Where to Buy Art Supplies

Ever since I started actively painting back in 2009, I get asked this question a lot. There aren’t many art supplies store in the Klang Valley area, partly due to the miniscule art scene here. Most of the stores open near local art colleges to capture the ready market. Of course, if you’re looking primary school watercolour or poster colour sets you can find them in any of the thousands of stationery store across the country. Even bookstores sell them. What I’m talking about here are supplies for fine art like professional grade watercolours, oil and acrylic paints, primers, canvas, etc.

So here’s a short list below. It is by no means complete, these are the ones I know of or frequent.

Art Friend
Top floor of Gardens MidValley, next to Borders (03 2284 7777)

If you want a place with the widest and most comprehensive selection, head to Mid Valley. Don’t be fooled by the kiddie craft products out front, head to the back of the store for the serious stuff. They have many brands of BOTH student and professional grade watercolour/oils/acrylics, paper, canvas, everything. I even found a bottle of masking frisket here. On the down side (besides being impossible to find parking after 11am on weekends in MidValley) is the price. What do expect when you are trying to keep up the rent in Gardens? Another complaint – the staff don’t know much about art.

But still, best place to get hard to find stuff.

***

Nanyang Art Supplies
136 Jalan Petaling, KL (03 2078 7066)

Venus Art and Stationery
90 Jalan Petaling, KL (03 2072 8807)

I’ve been to Venus, but not Nanyang. Both are old school stores in Chinatown, been around for decades. Venus has a good range of paints and paper, but not really cheap.

***

T-Square
Ground floor of Central Market, fronting Jalan Hang Kasturi (03 2031 9122)

My architect friend says there are a few art stores within Central Market (Pasar Seni), but T-Square is the only one I’ve been to. Quite limited choice, but they have full range of Winsor & Newton colours.

***

Vision Art & Stationery Suppliers
3 Jalan PJS 11/28 Bandar Sunway, opposite Public Bank, behind One Academy

Quite a small store, but they have 300gsm paper and loose watercolor tubes. Finding a parking space here is damn near impossible.

***

Penline Art Supplies Sdn Bhd
26, Jalan 52/4, New Town PJ (03 2142 5248)
14, Jalan BP 3/11, Bandar Bukit Puchong (03 8062 1809)

My favorite shop. the owners are friendly, and stuff is cheap. They used to be in Mayang Jaya before moving to Puchong when Limkokwing moved out.

Incidentally, there was a huge (and popular) art store in Mayang Jaya called Win’s Art, but it has since closed down due to the owner passing on. There’s also another one in Melawati called Kok Art & Craft (facing the MRR2 next to CIMB), although I haven’t been there in years so I can’t remember much about it.

***

Update April 2012
I’ve been actively looking for more shops in different parts of the Klang Valley, and found a few more.

Cziplee Bangsar

How could i miss this in the first place? They’ve been around since the 60′s and have recently moved down the street in Telawi to a bigger unit. I’d say they’ve got the best fine art selection – i daresay even better than Art Friend. They’ve got Royal Talens, Pebeo, Daler-Rowney and Windsor & Newton. Best selection of canvas. They have a branch in Kajang.

1 & 3 Jalan Telawi 3, Bangsar (03 2287 7699)
53-56 Jalan Tun Abd Aziz, Kajang (03 8737 0699)

***

Taman Melawati

Highest concentration of art stores anywhere in the Klang Valley, servicing the art college in the town centre here. I found at least 4, three of them are really good. Three of them are actually owned by the same company (Weststar, New Weststar and The Art Shop) They are all around the same street of Jalan Negara. Just go in one of them and ask around for the location of the others if you can’t see them.

Cheapest prices in town, and they even have tools for sculpting, pottery and carving.

325 Jalan Bandar, Taman Melawati (03-4147 7288)

***

Master Art

They have 2 branches, one in Cyberjaya Street Mall and another in Section 2 of Shah Alam (formerly known as Nelson Art). I’ve not been to the latter, but the one in Cyberjaya is very well stocked in China made paints (acrylic, watercolor and paper of all different sizes. They don’t carry professional grade paints of any kind though.

***

If you are stuck in Ipoh and desperately need some supplies, check out

Media & Paper Marketing
55 Jalan Mustapha Al-Bakri, formerly Clare Street. Opposite this famous kaya puff shop.

