Prague - Overview

Finally, I set my foot on the city of a hundred spires - Prague; famed to be one of the most beautiful old city in Europe. Arrived in style, picked up by chauffeur from an arranged airport transfer & was delivered safely to the hotel in a shining black Audi ;). The airport transfer company also provide 3 hours of free guided tour which covers most essential parts of the city, and yes, the city's attractions are within walking distance. If your legs can't make it, there's always trams, metros or buses that gets you from A - Z.

The colourful tour guides' umbrellas

Astrological / astronomical clock

The tour group meets in front of the famous astrological / astronomical clock, built in early 15th-century, in old town square. When the skeleton of death strike the time upon the hour, the moving figures of Jesus's 12 disciples rotate and the whole process ends with a cock crow & bell chimes. If it's more than 5 minutes wait before the hour, don't spend time on this, it's a complicated clock to understand and the crowd is just a bit too overwhelming; another reason not to spend time is: you'll most probably be back a few more times during your stay, I did :-) 

St.Nicholas church at Old Town Square & the expensive shopping street beside the church

View from clock tower: crowds in old town square watching World Cup 2010

The beautiful Charles Bridge connects the old & new town of Prague at the core, decorated with statues on both side, the bridge is full of vendors selling souvenirs, paintings and 'artists' playing on the bridge while thousands (if not more) tourists flock the bridge. Both towers of the bridge provides excellent view of the city and it's definitely worth the visit to see the 'back bone' of the city.

A shot with the tower guard

Charles Bridge

View from Charles Bridge tower: Mala Straná (new town)

Charles Bridge & its tower illuminated

As if to live up to its reputation, Prague castle, which is the centre piece of the city is also the most stunning background providing a breathtaking view all day long especially near sunset. I shall write more about Prague Castle in the next blog.

Prague castle sitting beautifully.

Summer BBQ

As slow as it can get summer still has its reach in Copenhagen and screams for barbecue when there's plenty of sun. Since I don't have a garden of my own & don't really want to go down to the shared garden that's available for all other apartment residents, so an arrangement was made to visit a friend with private garden :)

Nothing more refreshing than sweet watermelon in hot days.

Beautiful flowers in garden, blooming.

Out of the many sunny days that we can get, we chose one of the hottest day with 33degC. So here it is, a hot summer afternoon with 3D TV (oh yeah...comes with cool 3D glasses but cost a fortune), golf, badminton and BBQ.

The golf

The 'lean' BBQ

The happy party.

Lángos

Ever heard of lángos? The Hungarian food speciality which is a deep fried potato flat bread from plain to various toppings with anything from cinnamon and sugar to cheese and Mexican salsa has became my favourite street food in Copenhagen. The good (or bad) thing about Europe nowadays is that food travels. What used to be only local speciality  is now available thousand miles away. 

Toni's Lángos outside Nørreport train station

Freshly made lángos

I've never try the authentic Hungarian ones albeit being in Budapest before; tried it in Prague but can't beat one small mobile van stationed just outside Nørreport station, selling lángos daily - Toni's Lángos. Toni´s lángos costs between DKK25 to 40 depending on the topping. My favourite topping? shredded cheese, no doubt. 

My favourite lángos with cheese topping

Lángos with meat sauce & crème fraiche

Why it's called Toni´s lángos? I have no idea. I've seen 3 different person handling the lángos making, none of them looks like 'Toni' but they actually have good consistency among themselves to produce nearly identical quality piping hot delicious lángos, the only difference is how much topping they put. If you're visiting Copenhagen, do stop by Nørreport station and give it a try. Toni´s lángos operates from around 9am to 6pm. It's worth a small detour. You'll love it!

Penang Summary

Obviously my new year resolution is about to fail terribly for the first quarter for this is ONLY my first blog after New Year (shame shame)... went back to my lovely, all time hot & humid hometown - Penang on business trip for 2 weeks (I took a week's vacation on top of that) in conjunction with Chinese New Year celebration.

First impression after the 'long' 10 months apart from Penang is: crowded. Penang is just flocked by people coming from nowhere; streets are filled with heavy traffic (especially down town); restaurants are always full; and even toilet queues are always long!!!

