First Korean meal@Rest stop, along the way to Yeoju, Korea

Ever year, Pyung Kang Cheil church organizes retreats, inviting church members from all over the world to meet and have a great fellowship with Father. This year's retreat is held at Yeoju, during the warmest period in South Korea. The weather is very similar to Malaysia. Once we arrived at the airport, we departed to Yeoju right away.

We had lunch at a rest stop and there were so many people there, both locals and tourists. School children were having their summer break from school, and thus, family holiday time too. Feels like siesta in Barcelona. My first meal was the pork cutlet with rice, drizzled with cheese and BBQ sauce. What's interesting here is the ordering system runs with some online ticketing software or something, all these hungry souls will queue up at this ONE counter to order just about anything you want. It was hectic, crazy, and chaotic.

Firstly, it is all written in Korean, so we simply pointed and hoped we had our orders right. Then our orders are keyed into the system, and we were given a ticket with some Korean words and numbers written on it. We did not have time to ask much further, as hungry Koreans from behind were already pushing their way through.

Even waiting for the food was slightly confusing. Each counter serving different food may be putting up the same order number on the platform, so I did go the wrong counter initially.

But finally, my food came! Well, the food was so-so but we were hungry, anything goes! Quite expensive actually. This meal cost Korean Won 7900, so about RM 20 plus.

Summer food! It looked delicious, but it wasn't as delicious as I thought it was when I took my first bite. The dough was too thick and the sausage, was quite... economical. Sausage, sliced in half, thinner than ever. Cost was Korean Won 2000, about RM 6-7. Phew.....

Swordfish burger and fried seafood goodies@Bondi Beach, Sydney

The houses, apartments, shops and cafes along these hilly winding roads along Bondi beach really give out the sense of holiday-ing-all-the-time feel. I will never forget the first glimpse of Bondi beach when we reached the tip of one of the hilly slopes. Although you can't see much from the picture which was taken from one of the slopes, believe me, the view was outstanding. Those people staying at the apartments nearby are so lucky to be waking up to this view, EVERYDAY.

My friend who is also a frequent traveller says that Bondi beach is quite similar to Kalkan. I've never heard of this place before but apparently it is located on the Turkish Mediterrenean coast, known to tourists as a place for fine beaches too. Greeks used to live in this place before the war between both nations started and since then many Greeks had left, leaving Kalkan almost disappearing from the map. Luckily, some rich merchants back in the 50s decided to preserve the place and today, it has become a famous tourist destination and the Kalkan property scene has since hit sky high. Similar shops, houses, apartments, cafes located along the hilly roads complementing the scenic view of the beaches.

What an interesting FYI. Turkey, hopefully my future destination and Kalkan will definitely be one of my must-visit places.

Ok! Back to the foodies!

When we were finally here, I was really awed by the scenic view of the splashing blue waves, and baby blue clear sky. Breathtaking! Not to mention, lean, mean, machine surfers to make the view, more sassy!

The place my friend had been raving about since we first arrived. Swordfish burger!

These guys are so lucky to have fresh seafood served daily. And it is so affordable for them! Argh.

Deep fried calamaries and fries. Yummylicious! The squids were nicely marinated with pepper and paprika. I'm salivating already, looking back at this picture.

Grilled tuna and swordfish. The fishes were fresh, but a little too bland for me. Healthy dish! Minus the fries of course.

Finally, the long awaited swordfish burger! This is definitely a much healthier option of a burger if you are indeed craving for one. The breaded crumb fried swordfish was delicious of course, but it wouldn't have been good alone, without the fresh vegs and the delicious tartar sauce. The diametre of the burger was about 6 inches. Phew!

Fried scallops. Yums! The only downside, was the batter. Didn't stick well to the scallops and they were too thick. We dug out the batter and ate the juicy fat scallops on their own. Good enough!

Say hello to my foodie friends. Only 4 days and nights of food and we all ballooned up. Aiyaiyaiyaiyaiyai!



Cashew Nuts Experience@Phuket, Thailand

AirAsia flights to Thailand are pretty well known to Malaysians, especially flights heading to beach destinations like Koh Samui, Krabi and Phuket. Sadly, the cost of travel to these islands can sometimes turn out to be cheaper than our own local islands in the East Coast, which shouldn't be and the tourism ministry should re-look into the aspects of making local holiday destinations more affordable for Malaysians.

Anyway, back to Thailand, my friends and I recently flew via AirAsia to Phuket for a short weekend getaway.

What I've learnt from several AirAsia flight experience, it is better if we pre-booked our meals along booking our airline tickets as somehow rather, we will feel hungry, even short travels. The airline only provides limited food and if you are sitting at the final few rows, most likely no food is left for you. So yea.. pre-book!

