The perception of audio cues, or auditory is recognised as an automation process. This was recognised by a group of psychologist who studied about sound and sleep in the Northwestern University in Evanston. According to them, sound may enhance your memory while sleeping. Then, they conducted some experiments with 2 groups of people. The first group of participants were asked to memorise a computerised-image associated with sound. For example, a picture of a dog, along with some barking sound, infront of a computer. They were asked to nap later. The barking sound was played for them to listen when sleeping. The results of analyses have proven that the first group could remember better than the second group.


Caption: sleeping

Sound is something important, that will enhance a person's memory. The same theory applies to scent. A group of scientist at the University of Lübeck (Germany) found that people were usually better at remembering objects belonged on a computer screen with the scent of a particular object which they had smelled during the learning task and when sleeping. The two scenarios above were proven to be useful to boost a person's sleep learning capacity.

In fact, sleeping is something very important for human. Sleeping is usually a process for us to continue our healthy life. It is a natural restorative cycle that allows our body to rest properly by regenerating itself, so that it can continue to function appropriately. Therefore, taking a nap in the afternoon is healthy for you. A researcher at the Loughborough University (UK) who studied about sleep as a part of his research, suggests that a 10 minutes sleep will enhance performance. This applies to overtired drivers, and could save plenty of lives. On the other hand, computer game players who dreamed about that particular game during their sleep would play the game better in the next day, compared to other players. A brief explanation is that their mental effort increases as soon as they dream of something, and so, sleeping do improve our learning capacity. Although a short nap is useful, but do remember to NOT ignore long sleep. There are various research suggest that long sleep may improve memory performance.


Caption: stages of sleep

My traditional understanding of NOT sleeping enough often refers to the delay of growth rate. Since young, everyone have been telling me that sleeping late / insufficient sleep may cause our body to not grow well. In fact, there are many research proven that sleeping late may become obese. The research by a group of researcher in the Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, in Ohio) found that 15 per cent of short-sleeping women have grown fat compared to other people (click HERE to read the PDF). In other words, there are possibilities that the sleep deprivation effect may increase your weight rapidly! Anyway, the lack of sleep is usually hazardous. Some people recognised the lack of sleep may cause grumpiness. A research from the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) found that the person who had lack of sleep may usually feel groggy. They could not perform simple mathematical calculations!


Caption: the hippocampus

By the way, how will sleep improve our memory? In psychology, our working memory is usually associated to the hippocampus (click HERE to read more about the hippocampus). The memory improvement is referred to the transferring of information from the hippocampus to other brain regions (cortex) while sleeping. Here is a depiction of our brain: when we were sleeping, our short-term memory will transfer information to the hippocampus (long-term memory). The information will be processed in the long-term memory, and sent to the cortex after processing. This explains why sleeping will improve our memory. Other evidence include a reveal from the psychologist of the University of Kansas Medical Centre (Kansas). The psychologist believes that sleeping may enhance the motor region in our brain (a component that deals with muscles control; i.e. eye-movement, limbs etc.).

How many hours do we need to sleep everyday? Well, this is an important question. According to most health journals, childrens (age 10 and below) do need 11-12 hours everyday. At age 10, we need approximately 9 hours of sleep a day. For most adults, 7.5 a night appears to be the best amount of sleep. Elder adults (age 55 or more) usually need 5 hours of sleep a day.

Sometimes, I was wondering how human brain works when a person get excited when they heard some jokes, whilst start laughing? In fact, humour is an important understanding to human psychology, especially when jokes require a tremendous amount of brain power and mental activities where a human can never fully understand how joke usually works. Many neuroscientists have used numerous methods to pin down how the brain react when a joke tickled us. However, why some jokes are extremely humorous to some people, but the same joke leave others cold.


Caption: laughter


Caption: brain regions

So, what is joke? The Cambridge dictionary dictated joke as : "something, such as a funny story or trick, that is said or done in order to make people laugh ". Since jokes are meant to be funny, if so, how can we explain cold jokes? A researcher from Durham University (North Carolina) also suggests that jokes will aim at human ability to make rapid judgements about a situation. The question here is which section of human brain deals with these processes.


Caption: fMRI machine


Caption: fMRI detector

Some neuroscientists from New Hampshire utilises the functional Magnetic Resonance Imagine (fMRI: is a system to monitor the blood flow the human brain), monitoring human brain when watching movies. They revealed that our left posterior temporal gyrus and left inferior frontal gyrus in human brain handle jokes. That is also the brain region that linked to language and attention. On the other hand, this section of the brain has some relation with the motor output (movement of limbs), associating with the reward processing. This explains the pleasure you attain, moving your limbs etc. when you get a joke. The correspondence level of limb movement also depends on the humour level of that particular joke.


