Tag Archives: Coffee

Back-to-back Trip

22 Jul

Last week, soon after I returned from my Interclub trip to Johor and Singapore, I had a day’s rest before heading off on another trip! This time, it was with M2, and we took the train to Ipoh.

The ETS ride by KTM was on time and comfortable. Within two hours, we arrived at the train station. It was a hot day, but M2 and I chose to walk to discover the city.

During our short 3D/2N stay in the city, we were on a mission to eat as much as we could. However, we could only manage 11 choices of food, being small eaters, not counting the Citrus Yuzu Matcha and white coffees.

Lunch on Day 1: Fruit Rojak and Kai Si Ho Fun
The start of Day 1, after lunch drink, Lamington cake and chicken rice dinner

There was time for us to even go for a short excursion to Tasik Cermin. It’s an interesting and new tourist attraction. It was there that we had the most wonderful Ipoh white coffee! So satisfying on a hot day.

Day Two brunch was half boiled eggs and toast with the best coffee!
Day Two Tau Foo Fah and Nasi Ganja breakfast and excursion; and train ride back to KL

Other than discovering food, there was not much else to do except go into every shop to browse the Heong Peah and biscuit choices. Some were very tempting, but as we were traveling by train, it was a constraint to return with additional bags on top of the two we brought. In the end, we packed everything properly and had just two extra bags, albeit a bit bulky.

Dinner on Day Two was moonlight kueh teow and blanched octopus

The short getaway was very relaxing, but ended all too soon. Both of us had some delicious eats, and both agreed that Ipoh’s pace was a tad too slow for us. Before we knew it, we were boarding the train for home.

Duck rice and pork lard noodles for breakfast before leaving Ipoh

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Ha Long and Hanoi 2025, Part 2

25 Feb

On the third day of our trip to Vietnam, we left Ha Long for Hanoi. The difference is immediate in terms of scenery and traffic. Hanoi was more congested, with more buildings, vehicles, and people. It was cold when the bus pulled up to our next hotel, within the Old Quarter.

After checking in, we went in search of food before wandering the streets to do some shopping. There were some good bargains, but I was selective and did not want to buy for the sake of buying, you know? It was my second trip to Hanoi after all – in the end, I bought two bags of aromatic coffee beans for my indulgence.

My new coffee beans
Street vendors, excellent Vietnamese restaurant, and pho by the road

The third golf game was, by far, the toughest. It was cold and misty, drizzling, and wet. Hilltop Valley Golf Club is not for the faint of heart. The low visibility made it hard to see where the ball flew. Despite the challenges, I was lucky to lose only two balls, unlike a few others, who lost a range from five to ten balls for their round! Dang.

Teeing uphill into the abyss and pray!

My putting was terrible throughout the three days, though. So bad, I have no words to describe. I can only kick myself in the butt for bringing a new, untested putter for this trip! Duh. What was I thinking? But I try not to let the putting mar my overall experience. My flightmates were fun, and it was good company.

Generally, golfing in Hanoi can be very enjoyable if the weather is cool and stays that way. It borders on discomfort when the temperature dips a little, making it hard to grip the golf clubs. Sigh, we are not used to such conditions.

Nevertheless, food is always the bright spot! Vietnamese food is very flavorful but not too extreme in its flavors or oily. Besides the food, Vietnamese coffee is the next best thing! I find myself drinking more coffee than my usual intake.

The famed Train Street, Hanoi beer, and a magnificent-looking black cockerel posing for photos

Now that this trip is done and checked off the bucket list, would I consider returning to these two places again? Of course! There are some more attractions that we missed out on because it was a golf trip above all. So long, Ha Long and Hanoi, we enjoyed ourselves despite the cold weather, but I’m sure we will be back.

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Eating in Hanoi

15 Mar

Food in Hanoi was glorious! Bursting with flavors and almost similar to the tastes in Thailand, one can easily forget the waistline! Food aside, coffee is a big thing too. Our hotel was very central in its location for food and shopping.

During the day, nothing was out, but by nightfall, tiny chairs and small tables lined up along the sidewalks in front of all the buildings, ready for customers to dine in these pop-up street restaurants. It must be the French influence that has all the chairs facing the street for people-watching. Correct me if I am wrong on this.

So vibrant!

The narrow streets became more narrow when the dining furniture was all placed outside. Yet, vehicles of all sizes still come into the streets from both directions! Yikes. Even the big canopies were insufficient to deter the traffic from the area. It was quite a sight to behold.

The ushers of the pop-up eateries were rather aggressive, fighting for customers to patronize their places. The trick not to succumb to their pushiness is to avoid eye contact and walk as fast as possible on the crowded street. Don’t even peek at the menu shoved in front of your face.

