SOTO Pocket Torch

Date acquired Feb 2015. Price Yen980 which at that time translated to about RM30.00.

This won an award some years back. Having dabbled with a couple of pocket torches which are fueled by gas and found that all do their job but the drawback is having to buy gas refill  (those red canisters which are used to refill lighters) - which is all fine and good when you're at home - different story when you're on the road.

Now you have all the benefits of a portable flame torch with easily found tuck shop lighters. Easily found anywhere around the world.

Note that the SOTO has been designed to be used with a lighter whose dimension is different (longer) from what we find in Malaysia. Some improvisation is required when the provided lighter runs out of fuel. Check out the pic below on how.

Verdict 5/5. Essential camping gear to get that fire / barbie / mozzie coil going.

Portable flame torch

Nice clean blue flame

Alternative RM1.10 Aladdin lighter. Use a half layer cotton tissue to pad the bottom of SOTO. The shorter Aladdin will now be a perfect fit.

Putrajaya 30km LSD : Runners Alternative to Lake Gardens - Hartamas Loop

Lake Gardens - Hartamas is the Gold Standard for runners doing their 30km LSD route. It has a mixed bag of everything: flats, climbs, downhills and most importantly a Petronas station for refuel and toilet stop at the midway mark. Guys have little to worry about on the last point as as we have 30kms worth of trees, plants, grassy verges that can do with some natural fertiliser ..

Well I for one, do not like running too much on the road : speedy vehicles aside, there is always that kerb you have to hop on, or the lane you have to cross and the narrow verges you have to contend with between grass and tarmac at Kenny Hills. Also I cannot stomach 14 laps of Taman Tasik Perdana ..bosan! And! I don't like repeating scenery ..

So I have devised Putrajaya 30KM. Route stats in numbers:

1. 30.03 : distance in KM for a giant route
2. 6.5km - the total distance on the very quiet triple carriage Lebuh Wadi Ehsan.
3. 24km - jogging tracks and pathways : as safe as you can ever get.
4. 7.5km - length that you will double back on (15km). LG is 30km mirror image of 15km. No boredom!
5. 160m - total elevation gain
6. 5 - the number of public toilets you will pass. 1 toilet has no water so don't do big business there!

Start and end point is Menara Alaf Baru parking space. At the end of the run, there is a cafe for you to show off your clingy singlet on your amazing 6-packs, stretch your sinewy calves and look the part of an elite athlete that has just completed an ultra. Unless you are pudgy like me, in which case, please proceed to buy that can of Pepsi and quietly leave the premises.

Tips :
If you start your LSD at the sane hour of 4:30am, you can survive without a headlamp. There will be the odd sections where the park lights are broken / not switched on. I however run with one. If you have trouble justifying to your spouse / partner why you need a RM200 Black Diamond headlamp - I'm giving you the perfect excuse right now.

Muslim runners can break for Fajr prayers near Everly Hotel (@KM17.4). There is a wakaf and a public toilet. The sun rises from behind Everly so point the opposite way to pray. You could continue and pray at the Putrajaya Mosque but your 2XU tights, smelly armpits and soggy singlet may raise an eyebrow or twenty.

You can detour to find food at KM16.7 - there is a Petronas station. You have to exit the Presint 16 lake. It's a short detour and it would absolutely destroy your timing and average pace. Just kidding.

Route description:

KM 0 : Start at Menara Alaf Baru and head towards Masjid Besi on jogging path
KM 3 : scenic lakeside paths as you cross under Gemilang Bridge
KM 7.5 : transition to Lebuh Bestari (staircase)
KM8.5 : start of the only tarmac section of run on Lebuh Wadi Ehsan loop.
KM 14.7 : loop ends at Taman Warisan traffic lights as you veer right ..
KM 15.5 : .. to join the lake paths of Presint 16. Egrets, wetlands, birds. Scenic.
KM 20:  climb staircase to Putrajaya Mosque and make counter clockwise loop of roundabout
KM 21 : cross Persiaran Perdana Bridge and swing underneath it to Taman Wawasan jogging path
KM23 : rejoin transition point of KM7.5.
KM30 : End

Lebuh Wadi Ehsan loop : I actually love this section of the course. It is triple carriage and is ghostly dead at 5 am. Something about roads leading into the far unseen horizon, very brightly lit, flat-ish .. best place to do tempo and most likely be the fastest segment of your run for the day.I suggest (and do myself)  run this section AGAINST traffic.