Caption: ventral striatum


Caption: prefrontal cortex


Caption: cingulate cortex of the brain

The ventral striatum is a section of our brain that deals with rewarding. By the way, there were 4 major senses in a human: (1) eye - vision (2) ear - auditory (3) touch - tactile and (4) nose - olfaction. This ventral striatum controls the olfaction (also known as olfactory), the sense of smell. Recent research indicated that the olfactory strongly involved in tongue activities. It means that our tongue may stimulate the olfactory senses. Different rewards such as drug, sex and other entertainments (i.e. music, movies) are involved in this region of the brain. Though humour (or joke) is way more complex compared to other primeval rewards such as sex and food. Why? Mainly because activities such as sex only involve circulation of information within small sections of brain regions (such as the ventral striatum) but jokes usually involve other brain regions also, such as the frontal and cingulate cortex. Things are usually more complex and complicated when it involve circulation of information within many brain regions! The brain sciences unit at Cambridge (UK) indicated that jokes are basic reward for a person, but are strictly important to a person's survival.


Caption: the left prefrontal cortex

Senior research Watson suggests that the process of a particular joke may circulate differently to a men and women. This means that both men and women may perceive a joke differently. There are research that focuses at this topic, stating that women will show greater activity in their left prefrontal cortex than men. This means that you require more effort to make a women laugh than a men. In fact, women show greater response in their limb movement than men. This suggests that women do feel a greater sense of reward. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (vol. 102) suggests that a person's personality is also important in the contribution of jokes. It was stated that there were more reward responses in an average person (average by mean of extrovert and emotionally stable). By the way, the left prefrontal cortex handle different cognitive abilities such as language, memory processing and other more significant activities dealing with stress and other more complex mental processes (also known as the executive function).

Many future research are aiming at the rewarding system as they do believe that the reward system is disrupted in depression, and could be interesting to see if this deficit extends to more complex processing such as humour. They are also looking forward on similar research dealing with austism since people with autism have difficulty understanding comedy.

Do you know:

Why human yawn? Most research suggest that the lack of oxygen in our brain or the lack of fresh air causes a person to yawn. Well, that was true at some points. However, recent research has proven that yawning is coordinated to the social behaviour of a group. This means that when a person yawn in a bus, other people will start yawning very soon. This may be due to the human ability of detecting and responding to other people's yawns.

There are few types of proteins; animal proteins are those that comes from animal products and vegetables protein that comes from vegetables, particularly green vegetables. In chemistry, the amino acid is a molecule that builds up proteins. There are 8 amino acids with which a person's body need for different functions. If any amino acid components are missing, then the protein sunthesis in our body will significantly be reduced. However, if we consume any foods that has all components of the amino acid, then that particular food is called a complete protein. Most vegetables does not have all amino acids. So what a person usually do is to consume different vegetables in order to attain all amino acids for their body. For instance, grain is low in methionine (an essential protein for body nutrition) but pulse contain sufficient amount of acid amino. Therefore, consuming both grain and pulse together are important.


Caption: protein and water

Recently, there are some evidences from some medical journals, stating that proteins may heal a damaged brain. A group of scientist uses laboratory mices for their experiments and analyses. They compared brain injuries of 2 groups of mices: (1) laboratory mice and (2) controlled mice. They spend 7 days and discovered that mices with brain injuries have much lower amino acids compared to controlled mice. These amino acids are usually found in protein-rice foods because proteins has the ability to build muscles. Their experiments also proven that sufficient level of amino acid have caused mices to perform better on learning tasks. This means that protein may have the ability to increase a person's intelligence in learning. The differences of human and mices will probably aimed at their hippocampus (read more about brain and hippocampus by clicking HERE), particularly a person whose brain was damaged. It will usually affect their excitement level! This means that lack of protein may also affect our excitement when doing something.


Caption: protein synthesis

Protein is an extremely essential component in a person's body. It usually deals with building tissues, nerves and bones. Protein will also help in building muscles (evidences from the above), organs, blood, skin, hair and nails. Therefore, a bad skin quality may inform you the lack of protein in your body. Body proteins are usually broken down when converting into energy if your body has insufficient carbohydrate or fats. Therefore, it is a very useful component, acting as a substitution of carbohydrate. People will usually go for protein drinks when dieting, rather than eating massive amount of carbohydrates (i.e. rice and noodles). Excessive amount of proteins that is not needed will usually convert to fats by our liver, and stored for future usage.


