Koh Lipe

I don’t care how last minute it is but if you suggest a trip to an island, I’m game!

Merv had the week off and Joe K was back in Malaysia for a month so what better way to spend Chinese New Year than to lay on the beach and soak up some UV rays. I thought a trip to Koh Lipe would cost close to nothing since it is literally the island next to Langkawi. An hour on the plane and another hour on the boat should be reasonably inexpensive right? Wrong.

How to get there
To maximize our stay, we took the earliest Air Asia flight out of Kuala Lumpur (LCCT) that got us to Langkawi at 8:30 a.m. After grabbing a bottle of Smirnoff at the airport duty-free store, we hopped into a cab and drove to Telaga Harbor only to find out that the 9:30 a.m. speedboat has been overbooked. We had to wait for the next (and last) boat that was departing at 2:30 p.m.


Goofing around in Langkawi

Roundtrip flight from Kuala Lumpur (LCCT) to Langkawi: RM569.00 (USD $168). Roundtrip speedboat from Telaga Harbor to Koh Lipe: RM 250.00 (USD $74).

Waiting at the Koh Lipe Immigration for our passports

The speedboat took us to the the immigration center at Pattaya Beach where we waited patiently in the heat for our passport. After that, we then hired a long boat for a 3-minute boat ride to our hotel, which was on the other end of the beach about 1km away.

I’m pretty sure there are more economical ways to get to Koh Lipe. I read that you could take a bus from Kuala Lumpur to Had Yai and then a boat to Koh Lipe OR instead of taking a speedboat from Telaga Harbor, I eventually found out that you could hire a normal boat for much less. Also, during low seasons, budget flights from Kuala Lumpur (LCCT) to Langkawi cost as low as RM49 (USD $15).

Where to stay
Another disadvantage about traveling last minute (during high seasons) is that all good hotels are fully booked! Our first choice was Castaway Resort but since there were no rooms left there (or anywhere for that matter), we booked (and paid for – most hotels here asked for full payment upfront) a room at Sanom Resort. It was reasonably pleasant except that even though we were facing the beach, there was a lack of breeze so we had to keep the windows open the whole night and needless to say, we were attacked by seveteen thousand mosquitoes. I’m exaggerating. The room came with a mosquito net and fans but you get my point.

Lunch at Castaway Resort


Our room/hut at Sanom Resort

What to do
I was hesitant to write and share this trip because in my eyes, Koh Lipe is still a gem waiting to be discovered. It’s not as popular as Koh Phi Phi or Phuket but I can tell it will get there very soon. There were rows of resorts along the beach that was housing a few thousand tourists that looked like they needed to apply more sun block lotion. Popular activities include diving, snorkeling, beach massages, reading and lazing around.


Sunset


Post lunch laze


Post-massage laze

More pictures

A Malaysian Chinese Wedding - morning session

I admit, it’s shameful but I just attended my very first Malaysian Chinese wedding. Since this is totally new to me (as opposed to the my other friends who has attended each other's weddings in the past decade), naturally, next to the bride and groom, I was the most excited and also the most clueless person at the wedding.

Foong, the bride woke up at 4 a.m. to prep for this.

The chee-muis.

As friends of the bride, I was part of the chee-muis or sisterhood. Chee-muis were summoned to be at bride's house by 7 a.m. on the wedding day where the first of two tea ceremony sessions would take place and before the arrival of the groom and his heng-dais or brothers.

45 minutes late but the groom and his heng-dais finally arrived with a lot of honking in 8 cars and a few "goodies".


Goodies include a whole roasted pig.


This is the dai kam che, I guess you could say she pretty much ran the show. Her noisy, high-pitched and high-volume voice gave me a headache but her energy level is impressive!

It's customary for chee-muis to hinder the groom from entering her home by testing his love for his soon-to-be wife. Some obstacles that the chee-muis came up with includes eating a 4-flavored sandwich; flavors include sweet (honey), sour (lemon pulp), spicy (wasabi) and bitter (Nescafe instant coffee powder) each representing experiences in life, washed down with some wasabi tong-yuen (rice balls, more spice for life!) and “lip-passing seaweed”.


Keith, the groom tasting the yummy 4-flavored sandwich. Can you see the wasabi oozing out of the sandwich?


Heng-dais had to help out.


Keith feeding the heng-dais spicy wasabi tong-yuen.


Passing of the seaweed.


The games are followed by some heavy angpow (red packets) negotiation (we’re talking about real money here!) and some sweet public confessions from the groom.


After about an hour of proving his love for her, the chee-muis unlocked the door and the groom saw his wife for the first time and followed by the many, many hours of tea-pouring to the elderly and the ancestors.

Smokeless joss sticks.

Click here for more pictures taken during the morning session.

Thanksgiving

I know, at the rate I'm posting, it’d be Christmas but can I just say that it’s tough juggling a couple of start-ups, catching up with people and trying to spend time with my two little terrorists (also known as my nieces) before I leave NYC again.

Having been deprived of a whole year without Thanksgiving food (Thanksgiving in India), the menu this year was I think, the most extravagant it has ever been.

After many weeks of Food Network watching, my sister and I decided to ditch Ina and Martha and went with the New York Magazine Thanksgiving menu. All the recipes were written to feed 8 people and so we doubled the ingredient amount suggested. We had originally planned to cook for 18 people but 6 people flaked and did so just as the Fresh Direct man rings the doorbell with our Thanksgiving grocery delivery. We also added to the menu our all time favorite; green bean casserole.

Our cooking game plan/oven schedule, courtesy of Joe Kon


Ingredients used for Green Bean Casserole


The 20lbs turkey


Temperature of turkey *must* be 155 degrees


Sausage and Mushroom Stuffing


Joe preparing orange ham


The Thanksgiving banquet


Carve away Alf!

I wish I could say I was stuffed but after cooking (and smelling) food for two days, I didn’t have much appetite during dinner. In fact, I was so tired that I didn’t even bother carving the turkey, which to me, is like making the first cut on a perfect birthday cake. My favorite dish of the day is Maple Whipped Sweet Potatoes.

To most Americans, Thanksgiving is about gratitude, thankfulness and appreciation. To us, Thanksgiving has always been about getting together to eat. As I grow older, I realize my ability to eat great amounts of food has declined and Thanksgiving is no longer about how much I can eat but about how much fun I have cooking with my posse.