I ran with 3x 9oz bottles and did not refuel along the way. First time I forgot to bring money. Second time, I just continued to run as if I forgot to bring money. I did not run with a Camelbak because with 3 separate 9 oz bottles, I can manage my water properly. With Camelbak you have no idea how much water you have left. So you could stretch to 30kms without refuel stops but only you know your body better.

Souq / Putrajaya Mosque - nothing is open at 7:00 ++ am so even though you are passing busy civilisation (many bike riders setting up at the roundabout at this hour), you won't be able to find a shop to refill / refuel.

Tree Top Walk @ Sungai Sedim

Vertigo much? The walkway spans 925m for a complete rectangular clock-wise loop which is some 30m above river level. Admission is RM10 per adult (2014).

Located within Gunung Inas Forest Reserve, this attraction is located some 30km from Kulim @ N5° 24.799' E100° 46.972'. For weekenders this place is packed with picknickers as they pitch their mats along the crystal clear and icy cold waters of Sungai Sedim.

This POI is already in our maps since time immemorial.

If this place is packed, there is the other alternative of Lubok Jong - also along the same river further downstream.

A Snub for the Ipad Generation

Anyone recall your wild carefree days as a boy or girl growing up in the days when there were no PCs, Ipads and the internet?  For these boys, those days still exist ..

Pandalela would be proud

Just land between the 2 life threatening boulders and you'll be alright

Tahukah di mana anak anak anda berada hari ini?

Head first works too

Wow. An Ipad! Such fun!

Nasi Lemak Bukit Doraemon - Taiping

If you are a Nasi Lemak buff and happen to be in Taiping, you cannot miss this. We have tried Nasi Lemak Antarabangsa, Nasi Lemak Tanglin, Nasi Lemak Makcik .. and this by far beats all of them! And that is no mean feat!

Located at N4° 52.332' E100° 44.792', this stall sells nasi lemak tetek (small packets). A bare bones packet (without the extra dishes) costs RM1.20. You have some 20 odd side dishes to accompany your nasi lemak. More on that later.

The nasi lemak itself.

Wonderful, fragrant and tasty. With your first gingerly spoonful, you know you are on to something fabulous. It is light and flavorful. The sambal is mild. If Nasi Lemak Antarabangsa is known for its hot and sweet sambal, this takes it several notches lower. We were pleasantly surprised that the sambal was very mild yet very delicious. The owner says that the sambal is made that way to cater for the young and old - not too spicy for everyone yet packing maximum punch on the flavor scale.

They do not offer fried anchovies and peanuts on the side as most nasi lemak stations do. Instead, the anchovies come cooked in the sambal. Just the way we like it!

So a spoon of rice with a liberal dash of sambal gives your tastebuds a delightful experience. Truth be told, this stall was really discovering interesting out of nothing - we did not know of its existence prior to this from social media or whatever - and just happened to stumble by this stall by accident. So imagine our surprise when this stall bowled us over with their marvelous nasi lemak.

2 packs with side dishes : daging merah, fried egg, paru goreng, sotong sambal, teh ais and ice water

You have more than 20 side dishes to choose from.

Factoids :

On weekdays this stall serves some 20-30kg of nasi lemak. On weekends, the volume bumps up to 70kg! By 930 am on a weekend, some 50kg would have already been sold.

This stall opens from early morning till noon only. They close 1 day per week - the day varies, usually Mondays. They open on weekends and public holidays.

This is no regret nasi lemak at its finest. Personally, I have never tasted nasi lemak this good.

Summerset Colonial Hotels and Villa - Ghost Hotel 2014 Part 1

Finding interesting out of nothing indeed ..

I came here with a car club many many years ago - Summerset has had 257 hotel rooms and 51 private chalets .. and as far as I can recall, it was not cheap either. Located not far from the town of Kuala Rompin, it is about 220km away from Kuala Lumpur. Elegant, with romantic incan lighting throughout the resort, this place was posh in its heyday and truly lived up to its colonial aspirations : main building with a fabulous dome, ornate furnishings, marble table lamps, french windows and doors, solid wood furniture all sprawled along the coast of South China Sea. This is one resort built with passion and a flair for design.

That was some 10 years ago.