Actually this shop is quite awesome and cheap, and the owners are quite knowledgeable about their stuff.

***

Outside the Klang Valley, I can’t comment much (but I do know there are NO art shops in Melaka!) but I’m pretty sure there are many good ones in Penang, since most of our talent painters come from there.

***

Online stores – to my knowledge, there aren’t any online stores in Malaysia and Singapore, but I frequent two good ones based in the US to check prices – DickBlick.com and Utrecht Art (i found this place from watching Work of Art: The Next Great Artist).

My 2011 in 9 Points

Happy New Year, everyone! and with the regularity of my postings, I might as well wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Year now… In a blink of an eye 2011 has passed us and it has been a very eventful year for me. As with the past few years, here’s my review of the year in 9 points. Why 9? You have to read one of my old posts to find out why (here are the editions for 2010, 2009 and 2008).

Androidified

2011 started with me finally getting an Android. Goodbye Nokia / Sony Ericsson, hello free apps. After a year, I’m still enjoying the Android experience, but I’m thinking of switching to HTC now. Samsung is cool and all, but the lag is just infuriating sometimes.

110311

You don’t have to be religious or superstitious to see the end of the world is coming soon with the increasingly frequent natural disasters. But 2011 will be remembered for the Japan tsunami and earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown. The scary thing is that a few months later Christchurch reminded us that it will only get worse as time goes by.

Arsenal

Sure it was just a promotional trip just to make money, but of course i enjoyed watching them play. Significant also that $amir Nasri left a few weeks later. Hope you enjoy your short stay there.

Gold Coast

We’ve been vacationing a lot these few years, but this trip was one of the best.

Cruising

A holiday with a difference.

Still Painting

After more than a year, I’m still glad my new hobby is ongoing strong.

New Ride

After driving for 20 years, i’ve finally left behind manual cars when i bought a Toyota Rush. Great car, lots of space.

DSLR

And not to mention entering the world of DSLR cameras with my new Canon 1100D. Opened to a whole new world of taking photos. I’m not particularly a fan of photography, but a good photo by a good camera is obvious to anyone to see.

Books, books and still more books

And yes, I’m still reading. Slowed down a bit in 2011, but 2011 will be remembered for 2 things – I started on George R.R. Martin’s ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ series, and the year I discovered BookDepository.com. Will talk about my books in the next post.

Sailing the High Seas Aboard the Royal Caribbean Cruise

You know how I’m into trying new things and new experiences, right? So for our year end holiday, we went for a 5D/4N cruise with Royal Caribbean International. You mean something like Star Cruises? Well, NO, I have to tell everyone. This is a world of difference from that. It’s hard to explain, but its something you’ve got to experience for yourself. They are very professional, friendly, everything (well almost everything) is luxurious, and your entire trip is packed with activities. As the cruise director says, you don’t sleep on Royal Caribbean, you can sleep when you go home.

One downside is that they don’t allow passengers to board in Port Kelang when they dock here, the nearest port to board is Singapore. The cruise we took goes from S’pore to Pt Kelang to Phuket and back to S’pore. They allow to disembark to spend a day in KL (we stayed on board the ship, of course) and about half a day in Phuket.

My family taking the cheapest and fastest way to Singapore – Aeroline express bus.

RCI (that’s Royal Caribbean International) has many world-class ships, but only one or two make the trip to Southeast Asia. Ours was Legend of the Seas.

I realized I don’t have a decent day time pic of the ship. This one taken at night will have to do.

This is our room, the very cheapest one on board. The toilet is slightly bigger than a closet.

There are lots of things to do on board. At any time of the day, every hour, they have an organized activity like line dancing class, cooking demonstration, shuffleboard tournaments, etc. They even had a sexiest man alive contest. I didn’t join, but the crowd reaction was understandably loud during this contest.

What else is there to do? Tons. You can go rock climbing, play mini-golf, there are 3 swimming pools, go jogging around the ship (it’s pretty cool to jog with the sea breeze blowing your face), gamble at the casino (its only open when the ship is sailing), play indoor games, watch a movie, work out in the gym, get a massage, etc.

The centrium where every night, a lounge singer belts out oldies.

This is the outdoor pool with jacuzzi. If its too hot, there’s an indoor one too.

Putt-putt, or mini-golf. A lot more fun than regular golf.