The few streets near our hotel had all sorts of offerings. Besides food at a proper restaurant, by the sidewalk, or from the street stall vendors, drinks or dessert in a café, tourists were spoilt for choice for shopping, massages, pubs, and even pharmacies. The only thing stopping one is the lack of money from going all out at everything!

Food, salt coffee and coconut ice cream that I tried
Fried chicken wing and chicken feet(!) with beer

For us, we tried some here and there. We ate, drank beer, and sat on short chairs. We also shopped, had ice cream, and drank coffee but skipped the pubs and foot massages. All these were achieved in just the two streets near the hotel after golf, unlike in Bangkok recently, where we walked so much and everywhere to do the same things.

Street performance on the first night, plus the places of interest we visited

Hanoi was fun. We also managed to take in some sights, visiting the One Pillar Pagoda, Tran Quoc Pagoda, the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, and the Vietnam Military History Museum.

Would I return? Most definitely, but plans have to factor in which time of the year for the nice cooling weather. Then, only the experience of Hanoi for its flavors, sights, sounds, and golf would be the best!

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Bangkok, We Will Be Back!

20 Feb

We spent five days in Bangkok during the first week of Chinese New Year. It was fun, tiring, eye-opening, and gastronomic. We walked more than ever to discover new places of interest, ate all kinds of food, and drank more coffee and macha tea than ever.

Hubby and I enjoyed ourselves and did not mind golf was not on the agenda despite being in Bangkok, a golf destination, for five days. The girls compromised and waited for us while we did a secondary golf-related activity on the fourth day – shopping at Thaniya Plaza, the golf shopping haven.

I bought the most expensive ball marker ever in my life! For the price I paid, I can buy a dozen new soft-range golf balls instead! For the unfamiliar, we’re talking Srixon Soft Feel 13 (2023), Wilson Duo Soft (2023), Titleist Trufeel (2022), and TaylorMade Distance +Soft (2020). Yikes, I can faint now thinking about it! It was too cute to resist, and I’m a sucker for cuteness.

The most expensive ball marker!

Hotel breakfast spreads are something I look forward to when breakfast is included with the stay, whether in Bangkok or elsewhere. On this trip, we stayed at ibis Styles Bangkok Sukhumvit 4, and their spread was not too bad. But, me being me, I ate the same things every day! I just loved the boiled rice offering.

My four breakfasts – same same but different

As for being in the city during Chinese New Year, the Year of the Dragon decorations took prominence, although not as elaborate as what I have seen in Malaysia. The dragon displays are indoors, outdoors, hanging, or placed on the ground. The biggest surprise was on the curbside of the road leading to the Grand Palace area. I thought the last one was very clever.

You can tell Bangkok was very enjoyable for us. We hope for the next trip, we can discover new and different attractions! We may stay in a different area to experience the neighborhood and surroundings. But certain places are still a must-do/go, like shopping for golf things at Thaniya and Chatuchak for great bargains. We will be back!

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Chinese New Year in Bangkok, Part 4

16 Feb

We made three short drinks and snack stops before visiting the Grand Palace on the third day in Bangkok. The first stop was for a macha green tea, followed by coffee and a pastry, and lastly, an ice cream. Fueled, we were ready for the adventure ahead.

Morning indulgence after breakfast

It was such a hot day! And oh-so crowded. You can tell that these visitors are tourists from all over the world. Just about every other person who walked past us was wearing elephant-print pants. A sure sign of a tourist!

The Grand Palace

The buildings and temples within the Palace grounds were magnificent. The Grand Palace itself was a grand piece of architecture. Unfortunately, some attractions were closed for renovations, but we didn’t mind. We just soaked in the overall grandeur of the place.

When we left the palace grounds, my legs were ready to fall off! Do we have to walk any more? We had to because there were hardly any taxis available nearby. Thank goodness for mobile data that helped us a lot during this trip. Using her mobile phone, M1 figured out which bus to take to leave the area. But the bus Number 2 we hopped on was going in the wrong direction! Hahaha. We didn’t know.

The shortest bus ride in Bangkok on bus Number 2

Nevertheless, what an experience to be on a bus with wooden flooring! How often would you get to be on one in a big city? And the conductor was kind enough to allow us to stay until the next stop without collecting any bus fare. Finally, we managed to hail a cab and headed to Siam Paragon for dinner.

Again, like the day before, it was late when we got back to the hotel. Thank goodness, the next day, the itinerary is a much more relaxed one. Phew.

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Chinese New Year in Bangkok

15 Feb

On the first day of the Chinese New Year, we flew to Bangkok, a first for us to be abroad during this festive time. Waking up in the wee hours of the morning was not ideal, especially after returning home late from the Reunion Dinner. But it was unavoidable because we had to be at KLIA early. There were news reports that the airport could not cope with the volume of travelers, so it was better to be early.