I must admit I felt the Penangites are rather 'dressed down' in airport upon arrival but the heat very soon reminds me of how I used to 'dress down' and the reason behind. Hence, the very next day (I arrived in late evening), I've 'localized' with newly bought short pants, t-shirt & sandle and walking the 'down-dressing' culture ;)

Visited quite a lot of temple, the Kek Lok si, the sleeping buddha, the burmese temple, the Goddess of Mercy temple and I think the temples must be really rich to be decorated so nicely during the festive season. Love the lanterns...
It's becoming a routine to go for massage & spa session in Danai Spa everytime I go back. Feel brand new everytime after the massage and skin scrubbing. Despite its luxurious outlet in G-Hotel (and the fact that I'm staying there), I still prefer its first outlet in Tanjong Bungah for the outdoor experience. The only disadvantage is a 'collection' of mosquito bites on the 'new born' skin, sob sob...

My first visit to the Penang Peranakan Mansion, really really nice, especially if you know the culture. We're being toured by a Malay guy and I think I could have been a better guide ;)

Visit Penang Hill (view from top shown below), first time after my first visit when I was 5 years old and I can certainly explain why I never re-visit...it's hot along the way up hill in the funicular, packed with people (I feel like canned sardine fish) and it's very very slow. Sadly, the condition didn't change after all these years, still hot & packed & slow.

Saw the street sign board with 3 language street name (indian & malay street name at the back). It was a big debate back then whether to use traditional chinese or simplified chinese, I guess I know the verdict now ;)

Brought Mr.T home to present to my parents (he received a lot of 'ang pao' during the period, ishh) and of course he has to try a little bit of everything from Penang's wide range of food to 'taste' Penang. Refer picture below, (clockwise from top left): poori in mamak stall; hasma (frog's fallopian tube) from Dragon-I; char koay teow (fried flat noodle) from Golden Bay hawker food center; egg toast with sugar from a down town local coffee shop (he caught a lot of attention) & a mix of nyonya kuih (peranakan sweet cakes).

On top of that, also watched a RM10 movie (Percy Jackson, won't recommend it though); catch up with some friends and was surprised to find out a few of them (including some relatives) are getitng married in 2010/2011, some are even expecting babies...oh no...I feel old!!!

While I was away, some new restaurants pop up and out of curiousity, I sampled a few of them and was absolutely amazed with the fantastic super delicious food quality. Some highlighst:-

Mixed roast meats (roast chicken, roast duck & roast pork belly) from Canton-I, Queensbay Mall. The roast pork belly is unbelievable delicious, their roast BBQ pork with honey glazed is also great (not in picture)

Iced yun yong (coffee & milk tea mixed), used to be a Hong Kong specialty, now very common in Penang as well. The one from Canton-I is by far the best I've ever tasted. RM5.50 per glass though & Mr.T typically drinks 2 glasses!

Another nice surprise from Canton-I - deep fried durian. I didn't expect it to be as nice as this...fantastic. Hence explains my frequent visits to Canton-I (4 times in 2 weeks)

Belacan fried chicken in Mama's nyonya food, so delicious...it's 10 on scale of 10. It comes with a dipping sauce, a dip, brings the chicken's perfect score taste to heavenly.

For roast duck, don't ever miss out Xuan Xin's (in Gurney Hotel) roast duck. Crispy skin on the outside, full flavoured juicy meat on the inside, top with dipping sauce, mmmm...now I miss the roast duck!

Stayed in 3 hotels during this trip: G-Hotel, Equatorial Hotel & Eastin Hotel. Out of the three, I'd recommend G-Hotel for its central location, quality of service & its lovely pool; Eastin for the price & its proximity to the Free Trade Zone where most Multi-national companies are (in other words, close to work); but not Equatorial Hotel (EQ). EQ is one of the first 5 stars hotels with gold course but it seems to be going down hill. A friend who works in EQ said the hotel is under-going some renovation and the quality is expected to be improved after the new 'face lift' but I think I'll skip the chance & stay in G :)

Small down sides for this trip would be: bad food, 'small' scratch on car, paid unreasonable price for food (RM5 for a small bowl of prawn noodle in a local coffee shop in Gurney, it's not the amount of money but matter of feeling ripped off!!) & burnt by accidentally poured hot porridge on my back in restaurant.