This fried rice with satay cost RM9.90, and mmmm.. delicious!

Our first place of visit was the cashew nut factory. Honestly speaking, I had never seen a cashew nut at its most raw form. I respect the cashew nuts a lot more now, after seeing how the lady workers sit in front of these stacks of nuts all day long, cleaning them while risking skin damage, from the poisonous sap of the fruit.

My first time drinking cashew nut juice. Slightly gassy, and sweet, but I couldn't really taste the cashew-ness from its juice. But it surely did its wonders cooling us down under the excruciating hot weather.

  

I was shocked at first thinking that cashew fruits are multicoloured. In actual fact, these were just cappings to protect the fruits from birds and squirrels.



Breathtaking view of Phuket, by the sea. Gorgeous isn't it?

Sashimi frenzy@Sydney Fish Market

Free flights to Australia for Miss Foodventura, anyone? Particularly Sydney! Am missing the sashimi from Sydney Fish Market terribly now. It's only been a month..

Mr Trav, a sashimi expert, was in charge of all the food ordering. We ordered a balance between raw salmon, tuna, swordfish sashimi, scampis, oysters, prawns......

to deep fried soft shell crabs, baby octopuses, grilled unagi slices and fries. Madness! So much food for only 4 tiny tummies. The sashimis were by far the freshest I'd ever eaten in my life. Mr Trav, however says that Japan is leading when it comes to fresh seafood.

Even the salmon roes, were really fresh, and crunchy. Each sashimi slice was dipped with wasabi and soy sauce, and with a finishing coat of salmon roes. Bliss!

Initially, we wanted to eat our lunch by the pier, enjoying the gorgeous view and cool breeze. The view looked peaceful right? But we were attacked by gigantic fiercesome seagulls. Dozens of them were hovering over the waters and benches. One of them dashed towards us and pecked on our plastic bag. Crazy! We moved back into the market, not risking any of our delicious sashimis to these predators.

They tasted as fresh as they looked! My favourite, were the scampis! I had never eaten them before and this first opportunity surely did not disappoint! Sweet, tender, fresh. Yums! The next in line was the prawns. I must admit, when the steamed red prawns came in a plastic bag, it looked a little unappetizing. Little did I know, the prawns were fat, juicy, tender, and complemented so well with the tartar sauce. Best cocktail prawns ever! Total damage: AUD 50/head. It was all worth it! So... free flights to australia? sydney, anyone? I want fresh sashimis... fresh seafood...pretty please?

The Best HotDog, like everrrrrr@Harrys De Wheels, Sydney

Although it was only 6pm, the sun had already set and the temperature dropped to nearly 10degrees. Brrrrr!

Mr Trav brought us to eat the ultimatum-hotdog-of-the-century. At Harrys On Wheels.

The shop didn't stand out, just like any normal van stand with bright lights. When we went near, we saw many framed photos hung on one side of the stall, featuring celebs dating back, possibly 50 years or so.

The hotdog was about 8inches, with one fat, chewy, flavourful sausage lying on a heavenly pile of
minced beef, beans and sauekraut. Drizzled over mustard and bbq sauce. Aud 6.50

My first bite ( had to open mouth really wide). Kaboom! The best hotdog I had ever had in my entire life.

Forget the calories, the sin, the guilt. I, myself finished the entire 8inch of deliciousness. yikes!

P/S: not a meal on a first date, especially if you wanna score a kiss and more future dates with this guy. Why?

Mouth stank from the garlic and saurkraut. Then, the sight of you gobbling it up like a barbarian, sauces and minced meat smudging your face.

It was just too delicious to eat it like a decent fair lady!

I turned blonde!@Sydney Harbour

The weather was strikingly sunny and after a round of camwhoring all the way from the cruise point to the opera house, our legs started feeling shakey...

Time for some noontime booze!

My first time sipping icey cold pure blonde, Aud 9!
Crisp, dry, slightly flowery. Perfect as a thirst quencher.

My two gfs on the other hand went 110% girly sipping Malibu. Aud 11

Ahhhhh... Booze at 2 pm. With a great view. Pure awesomeness!

Greasy breakfast after Campos Coffee

Following an awesome coffee at Campos, we walked down the street and stumbled upon a tiny cafe by the corner. Our aim was... "BACON and EGGs" which Campos dóes not serve. I couldn't recall the name of the cafe, but its theme was orange. Walls painted with bright orange, giving a sense of freshness and coziness for a scrumptuous breakfast! The portion was gigantic. Boy oh boy, the scrambled eggs were delicious!

Even my giant croissant, nicely toasted to crunchy perfection, served with butter and strawberry jam was yummylicious! Sinful....

After a grande breakfast, off we go! To the Sydney Opera House and harbour area!