Caption: protein pyramid

Enzymes are made off proteins. Enzymes has a function that breaks down fats and carbohydrates in our body. Those are usually known as the digestive enzymes. A part of that, proteins are also useful for our immune system. We know that antibodies are needed to fight against bacterias and viruses. However, do we know that these antibodies are actually made up of proteins? Maybe consuming some protein drinks or foods enriched with proteins are useful when a person is ill?


Caption: some examples of protein

Here are a list of protein sources:

1. Lean meats: organic chicken
2. Fish: organic oily fish such as salmon, sardines, haddock and cod.
3. Pulses: chickpeas, lentils, beans, soya beans, tofu and miso.
4. Eggs: chicken eggs
5. Dairy products: milk (goat's milk is easier to digest than cow's milk), cheese, yogurt and fresh cream
6. Saturated fats: butter and palm oil (but try not overconsuming them, else it will lead to high cholestrol level), omega-3 and omega-6 fats (the omega fats are needed for brain functioning, hormone activity, proper metabolism, healthier skin, hair and nails). omega-6 fats are usually attainable rfom seeds (i.e. sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds) and nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, cashews, apriccot, macadamia nuts). Only saturated fats like coconut are acceptable and are appropriate to be consumed regularly.
7. Unsaturated fats: olive oil and avacados.


Caption: protein structure

In conclusion, protein may heal brain injuries / damaged. However, the researcher has no specify what kind of damage it will heal. Brain diseases such as tumor and stroke are famous brain diseases that causes brain damage. If so, will consuming protein heal it in long-run?

The world smallest surgeon was developed with the intention of crawling into our body whilst performing surgery. This 1.4 cm beast is sometimes known as the nanobots that has the potential of swimming through the blood. These robots usually take tissue samples and deliver drug for our body through vital human organs such as the ear, eye and lungs. It also has the capability to install other medical devices inside our body.


Caption: medical robots


Caption: the robot in our retina (eyes)


Caption: the actual size of the medical robots

This is how surgery works with the medical bots in the future. Instead of operating our body with large incisions before performing surgery, the surgeons only need to insert a 1 cm device into our body, particularly for surgery related to stomach and gall bladder. The surgery with the medical robots are proven to help in reducing blood loss, surgery pain and increases the recovery speed. This special device could form a snake by connecting 15 of its similar piece simultaneously. The purpose is for hard-to-reach area in our body. One other speciality of the medical robot is that it could perform stitching from the inner part of our body.


Caption: heart lander

A similar but different device to the medical robot for heart surgery, namely the heart lander has been developed. This device has one purpose, that is to deliver minimal invasive therapy to the surface of our beating heart. It is a special device used particularly for cardiac therapy. In other words, this device will help in reducing necessary damage accessing to our heart. The heart lander is twice the size (3 cm) of the medical robot specified above. The main benefits of using the heart lander is: (1) the price is affordable (2) the motion of our heart beat will not affect the operation of the device (3) it does not breach the lung space, and (4) the device could monitor the specific section of our heart, in the exact location.


Caption: future surgery robots

The heart lander is monitord by a surgeon through an external monitor (called the X-Ray video machine), controlling the movement with a joystick. Alternatively, the device has enormous sensors that could detect and navigate its own path to that particular spot in our body. Recent research as reported by the Innovation Journal, stated that the first testing was successful with pigs. A roboticist suggests that these medical robots should be available for use by surgeons in the next 5 years.

Do you know:

A medium-glass of orange juice will ruin a person's diet since it usually contain 200 calories (considering the amount of vitamin C and some other vital nutritions containing in it). Therefore, please make sure the orange juice is freshly squeezed from oranges as cheaper brand orange juice mostly contain unnaturally high levels of sugar.

We have finally reached year 2010. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you the love with your family and friends, the happiness and joy, the best of everything and of course, a better year a head. Happy New Year!


Caption: fireworks at Bandar Utama


Caption: fireworks

By the way, how did you celebrate your new year eve / new year? I have celebrated the new year eve in a very special and fortunate way because we get to eat something really huge, definitely more than any portion of food most people ever had in their lives. By the way, how many McDonald burgers can you eat in a meal? Let says 3 or 4 the most? Anyway, let me draw a clearer picture. Also, click on any photos to enlarge its size.


