Dream Hotel, Sukhumvit soi 15, Bangkok

Been to this hotel 3 years for their Flava Restaurant. Then I got their sales manager to show me the rooms. Quite impressed. So finally I got to try the room this time.

1/2. the room - pretty good and the sound proof is also quite ok.

3/4. the shower needs to be improved, as that glass curtain is not wide enough to prevent the water from splashing out.

5. what is something special in the fridge? 6. this lamp is a bit low and you need to hold your head down when passing thru'.

7. the view is to the soi 19 and asoke of Sukhumvit. On the left the brown one is Sofitel Residence. 8. the swimming pool is on Dream 2, another compound next to the main building.

9. the sun deck. 10. the gym - a bit small but the free weight is quite adequate.

11. there are various painting design in the corridor of each floor. 12. the lobby.

13/14. Dream 2

Cathay Pacific new Business class, HKG-BKK

Got on my today's flight to BKK and it's the new Business class seat. Tried this seat in July 2007 for their trial use of this new seat and gave comments on it. Now that CX has improved on what the other passengers and I suggested - the seat is now much softer than that one I tried.

1/2. the 10.5 inches screen is really nice and the AVOD system is awesome.

3/4. the seat can be a full flat bed.

5/6. the meal service is often kept at a good standard. I took the seabass as main course - pretty good considering it's a inflight meal.

7. Again, I took another choco ice cream. 8. My favourite drink from CX - Kiwi delight!

Plaza Premium Lounge and CX Lounge, HK Airport

1. tried this beef noodle from Plaza Premium Lounge on the Wing of Chek Lap Kok Airport. Pretty good and it's quite Taiwanese local style too. 2. Plaza Premium Lounge

3. The other food is also quite nice and coffee too. 4. Another view to Plaza Premium Lounge.

5. I think Cathay Pacific Lounge has been doing quite well on their food and service quality control. Besides, the Lounge provides shower service which is really good for passengers who are in between 2 flight sectors for a refreshment. 6. My favourite ice cream.

What is it?

What do you think of this bottle?

My salty kum kuat 咸柑桔

When I was a kid, I used to see there were a few jars of brown mini shrunk ugly kum kuat underneath the bed of my grand mom. When my grand mom noticed my curiosity, she took one out and put it in a cup and pour in some hot water and put some sugar in it. It turned out to be a very nice hot drink to me. So last year my sister gave me some kum kuats and I was preparing my XO salty kum kuat and I am going to let it stay for at least 5 years to 10 years. My friend had one for 20 years. I tried that one and it's like the taste of dried tangerine peel. Besides, it is so good for the throat. I realise how amazing of our seniors had this recipe. It told the historical food culture of Chinese. I often imagine there might be lots of people who died of food testing. Salutes to them!

1. I made this one just an hour ago. First, I made a big wok of hot boiling water and pour some salt into the water. Then put the rinsed kum kuats in the boiling water. Then don't let it stay too long. Just about 15 seconds! This is to clean it and don't let the tap water on it as it would turn out rotten if there is any unboiled water. So I would first sprinkle the sea salt on them evenly. Let it stay for 2 days until it's a bit shrunk because of the salt. Then pour them into a glass jar (better without any plastic) one layer over the other. Then pour the salt onto it and shake it a little to let the salt to go into it. Or you can do it one layer by one layer. 2. After a few days, it will become softer and then there will be some salty juice on the bottom. It will keep going. Then you just need to mark the date you made it. Put it in a shadowed cool place.

3. OK, this is the one I made in January, 2008, a year ago. It smells so good already. Noted that it went down by half. It was full to the top when I made it. By the way, it's not necessary to put too much salt like what Suzie Wong taught that she even pour in 2 lbs of salt for 2 lbs of kum kuats. She might not know there is a saturation point that the salt can't dissolve if it's too much salt. Normally I would use half pound of salt for about 2-3 lbs of kum kuat. It just depends on the salt covering the kum kuat, but not to squeeze in with salt. Too much salt will become bitter. Anyway, I am not against Suzie Wong as I really like her show which is very entertaining. She might be told of the technique but she might not remember well of some important things.