If you have kids, not to worry. They have activities for them all day, you just need to sign them in and they’ll have so much fun they won’t want to leave.

Hannah doing the macarena after the poolside games.

One thing that we particularly enjoyed was the bingo tournament that’s held once a day. For USD$16, you get to play 3 rounds (6 cards per round) and kids get to play for free.

Big money, big money!!!

I spent a lot of time in the casino watching gamblers in action (I don’t gamble, I just like to watch). The casino here is a lot more relaxed and friendlier than in Genting, i also managed to chat a bit with one of the croupiers, they’ll gladly explain the rules of the games. There was a Texas Hold’em tournament on the last day, a young guy won the table of about USD$300.

“I won the jackpot!”

There’s a Broadway show on every night.

And after that the party goes on until late.

About the food, well its a food-lovers paradise. For every meal, you can choose to have a fine dining meal, or the buffet restaurant. Both are equally good. We especially liked the fine dining – the food is served almost immediately and the menu changes daily.

The waiters doing a performance on the final night.

One thing i have to say is that the staff and crew are really polite and fun, they remember your names and joke and chat you with you all the time. Its was a thoroughly enjoyable experience, and i strongly recommend anyone to go. And now, I wonder how long it will take me to save for a cruise aboard Cunard…?

At the Alan Tam Concert 2011

My wife’s birthday is coming, so i thought rather than the usual usual, i got her tickets to one of her favourite Hong Kong singers back in the 80′s – the forever 25-year old Alan Tam.

It was only a coincidence that i pass by the billboard advertising his concert everyday, one day it just struck me that this would be something really different. As you know, I’m very much into trying new things and expanding my horizons. As i said, my wife growing in Cantonese Ipoh, Cantopop was pretty big.

Me? Personally? As a kid, I watched all the TVB serials as a kid with my mom, remember those video tape rental days? I definitely know most of the Cantopop stars like Leslie, Anita, etc. Every Chinese New Year, they’d show their concerts on TV2. But really, I wasn’t much of fan (partly also because I always had difficulty understanding the ‘deep’ Cantonese). I was in a different parallel world of English music.

But the concert was about my wife, not me. I could safely say I only knew one Alan Tam song (朋友) well, and knew bits of a handful more.

So the night before the concert, i surprised my wife with an early birthday present, to which i hope she was genuinely surprised.

On the day of the concert, we got there early. They made us wait in line outside for about 15 minutes (apparently only for those who had the cheap tickets only). We finally got to our seats at about 7.30pm, after navigating the 2 mile waiting line to the toilets.

The stadium was still filling up at 8pm. Who’s this ‘Kai Fan’? Chicken Rice?

There were two opening acts – this young solo guy, and this girl accompanied by 2 dancers. Both were ok, but the crowd reaction was almost zero.

after the two opening acts, there was another long period of inactivity again. Kinda beats who idea of an opening act if you are going to lose the momentum. But suddenly the lights went dim and everyone started cheering. Those blue and red lightsabres were given to everyone when we entered the stadium.

Two guitarists came out first to play their solos. The first was this longhaired rocker. I later learnt he’s Joey Tang.

The other was a young girl from China who had this really disinterested look the entire night.

and then to thunderous cheers, Alan Tam appeared. For someone who’s been around a long time, he’s still got that zeal and excitement, a professional through and through.

All in all he did about 40 songs, and about 4 costume changes. This portion is when he did his few classics like 一生中最愛 and 水中花. At the start of the concert i thought i felt Alan’s voice not at his best, maybe he’s losing his edge with age. But when he can to this portion of the set, i can tell he still has got it.

I realized this was the closest i’d ever get to the Cantopop star…

Alan ending the set with pyro and glitter.

He did 2 rounds of encore, one was a medley of hits including 朋友. It was a little surreal when the entire stadium started singing along with him, as if he was our old friend.

And finally, the last curtain call.

All in all the concert was a packed 3 hours, with a few guest artistes appearing for duets. We both had a good time at the concert, well, hopefully it was a good birthday present. The ticket price were a little steeper than i thought, given the seats available, but considering Alan’s 61 years old, i doubt there are many chances left to see him in concert. But after leaving the concert, I have a better appreciation of why he can maintain this longevity in the business. And familiarity with a lot more of his songs, too.