Caption: New York New Deli @ 1-Utama, opposite Cold Storage

Long ago, let says 4 months back, when Daryl told me about this humongous-sized burger and said: "this burger tastes really good, though the size is super huge!". Well, fine then since he suggested that the burger is really tasty, why not going there when I return home during Christmas. When I returned home, and listen to what they have said, I then noticed that eating this giant burger is free (no charges), if we accept the challenge. But what challenge was that? Brandon explained that this New York New York Deli restaurant has this "Giant Yankee Burger Challenge" where customers need not pay for the whole burger if they could finish the burger and fries within an hour. That sounded great to me because I love challenges. Although the fact is that currently no one posted any photos on blog, stating that they managed to complete the challenge. Is the burger really that difficult to finish? I have even browsed some photo's of the burger online, and I think I should be able to finish it (initially) within 30 minutes.


Caption: the original size of the burger (beef burger): taken from some blogs


Caption: inner burger

They planned to dine at New York New York Deli restaurant for celebrating New Year Eve, and so, Daryl asked me to not eat anything in the morning. Seriously, I think I have read this from some articles, stating that the theory of food consumption will not depend on how little we eat on that day. This simply means that not eating anything in the morning will not contribute to eating more at night. Therefore, I had a heavy breakfast before dinner. Aunty Georgia decided to join along to whitness the process; she wanted to see how are we finishing the giant-sized burger alone.


Caption: menu (READ THE MENU)

Seriosly, everyone had a shock when they know both Daryl and I are going for the 'giant yankee burger' challenge. Personally, I felt a little nervous when reading other people's blog. They sounded scary when mentioned the Giant yankee burger challenge in some online forums. In fact, it is true that most bloggers suggest that they were unable to finish the burger alone because the size of the burger itself, plus the significant portion of chips (or fries) are almost impossible to finish by a normal human being. I feel they are exaggerating when I saw some photos from some blogs: "Don't be a chicken, we dare you to finish the monster chicken burger alone". It was written very clearly on the menu. Though it sounded a little exaggerate, they have been browsing on Google and could not find anyone finishing the burger in time (within an hour). Weird, I am sure there must be someone who can finish it on earth. Else, this challenge is kind of worthless due to the waste of time.


Caption: when I planned to start eating the burger

The burger is enough to feed 4 people. The main ingredient of the burger is: 2 pounds of chicken/beef, 8 inches of bun (with a thickness of approximately 10-12cm including the bun and patty), with sauce, salad and cheese. By the way, 2.2 pounds is equal to 1 kilogram. Okay, here is the rules of the giant burger challenge. We have an hour (the time starts ticking based on our own watch). That was fair for me. According to the chef (Mr. Eric), the original challenge should have 1 kilogram of fries. However, they reduced the amount to around 700 gram (or so) of fries so someone could possibly win the challenge. They will ignore charging us if we could finish the burger.


Caption: daryl with his own strategy of finishing the buns first

So, we start eating. I could sense that aunty Georgia was staring at me when I start eating the first quarter of the burger. Although the workers in the restaurant suggest to finish the fries first, but I think I will not make it if i finish the fries first. Psychologically, I think I should finish the burger first. I remember finishing the first portion in 2 minutes and the next in around 3 minutes (finishing half the burger within 5 minutes), and worst is, I still feel okay after finishing half of the burger! The chicken patty is made off solid chicken meat (90% meat, 10% flour). This is what I told Brandon: "I will definitely finish the burger in time".


Caption: "enjoying" the challenge

I start feeling sick when I start eating the 3rd quarter of the burger. Why is that so? Because the size of the burger is really huge, and I could barely bite the burger properly. So what I do was to compress the size of the burger by force, pushing the 2 buns againsts the chicken patty to reduce the size of the burger in sight. Although the burger looks smaller now, the weight should be about the same. Anyway, I still had a hard time finishing the 3rd portion due to the texture of the bun; it is dry and gluey when I start chewing it whilst making my stomach bloated when start drinking plenty of water and swallowing it. I just continue biting and eating, drinking plenty of water and green tea, and finally finished the whole burger within 25 minutes of the elapsed time. Here is a tip. Green tea is helpful in digestion.


Caption: unfinished portion of fries on the plate

I started to have a tremendous bad feeling when staring at the fries. If the amount of fries is near to 1 kilogram (I believe it should be around 700 grams) in weight, how am I going to finish it in such condition. I have been thinking rapidly, again and again repeatedly. Overall, the burger tastes okay for me. The chicken is fine and tastes really good good. However, I will not recommend eating the bun if possible. The quality of the bun is bad, so keep chewing it will make it tougher to swallow. Time passes really quicly. Maybe an hour is not sufficient to finish the whole burger and fries entirely. The photo above was taken 20 minutes before the challenge ends.