Some of the bad food experience (just for your reference, from top left, clockwise):- steak in The Ship (so called 'best steak in town); green tandoori fish in Palace d'India in Queensbay Mall; soft shell crab in Sakae sushi Gurney branch; crab in 'weird sauce' in Bali Hai. I've had good experiences with these restaurants before, something must have went wrong when I'm away.

Nevertheless, a free trip home to visit friends & family plus an escape from the -11C cold Copenhagen is really really nice. For behaving good during the trip, Mr.T earn a family portrait with my family :)

New Year, New Start

Happy 2010...I know it's already 2 weeks into this new year but since I still make the mistake of writing 2009 whenever I wrote a date (force of habit), guess it's not too late for a new year greeting :)

So...2009 sum up? Lots of travel (Barcelona, Southern France, Vienna, Tokyo), first 'in-flight' (and the subsequent few) vomit, first 'in-cinema' throw up (courtesy to 'Avatar 3D') and many more that's gradually fading in my memory because it's filled up with 2010 happening & plans now.

First up: house moving (that's why I haven't manage to update my blogs for sooo... long, still more to cleanup & hopefully can get most of my old apartment down payment back), new travel plans and home trip soon (oh...all those Penang hawker food is awaiting me, yum yum).

New year resolution (limited to this blog): to update my blogs on a more regular basis than 2009's last quarter. Hopefully, if I don't give in to the exciting TV series that will make me a TV addict ;)

Frozen Lake

I have been in Copenhagen for 2 winters now but this is the first time I saw whole lakes frozen up. Last year I was back in Penang for a month during the winter, so not much to comment but this year's winter is hard and cold. All four large lakes in Copenhagen in city centre is frozen, uo to 16cm thickness (else we're not allowed to walk on it). 

Frozen lake with a little water opening left

I was so excited to walk on lake for the first time in my life. Not a good skater but I like the opportunity to see the city from another view, another angle...although it might be a little too slippery sometimes ;) Danes who are more accustomed to frozen lake are using this opportunity at a wider spectrum than I am. Skating, cycling, taking a 'short cut', putting their children on a slayer and drag along the lake...it's fun to see.

'Playing' on frozen lake

The discussing couple statue that's sitting by the lake

Glimpse of flying birds

I like snow, at least when they're fresh makes everything looks clean & beautiful & dreamy. I live in a fairy tale country!!!

Laksa

Laksa is a popular spicy noodle soup from Peranakan culture, which is a merger of Chinese and Malay, found in Malaysia & Singapore. There are several types of laksa but from where I came from - Penang, we're loyal to the ultimate laksa of all laksas - asam laksa.

Asam (tamarind) laksa is a sour fish-based soup. The main ingredients for asam laksa include shredded fish, typically mackerel, and finely sliced cucumber, onions (red / yellow), red chillies, pineapple, lettuce, mint (or daum kesum) and ginger buds; normally served with thick rice noodles and topped off with 'hae kor', a thich sweet dark coloured fermented shrimp paste.

There's no lack of recipe on the internet to cook Penang asam laksa from scratch but I received this wonderful laksa paste from my mom and also some dried laksa noodle (thick round rice noodles), just can't wait to try it out. The cold winter weather provides more reason to do so. 

Laksa paste from mom

Frozen mackerels from asian shop

A blend of sliced onion, mint, chillies, lettuce, cucumber & pineapple.

All ingredients are available from local Asian shop except the shrimp paste. Luckily I 'smuggled' a bottle with me when I came back from Penang last time. I knew there's always a need for it, at some point ;)

So boiling the fish & cook everything per instruction on the paste package and voila ~~ a bowl of steaming hot laksa. The taste? It's not as good as home, of course; but being 10,000 miles away and still can taste laksa, priceless.

A satisfying bowl of laksa