Gold Coast, Australia Trip Day 5

(For the previous parts in this travelogue, see Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 and Day 4)

Nothing much to report on Day 5, only that we had to wake up at an ungodly hour of 5.30am (3.30am Malaysian time) to catch and early flight. We spent the night before trying an almost impossible task of packing everything into our luggage bags (too much gifts and stuff!). Woke up, ate our breakfast and checked out. Checking out was a breeze, it was only a matter of dropping our keycards with the security guard (the front desk doesn’t open until 9am). We drove our little Nissan Tiida down the Gold Coast Highway one last time, pumped full petrol at the Caltex station enroute, and reached the airport in less than 15 minutes.

Got through security (i had to be scanned for explosives. Really? ME?) and just in time for boarding. Flight back felt a little longer than going, since it was in the day time.

So in conclusion, everyone had a fantastic time in Gold Coast. We also felt it was too short a time, maybe another day or two would have been just right. One day to really relax by the beach, and maybe another day in Lamington or Springbrook. If we had a further 2 days we’d spend it visiting Brisbane or further hinterland. But of course, we are thankful for the trip, the good weather and the safety throughout.

Will we go back to Gold Coast? Definitely, maybe in 5 to 6 years time. But of course, after this, Sydney / Melbourne is more pressing… or Christchurch in Middle Earth.

Gold Coast, Australia Trip Day 4

(For the previous parts in this travelogue, see Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3)

Last full day in Gold Coast!

Day 4 started a little later than usual, left the apartment late. Today we were going further up north to the place almost everyone goes when in Gold Coast…

Movie World

I guess most people my age first heard of Movie World back in the day when they used to run these ads in TGV cinemas before the previews… those days TGV was still cool and every weekend we’d hang out in 1 Utama. The ads would show all the Looney Tunes and comic book characters feature in the theme park, the fun rides and splashes, etc. As my good friend Dave would say, ‘they reduce Batman to a theme park attraction like Bugs Bunny…’

(Not as many people here compared to Seaworld)

So we arrived at Movie World at about 10.30am. It’s situated about 20 mins north of Surfer’s Paradise, in the same area where most of the theme parks are clustered (except Seaworld). Here’s you can find Dream World (they have the best roller coaster), Wet’n'Wild, Paradise Country, Australian Outback Spectacular, etc.

It’s actually a small park, about half the size of HK Disneyland. At the heart of the park is a covered shop-lined street with a performing area at the end.

Took us awhile to find where they give out maps. Can you believe that? No help from THESE two people, either.

(oh come on, he does NOT even look like Shaggy.)

First order of business, we made a beeline for the Hollywood Stunt Driver show. In all honesty this is the only show worth catching here, coz the other performances were kinda kiddie. Make sure you get in early to this show coz it gets packed very fast.

(15 minutes to go and it was already full)

The show mainly consists of 3 stunt car drivers doing precision daredevil tricks, basically a mat motor’s dream come true. Although the show is quite short (about 20 minutes, including lots of comedic filler material), it was VERY good.

(in case you are wondering, those are Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X, NOT Proton Inspira cars…)

(I did not try this with my Toyota Vios)

(A Mat Rempit also made an appearance)

Just like Seaworld the rest of the day is filled with performance shows. Most of them are tailored to kids and pre-teens, unlike you’re an adult who still fancies cheesy song and dance numbers by cartoon characters.

There’s one by the Looney Toon characters…

(Never really liked Bugs. How many real rabbits have you seen that wear gloves on its paws?)

(the show stopping finale. I have no idea why Tweety bird’s head is twice the size of Sylvester’s head)

Then there’s a Marilyn show, where this lady lip synchs to her songs. First of all she doesn’t LOOK like Marilyn, and secondly she doesn’t SOUND like her.

(why would they think that 10 year kids would even know who Marilyn Monroe is?)

The Scooby show is slightly better, at least it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Or maybe I’m just biased coz I loved Scooby Doo as a kid (My family named our two dogs Scooby and Scrappy).

(you’ve gotta watch the skit to understand why Scooby is dressed like a Saturday Night Fever reject)

Lastly there’s also a Batman show. Bats doesn’t really do much except show up and throw some fake kicks and punches. He should have at least shouted, “TO THE BATCAVE!”