Caption: Giant Yankee Burger Challenge [COMPLETED]

Daryl had become my main motivation for that challenge. I could see him eating non stop. I believe his stomach is really strong or energetic on that day. Simply giving up will make me look pretty weak *LOL*. In addition, it is silly by just giving up when I only have fries left in the plate. I start speeding up eating when I have 3 minutes left, and managed to complete the challenge within the remaining 5 to 6 seconds. Thank God! Anyway, I feel like vomitting later. Glad I did not finally.


Caption: the chef and I


Caption: hooray to both Daryl and I

Finally, the chef (Mr. Eric) told us that there were around 6 people who had successfully finished the challenge. Yes, only 6 people. He added: "one customer was from Singapore, and the rest were from East Malaysia (i.e. Sarawak, Sabah etc.)". Therefore, Daryl and I should ranked at 7 and 8 in the chart *LoL*. Mr. Eric added that "no one in Peninsula Malaysia has ever finished the challenge yet" so the two of us were probably the first in West Malaysia. Initially, we finish the challenge so we are not paying for the 2 burgers. I recalled Mr. Eric mentioned about giving us a free membership card (e.g. 10% discount on all their products, getting free drinks, etc.) but we have to wait till the restaurant to have such membership card and rewards. I am a patience person, so that should be fine by me *evil grin*.


Caption: the 2 orders were subsequently slashed out from the receipt

Therefore, says who a person cannot finish a giant yankee burger? To anyone who plan to accept the challenge, just go for it. Remember, if I can do it, then should able to do it! Trust yourself and you will definitely make it! Good luck.

Penang is an island located in the north of peninsula Malaysia. This island embraces modernity whilst retaining traditional architectures all over, including well-preserved heritage buildings in its capital, George Town. Penang was also regarded as the food capital in Malaysia. In fact, the foods and its beautiful coasts have entices visitors all around the world, particularly from western countries. This post is relatively long, and so, I will try to summarize as much as I could. On the other hand, please click on the images to enlarge the size.


Caption: Penang island


Caption: map of Penang

I am feeling extremely grateful for the travelling plan organised by aunty Georgia. This is probably the second time travelling to Penang. The first visit should be around 15 years ago. Our story began in a place called the Batu Ferringi, a place positioned somewhere in the north of the island. We stayed at aunty Georgia's condominium in "Miami Green" in Tanjung Tokong. The place is marvelous. However, the only dissatisfaction we had is when our personal car park is always occupied by some other residence. Basically, the security are doing nothing! I even suggested the security to make more money by clamping the cars parked at other people's space!


Caption: miami green condominium


Caption: the view from the condominium

The most exciting part of our journey is the never-ending food consumption. Guess what, we have been eating non-stop since the first day we reached the island. The schedule in most of my trips are usually crowded, packed with different activities (e.g. walking around, shopping). Indeed, this trip is very different. We enjoy the freedom, spending quality time for something we are interested with. Therefore, a tour is never fun if not well-planned.


Caption: Daryl and I


Caption: Daryl, Brandon and I

Liz decided to buy us some really nice fried banana (we called that as "pisang goreng" in Malay). Although I seldom consume fried foods, the taste was really very great. These fried bananas are definitely perfect savory-sweet treat, particularly for a special day brunch by the seaside. I think this is probably the best fried banana I have ever had! Liz suggest that the bananas are "crunchy in the outside and juicy in the inside".

We visited aunty Q the next morning. According to them, aunty Q has been staying in Penang for more than 50 years. In fact, she is a food critic herself. In any cases, she knows as much about food as she does about the taste of the fanciest meals. We are definitely out of luck if we hadn't bump into her in this trip, thank god.


Caption: fried banana


Caption: fried hawker foods


Caption: eating fried banana


Caption: mini hotel


Caption: the interior of the mini hotels


Caption: myself in the mini hotel

Anyway, aunty Q showed us some well-designed and unique heritage buildings around Penang. We have plenty of walking throughout the day. She showed us the one storey home-hotel, some traditional houses converted to mini hotels. It may sound a little old fashion. However, it provide you a glimpse into a traditional and historical blend into a rich cultural experiences when staying.


Caption: at aunty Q's place

Aunty Q brought us to the George Town city for Teochew Chendul. This Teochew Chendul has a proud history to begin with. According to what I understand, the founder of this Penang Road Teochew Chendul started the business in late 1945. Lately, they have expanded their business to 6 branches all over Malaysia. Therefore, they are extremely successful in this business (look at the amount of customers queuing up by the road). By the way, Chendul is a dessert, consist of green pandan flavour rice flour noodles, added with a variety of toppings such as red beans, coconut milk and shaved ice and dark sugar syrup. I am sure you will like it as soon as you tastes it!


