Sunday, October 18, 2015

Selera Rasa Segar, Miri

Wherever you are in Malaysia, food is a big thing and breakfast is no exception. When you are in Sarawak, locals will tell you to try out the local delicacies namely mee kolok and laksa Sarawak. However if you are a local yourself or just tired of having the same menu for breakfast, then head over to Selera Rasa Segar (or SRS in short) in Miri.

SRS stands out amongst other eateries simply because the main menu for breakfast is not mee kolok or laksa Sarawak. Instead, they serve nasi lemak with plenty of side dishes to satisfy your cravings.

Selera Rasa Segar from the outside

The restaurant itself is set in a rustic setting, with wooden floor and round table, very much like any kopitiam. 

Packed with patrons early in the morning

Stepping inside, the first thing I noticed is the queue of people waiting to be served by one very busy young man, dolloping bowls of steaming hot nasi lemak and attending to orders. Basically, the standard menu is the rice in coconut milk (nasi lemak), two slices of cucumber, a spoonful of fried peanuts, one half of hard-boiled egg and a dash of sambal bilis (anchovies). The extra things, you need to tell the man which dish you want to add on.

Choices of sambal, rendang, ayam percik, masak hitam (soy-sauce based gravy) to name a few

More choices of protein - you can opt for chicken, beef or mutton

I decided to just have whole egg of fried chicken added to my nasi lemak. Don't be fooled by the pitiful look of the dish below, the chicken is flavourful and the nasi lemak is delicious. My only fault is in the sambal because it doesn't have a lot of anchovies in it and just tasted of blended dried chillies or what we call 'cili boh'. What a disappointment!

My choice of nasi lemak for breakfast

If you happen to go in a group but don't feel like having nasi lemak, you can also order nasi kerabu, laksa penang, nasi ayam (chicken rice) and oh yes, the usual laksa Sarawak and mee kolok. They do carry that in their menu.

Other options for breakfast

So if you want to try out the nasi lemak at SRS, head over to Jalan Permaisuri where their outlet is located. It's definitely worth a try when you want a break from the usual.

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Sunday, October 04, 2015

How To Share Microsoft OneNote Across Devices

I happen to be one of those people who embraces IT and its uses in every day life, for example taking notes. For me, traditional note-taking using pen and paper is not only inefficient but also not supporting forest conservation (unlike using electronic devices where you can simply delete or undo a typo).

These are some of the awesome things about taking notes using iPad or good ol' laptop:

1. Use less paper, contributes to cost-saving
2. You can edit your notes later by using 'Copy+Paste' function instead of copying and re-writing your notes (saves time!)
3. With different choice of writing tool (pen, pencil, paintbrush, highlighter) in a notes app / software, you don't even have to worry about forgetting to bring a pen to a meeting!
4. You can even search your notes even those you took months ago without breaking a sweat!

There are plenty of note-taking apps out there, but the one that I like the most is none other than Microsoft OneNote:



OneNote is available across platforms and even on iOS

Even though Apple recently released an improved version of Notes, it still can't beat Microsoft OneNote in terms of looks and functions. OneNote looks very much like the traditional notebook complete with colored tabs for different sections. You can even add pages in each section so your notes will appear more organized and structured:

OneNote looks a lot like traditional paper notebook

There's a lot of things you can do using OneNote, like making checklists, creating reminders, saving web links for later reference, saving images (great for recipe / idea books!), do sketches, and many more! Simply put, there are endless possibilities with OneNote. Even more interesting, you can share your notebook with others so everyone can jot down their ideas and collaborate online on real-time. It's a great collaboration tool but this is something that I haven't really explored.

 

Since I use my iPad mini a lot during meetings, I am really grateful of the idea that OneNote can be synced across devices. There's only one snag - since my office network blocks OneDrive - Personal (it only allows access the company's SharePoint drive, I can only sync my OneNote if I bring my laptop home and use my own WiFi.

 

That is certainly not efficient if I have to refer to two different notebooks, so I decided to move my notebook on OneNote from my OneDrive  - Personal to the Company's OneDrive for Business / SharePoint.

 

What I have to do after that is to send the link to my company's email address, and then open the notebook from the link on my iPad once I'm logged on to my office network.

 

Moving OneNote is surprisingly tedious - you can't just copy and paste or move the whole notebook to the new location. This is basically the steps that I had to do to move my notebook:

1. Create a new file in my OneDrive for Business folder through OneNote (New > Other Web Locations > OneDrive for Business folder
2. Open the notebook that needs to be copied
3. Right-click each section and select 'Move or Copy...'
4. Wait for it to finish copying, repeat until every section is copied.
5. After the notebook has been uploaded on the new location, share the notebook by clicking on 'Invite People'.
6. Type company's email address and you will receive a link in your email
7. Open the link on your iPad, and then choose option to open in OneNote apps

Moving my notebook to OneDrive for Business

Copy in progress

 

I tried those steps and found that it works :) So basically I don't have to worry about outdated versions of notebook since it is totally synced between the notebook on my laptop and the one on my iPad.

