Merry Christmas

Magical Macaron Christmas Charity Tree at Shangri La Hotel Kuala Lumpur.

The giant Christmas tree at the hotel lobby is made up of 200 miniature macaroon trees. 

Notice all the star labels displayed in front of each macaron? The label displayed the name of individuals and companies that made a minimum donation for each macaron tree. The hotel is raising fund for children with severe heart ailments. Fund collected will be used for the children's surgeries. 

Star Wars Wayang Kulit

Shadow of Change is an exhibition featuring Star War and Superheroes characters in Wayang Kulit (shadow puppetry) style held at Bangsar Village recently. 

                                  

                                               Ah Tuh (R2-D2) & Si P-Long (C-3PO)

Wayang kulit is a traditional art form of shadow puppetry performance popular in the northeast state of Kelantan in Malaysia. Storylines are usually centred around Hindu epics with characters such as Hanuman, Sri Rama, Sita Dewi and Maharaja Rawana. 

Fusion Wayang Kulit, a local team aims to revive the traditional art form, has added elements of popular culture to the performance and story by adapting popular culture and multimedia components. They have introduced the Star Wars story to the performance with 'Peperangan Bintang: Harapan Baru' (Malay translation of Star Wars: A New Hope). The Star Wars characters were on display at the exhibition; the characters even have their own Malay names! 

                                   

                                  Sangkala Vadeh (Darth Vader) and Tok Wan Kenobi (Obi Wan Kenobi)

                                          

                                                             Bruce Lee

Fusion Wayang Kulit

Facebook: Fusion Wayang Kulit

Project B @ Sentul

'Project B is a concept cafe headed by Dignity for Children Foundation in collaboration with The Big Group and Berjaya Group of Companies.

It is a platform that supports children by providing work experience opportunities to learn and develop their career in F&B. 

By providing on the job training, the children receive great work experience while also helping to break the cycle of poverty and to have a better future.'

Counter and condiment station

It's one of my favourite place to go now. I like that the cafe is located in my old neighbourhood, Sentul because I always like going back there. I also like the prices of the coffee; it's RM6 per cup, from long black, cappucino, latte or kopi B, a local coffee with condensed milk. 

Its signature dish is fried chicken that comes in three different variations - Signature Crunchy, Sweet and Sticky Korean Fried and Ayam Goreng Berempah. Side dishes include nasi lemak, buffalo wings, Kimchi Jigae (Korean stew), crinkle frieds, onions strings and dignity slaw (coleslaw).

Project B
25-G, Jalan 11/48A,
Sentul Raya Boulervard
51000 Kuala Lumpur
TeL: 03-4050 3387
facebook.com/projectbkl

Queen's Hostel, Georgetown, Penang

                          

Queen's Hostel is a female-only hostel in UNESCO Heritage site of Georgetown, Penang.

Unlike the usual bunk-bed, the all-female dormitory called Queen's Canopy provide a sleeping place similar to a tent/canopy with curtain for privacy. Each canopy feels like a room on its own.

Two private rooms are available on the ground floor for female travellers and their companions including males.

                           

                                       

The hostel provides amenities that cater to the need of ladies such as full-length mirror, salon-grade hair dryer, free-to-use OPI nail lacquers and even hair conditioner along with the usual shampoo and shower cream.

                               

                                     

Coffee, tea and filtered water are available free-of-charge. I appreciated the free filtered water as it helps travellers save money and is good for the environment since they don't have to buy bottled water :)  

The hostel is located in an area known as Little India and is within walking distance to many popular attractions such as Peranakan Mansion, Kapitan Keling Mosque, The Goddess of Mercy Temple, St. George's Church, Sri Mahamariamman Temple.

I paid RM59 per night for the Queen's Canopy in August. 

Nice and clean, recommended!

Queen's Hostel
20-22, Lebuh Queen
10200 Georgetown 
Penang

Facebook: queenshostel.my

Johnny Marr Live in Singapore 2015

“I just like playing good shows and at a point where you’ve played a lot of stuff that’s new, it’s good to play a song that people know,"Johnny Marr said in an interview with The Guardian.

I’m glad he played some of his old stuff.

I like Marr’s new solo stuff but it’s a different feeling to see him play songs like ‘How Soon is Now’ which he gave an electrifying performance! It was great to see he performed the songs he wrote more than three decades ago and expressed them in his own way.

Since his departure from The Smith, he had played with different bands and toured with them. In 2013, he released his first solo album which was followed quickly by another in 2014. He settled comfortably in his new role as a frontman and singer. He knows the audiences expected him to play his old stuff; he obliged and enjoyed playing them without feeling forced.

In addition to his Smith’ songs, he also played ‘Getting away with it’ by The Electronic which he formed with Bernard Sunmer from New Order - I enjoyed the song especially the part where he replaced the synth in the song with a guitar riff. He also covered Depeche Mode, ‘I feel you’.

He started his show on the dot at 8 pm! I wish more artistes/bands will do that (Morrissey made us waited an hour for his concert in 2012). Oh, and he performed five songs for encore!



The crowd at the concert were mostly white expats, middle-aged men - most probably fans of The Smith. Morrissey had a bigger venue and bigger audience in his concert here but that probably because he has been a solo artist far longer than Marr. 

Though, I wondered if there were no venues available other than NUS Cultural Hall. It's not suitable for a rock/guitar concert. There were numbered seats but everyone was standing because that's the way to rock and enjoy the music!

Buckwheat Ale

Buckwheat Beer

Manufacturer: Rogue 

ABV: 4.8%

Erlend Øye Live in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Date: 23 March 2015

Venue: The Bee, Publika 

It was Erlend Øye's third time performing here but it was my first time to see him live. Prior to this, he was here with his other bands, acoustic duo The King of Convenience and electronic The Whitest Boy Alive. This time, he brought us some reggae pop vibe with his band, The Rainbows, courtesy of his new album, Legao. He has recorded the album, his second solo effort in Reykjavik with Icelandic reggae group, Hjálmar, hence the reggae vibe.

During encore, he sang a song from King of Convenience but I can't remember the name. I was more interested in La Prima Estate, the song that I most looked forward to and the reason I came to the gig - to hear it live! It's in Italian and has 60s pop tune vibe which made me think of sunshine, summer and Italy of course. 

Capsule by Container Hotel KLIA2

The hotel is located inside KLIA2 and is designed for transit travellers who need a place to recharge before their next flights, especially those arriving late at night and need to catch early flight few hours later. Rates are charged by hours - three hours, six hours and 12 hours. 

It provides a separate area (dorm and bathroom) for men and females. 

 

The room is built from a freight container. A roller blind functions as the door for the container. A built-in compartment on the floor provides storage space though no lock is provided. Locker is provided near the entrance for big items like luggage. Another built-in compartment next to the phone open up to a mirror and a table.

 

The common area is next to the entrance of the airport where buses depart and arrive. 

The hotel is located at level 1 at the transportation hub. 

Tel: +(60)37610 2020 

Email: info@capsulecontainer.com

Website: capsulecontainer.com

Facebook: Containerhotelkl

1600 Panda World Tour - Malaysia

1600 panda arrived in Malaysia as part of their World Tour! 

The panda visited more than 15 iconic landmark across the country for the tour. Pictures above shown them at Publika, Kuala Lumpur. 

The panda are created by Paul Grangeon using recycled paper. He shaped the panda in various poses, sizes and emotion. He brought the panda around the world to promote panda conservation and sustainable development. 

They are so life-like and cute!