Caption: Penang Road Teochew Chendul


Caption: enjoying chendul


Caption: Daryl protecting Liz in the crowd (the bodyguard from Malaysia)

Our next destination is the Cheong Fatt Tze mansion (also known as the blue mansion). The mansion provided a remarkable history of a successful Chinese entrepreneur in the 19th century. Having 16 childrens (8 males and 8 females), it was stated that his wealth could last for 9 generations. We spend an hour plus, touring around the blue mansion with a spokeman as a guide, telling us the succcessful story of Cheong Fatt Tze.


Caption: Cheong Fatt Tze's blue mansion


Caption: the entrance of the blue mansion


Caption: Liz and I


Caption: the green heritage home

Can you imagine increasing 7 kilograms of weight within a week? In fact, not everyone can do this! Why is that? People are usually reluctant to this because human are usually afraid of getting fat due to several reasons: (1) rise of cholestrol level (2) blood pressure. Sometimes, you need to attain sufficient stress in order to gain some weight (i.e. keep eating when you are struggling with pressure). If so, I should feel proud to increase my weight significantly under a stress free condition.


Caption: padang


Caption: padang (con't)


Caption: aunty Q waiting so happily for a seat


Caption: aunty Georgia eating Apom/Apam Balik (Malay food)


Caption: pasembur


Caption: Penang Popiah


Caption: Popiah

Our first street food with aunty Q was in a place called "Padang" (also known as Field if translated in english). In fact, the portion of the food is not massive, however enough for one person. The flavour of the food is definitely unique. We had popiah (a thin chinese spring roll wrapped with different ingredients, e.g. steamed turnips, bean sprouts, french beans, some slices of pork and tofu) and Pasembur (known as the indian salad, consist of cucumber, turnip, potatoes, beancurd, bean sprouts, prawn fritters, spicy fried crab, fried octopus and served with sweet and spicy nutty sauce). Because every culture has offer their signature dishes in a very different cooking style, the foods that I have had in places other than in Penang is very different. I believe that their special creation have represented a beautiful blend of tastes and spices, and of course, the creativity they have had for the food they produce is extremely tasty.


Caption: the monkey forest


Caption: Brandon, Daryl and I


Caption: deeper section of the forest


Caption: by the mini waterfall

To relax our digestive system, aunty Q brought us to a forest. I called it as the monkey forest and why is that so? Because the most attractive thing I ever seen in the forest is monkey. It is a very nice place indeed, particularly when we do not have to jog like other people when climbing the mountain, I could even feel the breeze by the small lake in the forest. I am feeling extremely relax at that time. We spend approximately an hour here before moving to other restaurant for food. Now you could start imaging how I have gained 6-7 kg within a week!


Caption: Ho Ping Chinese restaurant


Caption: a clearer picture of the stall


Caption: aunty Q and gang ordering the foods


Caption: "pork organ" mee soup

We travelled all the way back to the city again. Aunty Q suggest some really "nice" food. Truthfully, the pork meat, mee and soup was great. However, the pork organs are truely disgusting. Let see what were contained in the mee. They have mee, soup, pork meat and other organs such as pork belly, kidney, liver, brain, intesting and something else with which I could not recall at all. Well, I tasted very small portion of all the organs. Guess what, pork kidney is fine by me because it is tasteless. Except, the crunchy feeling when bitting it is a little disgusting to me. Pork brain on the other hand is truely bad. It tastes as if I am chewing a butter-and-oily tofu. I understand that consuming pork brain will help a human to think better (this is what the Chinese believe). However, mind me, Yucks! Anyway, it is definitely not aunty Q's fault. She thought we like to eat pork organs. By the way, anyone who want to taste the mee soup with pork organ should remember the name of the restaurant, the "Ho Ping" chinese coffee shop in George Town city.


Caption: the lake


Caption: Kim's Asam Laksa shop


Caption: in a place called Balik Pulau


Caption: 2-flavours Asam Laksa


Caption: nutmeg supplier store

Aunty Q and aunty Georgia decided to bring us to this place called "Balik Pulau" (known as returning to island if translated in english). They wanted to bring us to try on an extremely tasty hawker food, Asam Laksa. It is referred to as the sour-fish based soup with a kind of vermicilli noodle. However, travelling from Batu Ferringi is quite distance, about an hour. First, we stopped by a lake. According to Liz, the lake provide water to everywhere in Penang. This means that few drips of toxic should kill everyone entirely in Penang. That sounded scary! Finally we reached the chinese restaurant after driving for approximately 30 minutes. The taste of the asam laksa is extremely tasty. This is probably the best asam laksa on earth! The traditional asam laksa is sour. This is slightly different because it comes with 2 flavours; sour and with santan (coconut milk). The combination of sour taste with coconut milk will produce a brilliant taste. It is extremely special and something new for me. Though I do not prefer eating asam laksa, however, thumbs up to this. Please try if you ever visit the Penang island someday.