Super Jackpot at Jumpin Gym (冒險樂園), Taikooshing, Hong Kong

At 7:40pm of 8th February, 2009, Jason, Daphne and I won a super jackpot at the Jumpin Gym (a fun land with various slot machines) of the City Plaza branch of Taikooshing. What a happy moment. The jackpot gave us 1041 coins and it's about HK$3-400 something. It's not about the money. It's all about the happy moment we shared with each other. Click the below play button to share our happiness to see all these 1041 coins flushing down. Cheers!

1. Jason by the coin machine. 2. It's Mario bringing us luck to win this 1041 coins.

EXP (noodle/pizza), a M.A.X. Concept restaurant, Taikooshing, Hong Kong

M.A.X. Concept has been expanding its outlets in a gradually diverse way. Overall M.A.X. Concept outlets are doing quite well in terms of price, environment, services and quality. The first one I tried might be the Noodle Plus above the Hong Kong Airport Express terminal in 1998. It might be also the time Fusion food got bred up. So tonight I went with my sister and her kid - 2 adults and 1 kid tried 2 pizzas, one cold soba, one salad, one pasta, one dessert and 2 drinks. It's supposed for 4 adults and 1 kid but we could finish them all. I really enjoyed the meal especially after our 3 hour play at the Fun Land winning the Super Jackpot.

1. Prawn on Pomelo Salad (HK$38) - Apparently it's a Thai salad. The dressing is very nice and a bit spicy but not much. The prawn is very fresh and I like the green. 2. Prawn with mango/grapefruit over wheat cold soba (HK$56). My nephew Jason took 1/2 of it. So you know how good it is. Yes, the soba sauce is awesome!

3. Go Mango (Hk$25) - Mango, apple juice blended together. Quite a nice quenching juice. 4. Berries merry - 3 berries, strawberry, blue berry and cranberry with apple juice. I found it a bit too sweet and I believe it might have been put with some syrup. 4. Seafood on spinach linguine(Hk$70) - Very nice match and taste too. The seafood (sea bass, cuttle fish, prawn and mussel) is very fresh.
5. Pepperoni Pizza/6. Parma Ham Pizza - both pizzas are really nice. The cheese is not too much and makes it less rich and not upsetting your stomach much. Highly recommended. It's about HK$70 for one and I think it's even better than Pizza Hut or Spaghetti House.

7. Jason's favourites - the 3 mini sweet pudding with coconut ice cream (HK$26). From the left, it's citrus pudding, taro pudding and coffee pudding. The 3 of them are really nice! 8. This MAX Concept outlet is called EXP, and it's just by the ice skating arena in City Plaza phase II, Tai Koo Shing.

Tin Shui Wai 天水圍, Hong Kong

This place has been quite controversial over the past and it's said to be a city of sadness because of the several family tragedies happening. A song also composed as "Sky Water restraining the town (天水圍城) to further negatively dramatize such sadness of family tragedies and condemn this town to be a town of nowhere to go and no hope to take on. I really find it irrational and unfair to the people living in this area. Today I went to have a look at this town and took some photos to reflect what I feel. Spacious living area and comprehensive traffic infrastructure, lots of green - what more do you ask for?

1/2. The living environment is pretty nice as you can see there are even more space among each building.

3. There are some bicycle lanes around the town. I would love to have a bicycle ride on such a sunny day even though it's not for work. 4. I saw some big green trees at every corner around the buildings. The green will make people happy and eye-relaxing. According to some doctors, get your eyes seeing some green is good the eyes.

5/6. there are quite a number of schools in the town. Also the traffic connection is very convenient except the bus fare is a bit expensive - $22 for going to Causeway Bay.

7/8. There are garden and water ponds inside the housing estate.

9. On the bus ride, I took a photo of Ting Kau 汀九. I used to come here for visiting one of my friends - the house on the 3rd one from left close to the shore. 10. another view to Tsuen Wan West.