 

So what's your favourite note-taking apps? Do share in the Comment section :)

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Sunday, October 04, 2015

Borneo International Kite Festival 2015

Every year in Bintulu, you will be amazed by the sight of hundreds of kites in various shapes, sizes and colours adorning the skies at the old Bintulu Airport runway.

It is none other than the Borneo International Kite Festival that started way back in 2005. This year is the 11th year of this majestic event which was held last week, with participation from more than 30 countries flying more than 200 kites. The event kicked off with Pesta Gudi (Bintulu dialect term for 'kite') where local kite flyers paraded their kites in the sky.

We are quite lucky that haze did not inflict this part of the country and could enjoy the spectacular view of the kites from all over the world flying joyfully in the blue sky:

From afar, the kites stirred excitement that drove many Bintulu folks outside of their home to this event

This venue is perfect for kite-flying not only because it is a wide open space (used to be a runway), but also due to its proximity to the ocean, the wind is quite strong in this area.

Participants of this event came from all over the world to showcase their innovative kites

As my kids love kite-flying, we went to this festival on the last day of the event to join in the fun of kite-watching and flying. Besides watching (and playing) kites, the place was abuzz with various stalls selling all sorts of things ranging from handicrafts, food and clothing, but also furniture, household items, cars and even properties! Of course, you could find plenty of kites on sale and my kids were super-thrilled to find Frozen-themed kites. The kites were priced at RM10 to RM15, complete with the thread.

After the kids were tired from kite-flying, we simply sat under a shed put up by the organizer for visitors and watched the kites flying above us:

This rainbow kite in the shape of a stingray is quite possibly one of the largest kite around

Rainbow stingray kite is several times bigger compared to other kites

Nowadays, kites are quite sophisticated and could even be flown in syncronized motion:

One of the attraction - synchronised kite-flying

This stunt-kite flying was performed by participants from Japan. We were very impressed to see their skills flying the kite to the beat of music, and even expertly landed the kites so they stood smartly on the tarmac before flying off again into the sky!

Just as we were leaving, there was an announcement asking all kids to enter the kite arena (this year, public was not allowed to enter). It turned out that they were going to drop a bunch of lollipop parachute from one of the organizer's kite.

The moment the candies 'parachuted' down, all hells break lose and there was a frenzy as kids rushed to pick up the candies! In the process, my 4-year-old girl was pushed and almost trampled upon by bigger kids. It was lucky that I was there to guard her and picked her up. Poor Khayla, she was so excited to get a lollipop the first round that she wanted to join again for the second round only to lose her lollipop when she lost her grip on it after being pushed by some other kids!

Before the lollipop drama, the kids were enjoying the various ground arts

This year as well, the organizer succeeded getting into Malaysia Book of Records by forming the longest arch kite tunnel of 500 metres. That's an achievement that Bintulu could be proud of.

For us Bintulu folks, we are just happy to have an excuse to spend quality time with our family.

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Sunday, September 06, 2015

Dorsett Grand Subang

Salam and hello!

Been a while since I last updated this blog. We hadn't been traveling of late hence the lack of updates. 

Finally this week I had to attend a work event at Subang Jaya and decided to bring my family including my mom with me.

We stayed at Grand Dorsett Subang Jaya for 3 days and 4 nights. Upon reaching the hotel, we were immediately met with warm welcome from the doormen who helped to open our taxi doors and carried the luggage inside.

Check-in did not take a long time although I observed the reception staff looking a bit hassled as he attended to quite a large crowd. Unlike Mandarin Oriental that provided a waiting area in front of the hotel reception desk for guests waiting to be checked in, Grand Dorsett SJ still resort to the old fashion queuing system. 

Once we checked in and arrived in our room, the first thing to do was to take photos of course!

We were booked into a 30-square metres Deluxe Room which is appointed with a queen bed, a working area and a 32-inch LCD TV mounted on the wall. My kids instantly fell in love with the plush bed and spent most of their time in the room jumping on it!

The Deluxe room

Super comfy bed, I must say

The see-through bathroom window makes the room looks more spacious

From another angle

Much to my kids' disappointment, there was no Disney channel or other kid channels. There was only one movie channel (Fox Movie). Perhaps because the hotel target market are business travellers? Anyway, with stay-cation getting more popular nowadays, I think it wouldn't harm if the hotel also considers young guests' needs.

32-inch LCD TV adorned one side of the wall

The walkway

During check-in, I was told that the room comes with free 1GB high-speed Internet data plan via Wi-Fi. To my chagrin, the Internet was very slow so in the end I mostly used my own data plan to do my work.