In 2014, I was making my way from Pekan - Kuala Rompin on a decidedly long detour back to KL. Kuala Rompin has grown - it has KFC now - the barometer determining how modern a town is :). But what struck me was I didn't recall passing by Summerset ... a quick search on the Garmin and I was routing back to where it used to be ..

Hidden amongst the undrgrowth

"Eh surely cannot be!", i exclaimed. No way can this place bungkus. You can expect the Generic Budget Beach Resorts to fold but surely not a resort of this scale, size and grandeur. The owners would be stark raving mad to allow it to be foreclosed!

The tarmac road is clean - I can explain to you why NOW but I shall leave it for another blog entry involving a mysterious couple dwelling within these abandoned grounds ....

The Lobby

The paint job is holding on well in 2014 - definitely not cheap plaster paint. This is was a quality development.

One of the last few entries by the security guard

Part of the hotel block being reclaimed by the sea

The chalets look like a scene after Hurricane Katrina

Everything was left behind when the hotel was closed : furnishings, beds, TV, lamps, telephones, linen : most of them have been scavenged by looters but you can still find the odd CRT TV lying around (this was in the days when LCD was not even on the market), some of the bedsheets are still pure white after years of being abandoned, divans and mattresses are scattered all over. The office was left as is - documents, files, folders all left behind - printers, even staff shoes and not least the security logs, staff claim logbooks.

The paint job is holding up amazingly well - underscoring what I suspect has always been the mantra of the developer : build quality build posh, Everything just reeks quality - when most hotels go for simple windows and sliding doors, Summerset opted for French doors and windows. When resorts opt for cheaper carpets, Summerset went the country mile and used expensive wood flooring. The selection of paint too would not have escaped the attention to detail of the developers and it shows till today.
My guess is that one day all the staff turned up and found that the resort was locked up by Receivers and Managers. The R&M probably paid for security for awhile before it too ran out of funds - before the looters came swarming in.

Ok finding this place was a mini-discovery in itself - but what made the entire experience surreal was my close encounter with inhabitants of this resort .... next entry!

This entry would not have been possible without pics from the following blogs. I do not claim or own the copyright of the pre-2014 images taken therein.


http://j-travel.blogspot.com/2007/04/summerset-resort-kuala-rompin-8th-9th.html
alvinchew @ panoramio
http://www.my-rummy.com/rompin/Summerset_Resort.html

Further reads can be found here :

http://www.thestar.com.my/story/?file=%2f2009%2f9%2f7%2fsouthneast%2f4640483&sec=southneast

POI : Thai Sabye Sabye Restaurant @ Kelana Jaya

When I saw Rashid Sidek at the door, I knew I found the long lost Thai Sabye Sabye restaurant.

TSS used to be located at a dinghy long forgotten shopping complex along Old Klang Road. It had illustrious neighbours : Ace Hardware, Econsave and a  questionable looking karaoke shop. But best of all it had covered underground carpark which charges RM0.50 per hour. That's cheaper than DBKL parking at street level above! One day the TSS owner lamented that a Singaporean buyer had bought the complex and all tenants have 30 days to go for the new owners have lavish plans for it. That was one year ago. And the building is still as decrepit today as it has always been.

So it was a nice surprise to stumble upon TSS at Kelana Jaya. No other Thai retaurant has a badminton player beckoning you over.

Its Thai food. Reasonably priced. The food is savory for sure. Can't go wrong with the ala carte menu like belacan fried rice (RM8.90) or rice with minced chicken with basil leave. It doesnt have the ambience of the SEA Cuisine chain like Flying Chillies or Absolute Thai : think budget Thai with for the masses kind of serving. Simple melamine plates. What it skimps on plates, it makes up on garnishing. All the ala carte meals come with generous garnish: depending on order it varies from salad to udang kering to savoury chicken to kerabu mangga.  Nothing fanciful but decent Thai fare for the typical salary men. This new outlet is now far bigger (2 storeys) and now offers Thai Steamboat BBQ Buffet as well.

For comparison, we'd rate De'Chiengmai as the leading tasty Thai restuarant, followed by SEA Cuisine chain and Sri Thai. So TSS falls firmly in the middling pecking order. Tasty but not great, tasty enough without being expensive.

But they have a specialty which most Thai restuarant does not offer : Honey Squid! This is a must try dish as we've been sufficiently around doing many other Thai eateries and have never found it on menu. It's RM15 per plate and well worth your time. This dish is LIMA BINTANG !! 

Eat like a badminton champion! And why not!

Honey squid