(I seriously think this guy needs to lose a few pounds)

But other than the shows, there’s a lot of other things to do in Movie World. There are lots popular rides, and Superman Escape is the most chi-kek (exciting). No, of course I didn’t try it. Didn’t try the Batwing Shot either.

(Although, there were long lines to this ride all day)

We did try did ride, though.

(Wow, I should really learn to frame my camera shots better…)

Then there’s also a 4D Adventure show called ‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth’. Meh, it was okay, better than the one in Genting.

(Brandon Fraser! I wonder what’s HE up to now that his movie career is dead?)

Oh yeah, before I forget, lunch was the Batman-themed fast food joint. The food is exactly the same as the lunch in Seaworld! But after lunch it was my favourite ice-cream.

(I have now officially tried ALL their chocolate flavours)

At 3.30pm is their parade where all their stars come out to wave goodbye to you to tell you to go home soon.

(“Keep smiling… wave… keep smiling… wave…”)

(hey, i thought Barry Allen / Flash was dead?)

My daughter got to hug Wonder Woman, but she was facing the wrong way!

(I strongly believe this is the same Wonder Woman who appeared in Sunway Pyramid’s Justice League show circa 2008)

Batman looked pissed so he just low-fived everyone. I doubt he ever gives hugs.

Did we go back after the parade? Hell no. Last day in Gold Coast so we must make the most of it. My family went for the bumper cars…

(This game seriously teaches the wrong driving ethics!)

… and taxi driving.

Yeah, okay after that then only we went back.

Dinner and Shopping at Pacific Fair

Most people go to Harbour Town for shopping, but at 7pm, Harbour Town was closed (even on Thursdays’ late night shopping). But at Pacific Fair opens to 9pm. (In Malaysia, people START shopping at 9pm) Besides Pacific Fair is just across the highway from my apartment.

(Australian malls are really different from ours)

Dinner was at the food court. There were many interesting looking stalls, but we went for this one. Took awhile for our order to be ready.

The meal wasn’t as good as it looked in the picture.

After dinner we went back to Woolworth’s for some last-minute shopping for gifts. And then back to the apartment… Gotta wake up early tomorrow morning.

Gold Coast, Australia Trip Day 3

So we’re now at Day 3 in Gold Coast (Day One and Two here). Woke up bright and early to sunny yet cool weather again. I was initially worried of rain during my stay here, but thankfully not a single drop of rain came, nor any extreme hot weather. Come to think of it, I didn’t sweat a single drop during my stay there (UNLIKE here…). But that didn’t mean I wore the same shirt everyday…

Whale Watching

I set my mind to catch the whales months ago when my good friend Raymond told me about it (he came to GC a few years back with his family). He was raving about it, so i decided i had to experience it myself. My trip coincided with the very tail end of the whale season, when all the whales are migrating from the Great Barrier Reef back to Antartica, so there’s a chance i might be just too late to catch them.

Then there was some complications. The trip organizer sent me a text message a few days earlier, first telling me my trip was moved to Wednesday afternoon (it was initially booked on Thurs morning). So fine, i moved my schedule around to suit them. On Wed early morning I called the skipper of the boat again to confirm my booking, but lo and behold, they told me they didn’t have any space for my family and would refund my money (booked via credit card earlier).

Bummer.

So what could I do? I immediately called Seaworld Whale Watching Tours, I got their brochure from the hotel lobby. At once they told me they would happily accomodate us, but we had to be there at 9.30am.

Woo-hoo! So I woke everyone up (it was about 7.30am at the time), made breakfast (coffee and croissants, and some fries leftover from all those happy meals for the kids) and got dressed.

Then it was a short drive to Seaworld again (2nd time in two days).

(scenery on the way to the docks)

This was our boat. It’s the most advanced and luxurious whale watching vessel in Australia, with minimal underwater sound to avold distracting the whales.

After a short briefing by the crew, we were off. But suddenly we had to turn back to pick up a couple who came late. Eh, next time come earlier can or not?!

Just after 10 minutes out to sea, we were in whale territory already. The migrating whales tend to keep very close to the shore.

(Look! its our apartment out there! I hope we have enough petrol to get back…)

Also the day was clear, the strong winds made the water a little choppy (more about this later). Hannah, for one, doesn’t like strong wind.

And after a short while, someone spotted the puff of steam and water in a distance and we saw the whales! The first pod of whales consisted of at least 4 large whales, but they were moving fast, meaning the took longer dives underwater. The second pod we saw was mother and calf, this pod was more visible.