Beautiful dragon display at KLIA

Luckily, it turned out well, and our departure was on time. Yay, the holiday has begun!

It has been some years since our last trip to Bangkok, and it was nice to be back. Although it was muggy, humid, and hot, it did not matter. We were ready with USB-powered fans to keep us cool. There was so much to do, see, and eat!

Always amazed with the electrical cables in Bangkok!

Soon after we checked in, we did not waste time and got going. We walked to check off the list covering coffee, gelato (an impromptu stop), and kakigori stops. The flavors were good, for lack of a better word, and fueled us to keep moving.

Discoveries this trip

We continued our walking discovery of the vibrant city, and before we knew it, we were at The Commons for dinner. Another check off the list. Dinner was safe comfort food, but we did try a Peruvian ceviche, which was excellent with the varied flavors in a mouthful. It had been a long day by then. Time to get back to the hotel!

Comfort food and tried a new dish

Sleep beckoned the minute we entered the room. After the hot shower, it was time to hit the sack to recuperate from the day’s adventure. I clocked in more than 20 thousand steps! Yes, I was dead tired. What a start to the holiday.

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A Balancing Act

23 Apr

I have not talked about my Endometriosis problems lately because there haven’t been any, thank goodness. You could say it is under control. But any pain experienced is purely diet-related and self-induced. Meaning, if I eat things that I am not supposed to, I will feel the pain.

Recently, I went back to drinking coffee with sugar added. If there’s milk, it’s just courting trouble. So far, I must say it’s manageable because I don’t gulp the whole mug in one go. I take my time sipping, and it works out okay. I’m glad because I do have an urge for a nice cuppa once in a while. But with the added sugar, it’s a setback as far as weight is concerned. Perhaps I should drink my coffee black. Hmm.

Coffee aside, cheese is still one food I cannot handle, although I love cheese. It’s too heavy and creamy for me, and I will be all bloated and upset in the tummy. You can guess by now pizza is off my menu. Eggs, especially hard-boiled eggs, are off my menu too. Besides these, onions and beef are also food that I try to avoid.

The current coffee grounds for the French press

It’s a balancing act to manage the intake and not push my luck. Sometimes it’s hard, so discipline is essential to a happy lifestyle and healthy tummy.

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300 Jacks

21 Apr

Towards the end of last week, I started doing jumping jacks. With all this baking and cooking at home, and having stopped the 16/8 diet, I have to do something to counter the intake. Hence, the jumping jack exercise.

Dalgona coffee

We didn’t have a mixer and ten thousand whisks later to yield a sinful glass of Dalgona coffee

Butter cookie

Hubby baked butter cookies. So sweet and buttery, how to resist?

I think it’s an ideal form of exercise without having to go out of the way to exercise. Honestly to even exercise, I feel lethargic just thinking about it! So I find other means to exercise like going up and down the stairs more often, walking more around the house and keeping busy with chores.

Fish & Chips

Team effort for a golden beer batter dinner! So good.

Dhal curry

I even made dhal curry from scratch!

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Fresh from the oven, hubby’s new hobby, baking.

Besides I find setting up to properly exercise not conducive when there are days I actually have some design work to do in between the daily cooking and cleaning. So doing jumping jacks has worked out well.

Each time I’d do a set of 50 and they don’t actually take up a lot of time. Spread out the routine and I find myself doing 300 jumping jacks each day!

I do feel good and less guilty. Why didn’t I think of this earlier?

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More Tea Gadgets

12 Jul

On top of my delightful discoveries and purchases, there are tea gadgets too added to my collection now. M1 knows I prefer tea over coffee for health reasons, so it was very sweet of her to get me a couple of tea brewing gadgets.

Introducing my Deep Tea Diver and Loch Ness Tea Monster! Aren’t they adorable? Forget them tea bags, tea leaves are the way to go now to enjoy a nice cuppa.

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I will dive for you…

So if I want to see the effects of my Diver especially from the side and not the top, I need to get a glass cup to use instead of my existing ceramic mug. But if I choose to use Nessie, the mug will do; Nessie will just chill and stick her head out of my cuppa. Totally cute to the core, love ‘em!

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Nessie and Snoopy contemplating life over a cup of tea

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The Tea Drinker, Part 2

14 May

It’s a known fact now that I drink tea rather than coffee. My favorite cousin gifted me with a lovely Crabtree & Evelyn tea & cookies set when we caught up over Chinese New Year. The packaging is just so lovely. And I am sure the tea choice is equally lovely to enjoy.

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The tea came with cookies! Yum…

Besides my usual two tea choices (Japanese green tea and decaf Earl Grey), I recently bought two other types of tea to drink – Tesco’s Peppermint Infusion tea and Mark & Spencer’s Empress Grey, the peppermint for the office and the Empress Grey at home.

Very refreshing!

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