Caption: Cheong Kim Chuan (entrance)


Caption: Cheong Kim Chuan (inner)

We proceed to the nutmeg supplier to buy some nutmeg for relatives and friends, and the latter to "Cheong Kim Chuan" in a place called Bayan Lepas. Cheong Kim Chuan is a shop / company which is famous with its nutmeg oil. The nutmeg oil recognised as a traditional remedy and also effectively used as an emergency treatment to reduce rheumatic pain (e.g. limbs, joints and muscles), headache and diarrhea.


Caption: Kek Lok Si (the Guan Yin statue)


Caption: Daryl, Liz, Brandon and aunty Georgia


Caption: myself


Caption: Dog: one of the twelve chinese animals in the chinese astrology (click HERE)


Caption: myself and the God of Mercy


Caption: Kek Lok Si temple




Caption: Kek Lok Si (night view)


Caption: the pagoda (night view)


Caption: around the Kek Lok Si temple (night view)

The Kek Lok Si is a chinese temple located just opposite to Cheong Kim Chuan. It was also recognised as the largest Buddhist temple in Southeast Asia. The Kek Lok Si temple has a humongous-sized bronze Guan Yin (recognised as the Buddhist God of Mercy) statue, located in the middle of the temple. The history of the temple is a little striking when the Guan Yin statue was once strike by the lightning. Rumours said the statue detached and later reformed again few years ago. There is this cable car service, lifting visitors to different sections of the temple. However, the size of the cable car is too small to fit few of us. Therefore, we ignore using the service. Also, a complimentary and special thanks to Jordan Lyle for such wonderful night view photos.


Caption: Asia cafe


Caption: Portugal-style steam fish


Caption: roasted duck and bbq pork with rice


Caption: myself and the great fried oyster chef - Mr. Ming and his family


Caption: Mr. Ming frying the oyster


Caption: fried oyster


Caption: remember this fried oyster shop in Asia Cafe Penang Hill

We went for food again after the tour in the Kek Lok Si temple. Aunty Q decided to bring us to the "Asia Cafe" near the famous Penang Hill. There, we get to meet the famous "Fried Oyster" chef, Mr. Ming. Guys and girls, if you ever visit the Penang island and planned to taste the best fried oyster on earth, please visit this restaurant and look for this shop and chef. I can ensure you that you will taste the best fried oyster you have ever taste in your life! Rumours said that Mr. Ming was invited to many countries to cook his famous fried oyster for many catering events.


Caption: Hard Rock Hotel


Caption: myself in Hard Rock hotel


Caption:Liz in Hard Rock hotel


Caption: myself and the King of Pop's statue


Caption: a very nice ambience in the Hard Rock hotel


Caption: Hard Rock hotel


Caption: having some fun in the mini-park in the Hard Rock hotel


Caption: walking around the beach


Caption: Brandon is having some fun in the Hard Rock hotel

We returned to Batu Ferringi an hour later. Aunty Georgia brought us to the Hard Rock hotel. That is definitely a 5-star hotel from the price per room. The hotel was attached to the beautiful beach. Although it was dark at that time (around 8.00 PM), we have decided to walk around the hotel. We did not stay there due to the overpriced room they offer. However, we do enjoy walk around the beach. If you look at one of the picture in the above, you could see how excited Brandon is. By the way girls, Brandon is still single and available :)


Caption: nasi lemak


Caption: some nasi lemak we ordered

We went for food again next morning. This time, we had some traditional Malay food in Batu Ferringi. The food is just moderate, nothing really special to me. I think the reason is the bad-behaviour offer by their workers.


Caption: Gurney Plaza


Caption: inside the plaza


Caption: aunty Georgia and I


Caption: in the G hotel next to Gurney Plaza (we called that as the 'G'eorgia hotel)

After that, we went to this shopping complex called Gurney Plaza. Gurney plaza is a premier lifestyle mall located at the centre of Penang, George Town. We spend an hour or two, walking around the mall.