(collage photo showing the whales puffing, surfacing, and diving. Now you know where the phrase ‘whale tail’ came from.)

(Mood has improved after seeing whales)

So it was a great time coz we managed to see so many whales. Whale watching is all about patience though, and you need a good pair of binoculars to see them coz boats are not allowed to go nearer than 100m to the animals. But to me it was all worth the money (about RM900 for 4 of us) coz you don’t often get a chance to see one of the largest animals on earth in their natural habitat, and with this animal facing extinction, i doubt there will be many more chances for us to experience this.

Lunch at Kurrawa

Contented and a little sunburnt, not to mention a little seasick, we drove back to Broadbeach for lunch. Where? At another surf club! This time at the Kurrawa Surf Club, just 500m from our hotel. The patio deck was packed, but service was quick and the food was good (better than Currumbin).

(where’s my food!)

(More chips! And some delicious Parmesan Pizza)

After a hearty meal, the kids went down to Kurrawa beach to play. The sand is powdery soft and fine. The 1pm sun is burning down yet its cool and windy.

(I LOVE the beach!)

(2 girls in bikinis tied their poor pet pug to a tree while they went sunbathing…Poor dog)

Back to Apartment

After lunch i went back to the hotel to sleep. My kids went down to the indoor heated swimming pool for a swim. There’s actually two pools in our apartment – one outdoor and one indoor. Is this and awesome apartment or what?!

Q1 Tower
Evening – while the sun was still up, we went to the observation deck of Q1 Tower. Its the tallest building in Surfers Paradise, giving a complete 360 degrees view of Gold Coast, something like our KL Tower. I know you think this is a little touristy and nothing exciting, its a must-do here in GC.

(North view of Surfers Paradise beach. Southport and Labrador up north)

(and the view of the beach to the South. That’s Broadbeach and Burleigh Heights)

As you can see, most of the developed areas of GC are on the narrow strip of land between the Pacific ocean and Nerang river.

Surfers Paradise Night Market and Dinner

After Q1, we went down to the Night Market at Surfers Paradise promenade. It’s a lot different from our pasar malam, quite small, selling mostly handicraft items and not really cheap. But it’s something different to experience to walk the beach at night.

From there we went through Cavill Avenue in Surfers to do some shopping and dinner. Saw this street performer, quite funny.

After walking about and checking out all the restaurants, we decided to buy kebabs and pizza from this take away store. The one on the left looked far more popular with the Arab tourists, the right one no business, so we went with the crowd.

Dinner was on a park bench looking the street.

(Really good kebab)

Round the corner from the kebab place was another of our vices – Gelato! We ate gelato / ice-cream SEVEN times in the 4 days here, this was probably the best one.

So that wraps Day 3, back to apartment to watch some TV and sleep. Tomorrow, we conquer Hollywood…

Gold Coast, Australia Trip Day 2

(For the first part in this travelogue, see here)

Day two start faaaar too early for me. with the sun rising before 5pm in early summer, i was awaken with too little sleep. So i watched some TV waiting for time, not realizing that i started to doze off a bit.

(Cool seabreeze greets you bright and early)

Breakfast was bread, butter and some ham we bought at Woolworth’s the day before. And lots of good Australian coffee. Mmmm… We left our hotel in Broadbeach at about 9.30am and drove north up the Gold Coast Highway, coz we were going to… SEAWORLD!

SeaWorld

Took us about 25 minutes to queue up and get our tickets.

(Most of the people there at the time were young families with babies and toddlers, plus senior citizens. I think the schools are still having exams, which was good for us)

But once we were in, it was fun all the way. We went for all the shows, but skipped most of the rides (actually there aren’t many rides).

(2nd time in two days I got to see pelicans up close. I keep thinking of that character Nigel in the movie Finding Nemo)

Seaworld has a few underground viewing tanks where you can see sharks, penguins (not in the same tank, mind you) and tropical fish up close.

(these penguins are really playful, and know how to entertain the crowds)

(“Watch Shark Attack 3D in cinemas, NOW”)

The main attraction at Seaworld is the Dolphin Show and its a must-see even if you’ve seen been to the one in Hong Kong and Singapore. Hong Kong has Orca whales, but in terms of dolphins alone, this one beats the rest. Definitely worth the price of admission.