The work area (Featuring my kid as usual)

The hotel cleverly incorporates a see-through bathroom to make the room appears more spacious, but guests have the option to close the panel if they want to bathe in private. I had some troubles initially to close the panel, since I couldn't locate any buttons near the window, nor could I pull the panel manually. In the end, we called the reception desk and was informed that the switch was next to the toilet (seriously??) The hotel could have displayed a notice that advises guests the switch location to avoid confusion.

The bathroom comes with a bathtub-cum-shower area

The toilet area with hand bidet (yeay!)

Colourful toiletries packaging

The rest of the hotel room comes with all the amenities that you would expect in a five-star hotel such as tea-making facilities, fluffy slippers, bathrobe, safe box, hairdryer, ironing board and steam iron etc.

The tea-making facilities

The mini fridge does not carry any beverages or snacks

Closet with the usual stuff (hairdryer, bathrobe, mini safe box)

Other than a few hiccups, the rest of my stay was enjoyable. The food served at the function was delicious and I am very impressed by the friendly services extended by the porters and other hotel staff, who were never short of smiles and eager to help. The rest of the hotel area was also gorgeous and it was too bad that I did not have the opportunity to sample their spa package, especially with 20% off for in-house guests.

Rating: 9/10

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Sunday, June 14, 2015

Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur - Exceeding Expectations

I had a wonderful birthday retreat last week at Shangri-La Hotel Kuala Lumpur. Strategically located in Jalan Sultan Ismail, the hotel caters to both business and leisure travellers with more than 600 rooms and suites and with excellent facilities such as indoor gym, swimming pool, hair salon, spa and spacious banquet halls to cater for all kinds of functions.

Initially I booked the Executive King room without breakfast. During check-in, I was attended by a staff named Peter who recommended an upgrade to the Horizon Club room for just RM180++ . For this upgrade, we got to enjoy the services at the Horizon Club including complimentary tea, all-day beverages at the club's private lounge, complimentary WiFi and broadband Internet access in the room and at the lounge, personalized services and even late check-out at 4pm.

Horizon Club floor

Hotel corridor

The room at Shangri-La is no doubt, luxuriously decorated complete with a chandelier, befitting its reputation as a five-star hotel. 

Executive King Room

The hallway

The king-sized bed faces a 42-inch plasma TV and a cabinet containing a well-stocked mini-fridge and tea-making facilities. What is more, the hotel even provides instant coffee machine and coffee capsules that comes in 3 different strengths. 

From another angle

Coffee machine in the room

Coffee, anyone?

Tea-making facilities

Well-stocked fridge

Some snacks are available in-room

The bathroom boasts a modern design. Guests can opt either to soak up in the elongated bathtub or to experience the soothing rainshower. The shared sliding door for the shower and toilet cubicle strikes me as ingenious as it maximise the available space in the bathroom. 

Hotel bathroom

The shower cubicle with rainshower 

I love the perfume-like smell of the hotel toiletries but I thought Shangri-La should invest in their own brand of toiletries like Mandarin Oriental and The Westin hotels do.

Hotel toiletries

Just like other hotels, Shangri-La also provides in-room safe box, bathrobes, iron, ironing board, shoe-shine kit, and other standard hotel amenities. Worth mentioning is their safe box which is large enough for guests to store their laptops.

In-room safe box

In the cupboard

After checking in, we decided to go for tea at the Horizon Club private lounge located at Level 2. Some clubs cater only for adults but at Shangri-La, small children are welcomed at the Family room:

Club lounge at Level 2

Our kids were entertained by the toys in the room

Our tea

During check-in, I asked Peter whether there was any promotion for birthday celebrations like spa discount or something, but he apologetically told me the hotel does not have any. However, when we came back from our tea at the lounge, I was pleasantly surprised to find a birthday cake in the room, complimentary of Shangri-La Hotel. I wasn't expecting that at all! The chocolate cake came moist and sinfully decadent, just what I wanted for my birthday treat!

The birthday cake compliment from the hotel

The next day, we took quite some time getting ready and ended up almost missing our breakfast. Regretfully, we did not manage to have our breakfast at the Lemon Garden Cafe at the lobby. Luckily since we upgraded to Horizon Club room, we were able to have our breakfast at the club lounge instead, personally attended to by the staff there. The breakfast was really good, and I especially love my eggs Benedict which is perfectly seasoned and simply oozed with goodness!

Egg Benedict with grilled veggie, hash brown and beef bacon

Steamed cod fish, dim sum, grilled cherry tomatoes and seasoned sausage

Overall, I thought the hotel delivers on all big fronts. The room was simply lovely and the services immaculate. It was quite a pity I was not able to sample their spa menu considering it was my birthday treat, but maybe the next time I'm here, I will try it out. 

Rating: 10/10

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