Caption: gambling


Caption: Liz was playing some songs for me


Caption: one of the 3 (43 inch) televisions aunty Q randomly won when shopping


Caption: glutinous ball Liz's grandma prepared for us for celebrating Winter Solstice

We returned home later and start gambling among each other. Initially, we do not use real money for gambling. Instead, we used some fake chips that act as money for gambling. However, we have invited aunty Q to join, and finally uses real money because she prefer gambling with cash. Anyway, she acted as the banker. Though we have many people dealing with her, trying to win all her money on the table, however I am quite reluctant to accept the fact that she is a great gambler with plenty of luck! Indeed, she is usually a very lucky person. Therefore, please think twice before gambling with people like aunty Q. Else, you may regret.


Caption: Sin Lee Hin Chinese restaurant


Caption: steam egg


Caption: steam brocolli and some vegetable soup


Caption: fried tofu and some french beans


Caption: fried fish and fried lemon chicken

We went for food again an hour later. This time, we came to this typical Chinese restaurant for a light meal. Originally, I am a person who prefer eating home cooked foods. The taste is just nice for me since all these are home-cooked foods.


Caption: Miami beach in Batu Ferringi, Penang


Caption: myself in Miami beach


Caption: Brandon and I were both enjoying the bbq corn


Caption: the process of bbq'ing the corn

We have also spend an hour plus walking around the beach. Although the weather was hot that day, but we were glad there is no downpour as we expected it through the weather forecast. We were soaking in the sun at one of the most beautiful beach in Malaysia, comfortably walking around the without any shoes. While enjoying the walk, Daryl bought us some bbq corns and coconut juice. The feeling was so great even after staying for hours in such a beatiful paradise.


Caption: Beach Corner restaurant


Caption: Hainan-style fried vermicilli


Caption: Duck and Yam dish


Caption: Hainan-style fried egg noodle


Caption: Hainan-style vegetables


Caption: Hainan-style vegetable, popiah and curry fish head


Caption: Hainan-style fried popiah


Caption: Ferringi Garden restaurant (entrance)


Caption: Ferring Garden restaurant (inner)


Caption: the ambience in the restaurant


Caption: they were booking a table from the restaurant

We went for dinner in the evening at the "Beach Corner" restaurant in Batu Ferringi. The foods are really unique and tasty. The chef has also cooked the foods with the Hainanese cooking styles, which produces a very different taste of food that I ever tasted elsewhere in Malaysia. I would strongly recommend the "Duck and Yam" dish to anyone who plan visiting this restaurant someday. After dinner, we decided to walk around. Brandon spotted a fine dining restaurant just opposite the shop. It was the Ferringi Garden restaurant.


Caption: Daryl, Liz, aunty Georgia, Brandon and I


Caption: Liz, Daryl and I before the dinner


Caption: we were enjoying our dinner


Caption: BBQ lobster


Caption: black cod fish


Caption: Grilled Salmon steak


Caption: French style fish and chips


Caption: French-style pasta


Caption: Liz and Brandon after the dinner

There is an online poll, stated that the overall rating for the Ferringi Garden restaurant is 74%. They voted 90% for the quality of the foods and the ambience of the restaurant. Because of that, you have to book your own table a day before the dining. Anyway, we all ordered different foods and really enjoyed them since it is really good. I also think the ambience and scrumptious cuisines in this restaurant has significantly improve our dining experiences. Overall, I would rate it as 8/10 myself. After the dinner, we spend an hour walking around the Shangri-la Rasa Sayang hotel. It is a luxurious 6-star hotel. This explained the reason of why the rooms are tremendously expensive during peak seasons. Roughly looking through the price list, a deluxe suite cost RM 2,200 (around USD $642) whilst RM 6,800 (around USD $1984) for presidental suite per night. That is really costly!


Caption: Shangri-La Rasa Sayang


Caption: in Rasa Sayang hotel


Caption:Daryl and Liz


Caption: Shangri-La SPA


Caption: SPA

We had our brunch before leaving home the next afternoon. The white coffee was really good. In fact, if you love drinking coffee, just order black coffee with milk in any Chinese restaurants in Penang since the taste is just great. Daryl ordered black coffee from all Chinese restaurants that we have visited in Penang to make comparisons, and he think the taste is just nice and thick.


Caption: the restaurant


Caption: Penang white coffee


Caption: Brandon eating Apam (a traditional Malay food)


Caption: leaving Penang


Caption: Penang bridge (one of the longest bridge in the world)

The fascinating fusion of the foods, sight seeing, walking around unique heritage buildings and beaches, tropical gardens and ornately designed temples, Penang is definitely a good place to spend your quality time, particularly with someone you treasure and love. I will definitely spend more time in Penang again, in the coming future. I would also take this opportunity to thank to aunty Georgia and aunty Q for spending their time wondering around with us in Penang, and to our gang for their time and laughter.