(WHAT is it that makes these animals so strong?!)

After that we rushed across the park to catch the jetski show. We didn’t make it to the stands in time for the start, so we sat across the lake on the grassy slope under the shade of the monorail. The jetski show was kinda a letdown (shouldn’t they just concentrate on animals?). Other than skiing up the ramps and doing somersaults, there really nothing else besides the noise and diesel pollution…

(so cooling, so shady… so sleepy…)

…so we left halfway coz i was feeling hungry and a little dizzy from waking up too darn early. Lunchtime! well, its was also a bit disappointing. There isn’t much choice of affordable food here (there are a few expensive restaurants though) so we had to settle for this generic fast food joint. The burgers were okay, and they give you far too much chips to finish. There’s only so much salt I can take in a day.

(That’s deep fried calamari sticks, in case you are wondering. Tastes suprisingly good.)

One more show after lunch. Its a walrus and seal show, but its kinda kiddie, tailored to the small kids. Pretty entertaining, although i dozed off a few times during the show. I gotta get more sleep tonight!!! It’s better than the one in Ocean Park HK by comparison.

By about 3.30pm, it was time to leave Seaworld. Most people were leaving by this time even though there was still a lot of time until closing.

We came back to the apartment to nap and shower.

Dinner at Conrad Jupiters

Strangely enough, this was the poshest and best meal we had in Australia, yet cheapest one. Here’s the story. Conrad Jupiters is a world class casino and hotel across the highway from our hotel, they have a fantastic seafood buffet dinner (called ‘Prawntastic Buffet’) at their Food Fantasy restaurant. I had read that they had an offer where kids below 12 ate for free before 7.30pm, so I went for it, since both my kids qualified. When I got there, I was told on that day they had a 2-for-1 special, so instead of paying for two adults, i only had to pay for 1. Which means, i paid for 1 adult (AUD$44.90) but all FOUR in my family ate!

The dinner was fantastic, 4-star by Malaysian standard. Being a seafood buffet, in addition to the regular international food, they had crabs, prawns and oysters.

(Fresh prawns, all you can eat)

(desserts was fabulous too, including ice cream)

(Everyone had a satisfying meal)

After dinner, it was still early so we went to Woolworth’s again to buy some chocs for friends back home (i tell you what, in my 4 days there we went to Woolworth’s THREE times). The throat lozenges in the pic was for Alyssa, the Chai tea was for Ann (tasted already ah?)

(all this for about AUD$80 only. Mmmm… can you smell the teeth decay already?)

Gold Coast, Australia Trip Day 1

After a delay of more than 4 years, we decided to take the plunge and book our family trip to Gold Coast, Australia. We booked our flights in November last year, so we practically had to wait a year for our trip. But it was all worth the wait (and the rising Aussie dollar)…

The Flight

Day 1 started the night before – Our AirAsia X flight on Sunday night from LCCT. I had my reprehensions about AAX, while its much cheaper than any other option, there are some drawbacks to consider. 8 hours to pass at night is a long time. If you can afford it, get the XL seats. Or at least pick a good seat (at a small price). Bring lip balm and moisturizer coz the air in the cabin is dry and quite unhealthy if you have breathing problems. And mostly be prepared not to sleep much. Besides they wake you up unceremoniously 2 hours before landing to sell their merchandise. 2 hours! It’s 3am in the morning, and I’ve only gotten 4 hours of sleep for goodness sake!!!

Coolangatta Airport

We got thru the airport security quickly, and i got my pre-booked rental car from Thrifty. They had a great offer of 4 days plus Escape Pass (entry into any 2 theme parks for 2 adults + 2 kids) for about AUD$550. I’ve gotta say after everything I’m very impressed with Thrifty and their services, I’d highly recommend them to anyone.

(Nissan Tiida. Looks a bit like a Latio hatchback)

This was our car. It’s a brand new Nissan Tiida (say what?) with less than 5000km on the meter. Although its a compact, it can easily fit four adults and lots of luggage.

Breakfast & Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

At 8.30am we were out of the airport, and starving (last in flight meal was at 11pm). For our first breakfast in Australia, we went for somewhere recommended for having food good at cheap prices – the local Surf Club. The nearest was the Currumbin Beach, home of the Vikings.

