and there has been tremendous development since I last visited in Dec 2003 with Choon Ping and mummy. Nevertheless, Islands of Tarutao marine park are still very beautiful. This trip, we have 4 new faces, PeiSun, PeiYean, Pit Fuh, and Bee Gim.

Our group spent 4 nights in Ko Lipe, and chartered a long tail boat for our island excursion for 3 full days at 1500Baht per day.

We managed to contact our old boat man, Liek, who most impressed me with his new mobile phone , ( No: 0831836055). Below are some of the more exciting part of our adventure.

Day#1 19th/March 2008

When we arrived at Cabana Resort, after travelling for some 11 hours from home, the first thing we pampered ourselves was a good dinner, at the 'Porn Resort'. Here we had an excellent BBQ Mackerel, which was consumed within seconds.

So we added another BBQ yellow tail.

The bill was about RM100 for 6 persons, reasonably priced.

Day #2 20th March 2008

Life in Ko Adang/Lipe always starts with snorkeling, you can see the corals even from the boat.

After we are happy talking to the fishes, we visit Ko Hin Ngam, which is famous for it's beautiful glittering black stones

No visitors dare to bring any of these stones back, as there is a curse by the God of Tarutao.

In stead, using those stones, many build their own 'tower', and we design something different ;)

This is what we called" Ninja Turtle rock"

Some towers are taller than human, as you can see from our pictures. We made some interesting shots .

This is our chief photographer in action.

A day in Ko Adang without fishing is incomplete. So let's start fishing! It's a tough job preparing everything for 4 beginners, yet we put a smile on every one's face ;(

Pit Fuh is the hero of the day, pulling in a huge 'Squid' as shown in the previous blog,

He also landed a couple of Ikan Mabong or Patut, and another big coral fish.

Look at his million dollar smile :)

We fished till sunset before we earned our dinner, 22 fishes cooked in various styles:)

And a big squid steamed with chili and lime, yum yum

However, all these come with a price.

Look at Choon's half baked back!

Now he learns the meaning of Sun Block cream :)

What is SPF 50!

Let's call it a day till now................

More to come soon...........

Look what we caught in Koh Lipe!

Freebies at Work

I got a mug, a shirt, and a nice thick fleece jacket.

"Change" happening in Malaysia!

The day we arrived in Penang is the day after Malaysia national election It's BIG news! The opposition party won big in Malaysia. Check it out! Tremendously amount of excitement fills the country. Penang is going to be ruled by the new opposition party. There is finally a sense of hope for this country. There is so much problem, finally democracy in Malaysia is maturing, this is the beginning of the 2-party democracy system. Didn't realize that when Obama is campaigning for change in the US, Malaysians are even more ready for change. The people of Malaysia have spoken, it is time for the new government to fulfill their promises.

Weekend before our trip

It has been raining recently... this Sunday, our original plan to celebrate the belated Valentine's Day with Xin & Shwe by having branch at Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay was canceled . :( However, the gathering was still on while the venue has changed to a more low key one, The Original Pancake House in Los Altos. P'ng, Judy & KX joined us as well. The food is yummy!

Later, P'ng, Judy & KX came over to our place to hang out for the rest of the day. It was great! KX also got to take a nap at our place, played with Winston, and picked some lemons. :) KX loves Winston. Toro was such a 'chicken'... she was hiding in the bedroom. Toro loves P'ng though. She sat on his lap for almost 1.5 hours straight while we were chatting, & KX was sleeping. :)



Our trip back to Taiwan & Malaysia is just around the corner... can't wait!! I still need to finish our tax... we haven't done any packing yet! So much to do yet so little time... I miss the cats already! :(

Gong Xi Fa Cai

First, this is the eldest in our family, Ah Mah, saying "Gong Xi Fa Cai" to everyone.

To start the new year, we need to prepare some special home made goodies:

The first cookie prepared is cornflake cookies, Ah girl's favourite ;)

Then comes the Coffee cookies, Choon Ping's preference:

Not forgeting my all time favourite, the big Almond cookies.

This must not be confused with the Almond crisps which PeiSun is learning in US, also Choon Ping and Ah girl's choice.

This is the traditional 'Sungai Petani Ribbon biscuit'

Then again the old time favourite " Kuah Kapek" is a must for every CNY.

And the fairly rare Kueh Bangkit too....

This is the recent favourite 'Chi Ku chips'

And finally, mummy's once a year 'carrot cake'

And the ever popular 'pineapple upside-down cake'

Well, after all preparation, our new year starts with the usual re-union dinner last night, but sad to say, only 3 of us lah :(

Yet the CNY mood is strong at home.

3 is too small a crowd to have steamboat, so we resorted to cooking some 'New year dishes' for once:

The main chef, mummy started with a 'Braise dried oyster with fish maw and abolone'. This is Ah Bee's favourite ;) She cooked that in New York a couple of times.

Then She cooked a new dish, even for me, called "Nooi Ken", which can be translated into "steam prawn egg roll"

And we bought some very big prawns and mummy cooked 'Har Lok"

And a 4 hour double boiled soup ;)

Of course, I must play my part too :)

Mine is a highly specialised CNY dish. And it needs some lengthy explanation. You will find out why later;)

First I took 3 small mackerels, scrape the meat, blend in Kenwood chef using K beater for some 30 mins, and throw in chopped union, ground pork, add various types of marinates, add 'fa choy' or hair like vegetable and then beat for another 15 mins, till paste like.

Meanwhile, boil 12 big dried oysters for 40 mins. Keep this stock.

Take 1 each of pork and liver chinese sausage. Cut into 12 pieces each, slightly fry.

Then take the cooked oyster, 1 piece each of the sausgae, and a stalk of spring onion, wrap with the fish/pork paste. Make it look like a huge goose egg. Deep fry in boiling oil for 10 mins till brown.

Using the stock from boiling oysters, boil these fried ' egg shape staffs' for another 40 minutes, thicken with cornflour and serve hot!

Ha!

Finally.........!

Preparation cum cooking time is about 4 hours, but it takes only 15 minutes to consume :(

It's so good!

So, still worth the effort lah!

I have also prepare our family traditional 'steam turnip cake' And it is very good this year, hehe. This is our daily CNY breakfast.

So, this morning, we have the first batch of visitors, Pheng Koko and Phong nya Koko, with the 2 little boys.

Cheers............

Spoilt cats

We got a new bed for the cats from Big Lots when we were at Meadville for Christmas vacation. Meeku loves the bed:

So does Rafiki, although he likes to sleep in an enclosed area:


They were fighting over the bed for a while, so Diane mailed an identical bed that we received 2 days ago. Now they each have their own bed. :) I have no idea how Rafiki climbed into the bed and covered it up with the cushion though!

Pandan Cake

Every time I go to any kitchen appliance stores selling the multi colored Kitchen Aid Mixers, my heart goes... ooh!! So, last week, Choonping and Peisun gave us our wedding present - a red kitchen aid mixer! hurray!! Thanks! Not only does it match our accent wall in our living room, it also matches a kitchen aid cookware set that I have.

I used this mixer for the first time today and yup, I love it! I decided to make a pandan chiffon cake, my all time favorite malaysian cake.


The cake turned out pretty well, it was moist and spongy, and had just enough pandan flavor to it....Next time, I should try to reduce the cracks on top, and see if I can even make it rise a bit higher by whisking the egg whites a bit more and cutting down my folding time.

In the mean time, I am going to go enjoy a piece of yummy pandan cake!