Pullman Putrajaya Lakeside, Malaysia

The Pullman Putrajaya Lakeside, Malaysia is hands down my favorite hotel...ever!

The best service and everyone is respectful and professional but the ambiance of this hotel is what makes it amazing.

Putrajaya is already a small city and not too populated - which I LOVE!  The hotel is no different and it made our stay seems almost exclusive.

We payed extra for the morning buffet and it's better than any other buffet I've ever gone to for anything.

I can't stop raving about this place but here are some pictures of this beautiful lake side hotel.

There are four main building compounds and they represent the main cultural contributions to Malay culture: Malay, Arabic, Chinese and Indian

This room was pretty big and we didn't even reserve the biggest one.  There is a nice sitting area next to the bed and opposite end of the room is a lovely little office area.

 

Messy bed - too lazy to make it for the photo - but you get the point

Needless to say, we are coming back here again!

Memory Lane 懐かしい...Malaysia Hop on Bus

If you have a free day with nothing particularly planned, hop on the City Tour Bus

I forget what it's officially called, but it was such a brilliant idea, I wondered why more places didn't do this.  You pay a single fee for the day or for a single trip.  If you have a day pass, you can get on and off when ever you like at any of the stops.  This idea only made it to my home town last year and I did this trip back in 2008.

Check out some of the great things I got to see from the Bus!

I can't wait to go back!

Memory Lane 懐かしい... Cendol and other goodies from Malaysia

I LOVE Cendol!

I first had it in Malaysia and it was my go to dessert to cool down.  In fact, it has to be my favorite sweet from Malaysia.

This is what I would call the food for the Gods or Ambrosia but better!

I just love it and there are so many different ways to make it!

I was looking up the recipe and found this site. 

Here's one that I found online:

Cendol Batter Recipe

5 Tbsp Hoen Kwe flour (mung bean flour)
4 Tbsp rice flour
1 Tbsp tapioca flour
½ tsp salt
625ml water
A few drops pandan concentrate

1. Combine all the ingredients and mix well.  Cook on low heat, stirring constantly until the batter thickens and turns translucent.
2. Prepare a bowl of iced water.
3. Put a small amount of batter into potato ricer and squeeze into iced water.  Repeat until all the batter is used up.
4. Transfer cendol into container. It’ll keep in the fridge for about 4 days.

Cendol Drink Recipe

This is the recipe I used for my restaurant cendol drink, and it’s heavily modified from what you can expect to get in Malaysia.  That’s because I don’t have access to fresh coconut milk; I use packet coconut milk and add a bit of evaporated milk to it.

3 TBS cendol
60ml clear sugar syrup*
80ml coconut milk
20ml evaporated milk
½ cup shaved ice
30ml palm sugar syrup **

1. We put the cendol in a glass, then add all the other stuff and top up the glass with cold water. Feel free to experiment with sugar amounts and adjust to taste.

* made by dissolving 2 cups white sugar and pinch of salt in 375ml water, then cooled. Store in fridge.**made by dissolving 2 logs Indonesian Gula Jawa or Gula Aren in 4 cups water, then cooled. Store in fridge.

On a side note,
I wanted to post other pics of food that I enjoyed over in Malaysia

Very delicious pineapple tarts that I got from Chinatown in Melaka.  It was still warm!

My lovely couch surfing host made a lovely spread of food for us

Here is more from our lovely host!

I have no idea what this drink is but I LOVED IT!

And now, for something different:

A chicken stew with lemon sticky rice and a lovely limeade.

I like checking out franchises in international settings to see what they do to accommodate local tastes and food and this Micky D's did such a great job I think!

I was eating an egg sandwich but I ordered a HUGE cup of Mile (I LOVE Milo!) and I had to take a picture of the paper menu with a Chicken Pita sandwich and Azuki bean sundaes

Memory Lane 懐かしい... Malaysia KL

I've been feeling very nostalgic about Malaysia and really freaked out when I couldn't find the pictures I took there; especially those of the Petronas Towers.

Long story short...I found them!

This was a really cool building and I think the look out was only at the 40th floor.  Something like that.

I took a panoramic picture....but that I can't find.  The view from the look out had a great view of Kuala Lumpur.

You may have seen these towers featured in the movie Entrapment with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones - I think that was the film that put her on the map.

Well, I didn't know what to expect when I went inside but if you want to know....

....A shopping mall!  Granted, those are only the first few floors but I definitely wasn't expecting that!

I'm sure there are more businesses in all the other floors but I was just shocked.

Other buildings that I saw but had no clue what the are (at the time I did, but that was over 5 years ago)...

Memory Lane 懐かしい... South East Asia

All this thinking about Cambodia has gotten me nostalgic for S.E.A..

I can't help but remembering that trip as one of the most defining moments in my life.  Honestly.

Granted, that year was very big for me because I've never left home and I decided I was going to leave home and moved to Japan for the year.  

Kawagoe, Japan.  One of my favorite places in Japan.

Then I started my journey in Thailand

At the base of Tham Seua or the Tiger Temple in Krabi.

1,200 steps later, the top of Tham Sua and my fear of heights gone!

Melaka - A cultural hub that was once a huge trading port in Malaysia

Dutch influenced

Ankor Wat at Sunset

 Ankor Wat at Sunrise - some of the oldest most beautiful temples I'm ever set foot on

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Market Place in Viet Nam

Beautiful hotels and commercial area

Cu Chi Tunnel

Very small and a place where I discovered claustrophobia for the first time.

Motorbikes EVERYWHERE!  They even ride on the sidewalk!

These are just snippets of things that I've seen but I feel like this trip was an eye opening experience that I'll carry with me the rest of my life.