Get a seat on the deck facing the beach. Man, the view is AWESOME. Fresh air, seagulls playing on the sand, great food, the staff even pointed out some dolphins out in the waves.

(view from of the beach from the deck)

(someone surfing in the freezing cold waters)

(hot latte and mocha to start my day)

(hearty breakfast on the cheap)

Next to the Surf Club is a rock mountain called Elephant Rock, giving you a great view of Currumbin. Believe me, it sure gets windy up there.

(Hannah almost getting blown out off)

(view from atop Elephant Rock)

Then it was off to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. I had a choice to come here or Paradise Country (which was recommended by Mei Yan) but I decided to come here since it was near the airport and en route to my hotel. The Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary is a great themepark with lots of interesting shows. The main stars of this place are the marsupials indigenious to Australia, like the kangaroos, wombats, dingos, etc.

But to me, the best part of the place was the free flight bird show. If you think the bird show at the KL Birdpark is good, this one is AWESOME, make sure you do not miss it if you come here.

(something for the Harry Potter fans. Watch out for the wedge-tail eagle…that bird is HUUUGE)

(kangaroo! why isn’t he wearing boxing gloves?)

(munch munch munch, sleep, munch munch…)

(can anyone guess what this cute cuddly animal is?)

Lunch and Check-In the Hotel

We left the Sanctuary at about 3pm, drove to Broadbeach where our hotel is. Before checking in, we dropped by Woolworth’s beside our hotel to do some shopping for a late lunch.

We stayed in a beachview 2 bedroom apartment at the Meriton @ Broadbeach (recommended by someone). It’s great! It’s fully furnished with cutlery and full kitchen facilities, and there’s a washing machine and dryer (which came in VERY handy).

(large living room… and Foxtel cable on TV!)

(a king size bed in each room)

Our apartment is about 400m from the beach, although we didn’t manage get to go swimming in the Pacific.

(view from our balcony on the 19th floor)

(And on the other side, view of the Nerang river)

Dinner at Surfers Paradise

After a short nap, we took a drive down to Surfers Paradise for dinner.

(dinner was bacon cheeseburgers at Hungry Jack’s. Mmmm… bacon)

(I love how their beaches are fully lit at night)

(downtown Surfers at night. Pretty laidback)

(on the way back to the car, we tried the much hyped Ice Rock ice cream. Quite disappointing)

After a tiring day, we had an early night.

(view of Jupiter’s Casino from our apartment at night)

Beefing it Up at Las Vacas

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary. I had a wedding dinner on Saturday, so we decided to go for dinner on Sunday night itself. Sunday was a very long and tiring day. It started with the Fellowship Hall Duty in Seapark church. followed by Project Timothy from 2 to 5pm.

So for dinner, I had intended to go back to this place we like in IOI Boulevard, but recently I’m really into this thing about trying new things and broadening my horizons. So we tried this place called Las Vacas in Kelana Jaya. This relatively new restaurant opened in 2007, they have another branch in Mont’Kiara.

This halal restaurant specializes in beef steaks and burgers, and its very affordable as you can determine the weight of the meat that you order.

The location is the at the 2 rows of shoplots behind Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya. Very quiet and secluded. There used to be a well-known banana leaf rice restaurant called Sri Devi here, but has since closed.

The restaurant is spacious, but the decor could have been better though.

Beef, beef and more beef. They also have chicken and lamb if you’re not into eating dead cows. But mainly beef.

We order lattes. Coffee was just meh. They should get a real coffee machine like illy.

This was my wife’s grain-fed ribeye steak, about 200gms (RM55.45). Very sweet and juicy.

I took the 250gm beefburger (RM20) and Hannah had the 150gm burger (RM17).

Alyssa had the chicken hotdog (RM18). In hindsight, this wasn’t the best choice.

In total the bill came to RM135 for 4 people, very filling dinner and definitely one of the cheapest places to get fine steaks.

Las Vacas Steak Shop
Kelana Jaya (near Wisma FAM)
No 23, Jalan SS5A/11, Kelana Jaya 47301
Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
GPS Coordinates: N3 05.739 E101 36.313
Tel: +603 7874 0711

Operating Hours:
10am to 9.30pm (Tuesdays to Thursdays)
10am to 10.30pm (Fridays & Sundays)
10am to 6pm (Saturdays)
Closed on Mondays