city

A Sunday stroll around Bangsar Village

I woke up early this Sunday morning and opened the curtains just to find out it was raining so my plan to head over for Breakfast at Bangsar Village seamed like a bad option. So I quickly came up with a plan B, to hope for the rain to stop and find my way over to the Village for a nice lunch instead.

I visited the Bangsar Village a few weeks ago with a friend for dinner and was told it is a great place to hang out during the day as it has a wide selection of cafe’s, Restaurants and shops.

As soon as the rain stopped i booked a grab taxi, took my camera and I was lucky that the traffic was not to heavy, so it did not take me to long to get there.

The area has a wide selection of restaurants serving everything from Local food, Japanese, Thai, Chinese and Western cuisine.

I checked out the lunch menu at the Ril’s Bangsar restaurant and ended up ordering a fantastic tasting Beef. The place have a nice atmosphere, great service and amazing tasting food, so well worth a visit.

The Pasar Malam Bangsar market is located just next to the village mosque.

You will find a mix of stalls with option to buy fruit and vegetables, taste the local cooked food or shop for cloths and other items. For sure an interesting place for a stroll and people watching.

I spent some time at the market, before I found my way over to the shopping center.

As everywhere else in Kuala Lumpur you have to watch out for the motorbikes and cars as they are driving everywhere.

At the shopping you will find a wide selection of shops to choose from including the high class brands. So for the once loving shopping it would be easy to spend some hours checking out the stores. As I had spent a few hours walking around outside the shopping centers I decided that the only shopping I would to this Sunday, other than buying a some fruit at the market, would be to buy a few items at the grocery store to take back to my hotel. So exploring the shopping centers will have to be for next time.

Bangsar Village is located within one of Kuala Lumpur’s most affluent neighbourhoods and is Easily accessible via the Bangsar LRT station, Rapid KL’s Kelana Jaya Line has a stopover along Jalan Bangsar. Jalan Telawi – Bangsar Village I & II’s address – is a five-minute cab ride away. Alternatively, you can hop on the Rapid KL bus U87 (which also goes past Mid Valley Megamall) to get to Bangsar Baru and then walk to the retail emporium.

A stroll around the Jagalchi Fish Market

I was strolling the streets early on a Sunday morning on my way to Jagalchi fish market. It was December and the street was still very quiet and only a few stalls was open at this time. Others were getting ready to open and preparing for the day.

Some cleaning in front of the store and some laying out the fish ready to be sold. The closer i got to the fish market the more busy it was. I passed the stalls and headed in to the indoor wet fish market.

I walked inside the building but as it was still quiet i decided to head over to the outdoor wet market that is located just next to the indoor market.

Fish was unloaded from small and large fishing boats and the outdoor market got busy.

Passing this i was thinking why not try out the waffles like thing looking like fish? Well i decided to miss it this time and headed in the direction of the harbor as i could see lots of fishing boats had anchored up and was unloading fish to be sold at the marked and transported off to other places in the country to be sold.

The harbor was busy and people was shouting at all corners to make sure the fish got to the right trucks or sold off to the local marked.

All was very well organized and boxes got stored in different location or transported direct on the trucks for transportation.

The Jagalchi fish market is the largest fish market in Korea and you will find fresh fish that can be purchased for a good price. With the location beside Nampo port the fish can be delivered quickly and kept fresh.

The market is famous as many elderly woman run the fish stands and have done so since the men were off fighting in the Korean War. Meals are served to locals and tourist alike in the small restaurants they have set up behind the stalls were they are selling the fish.

A lot of restaurants come here to buy fish from wholesalers.

At the time I left the market it was getting really busy.

If you visit Busan make sure you visit the Jagalchi market. Try out some of the food stalls or just stroll around. Either way it is worth the visit.

What happens in Bangkok…

And the continuation could easy have been … stays in Bangkok! But our New Year’s eve did not get that crazy.

Bangkok is known to have some of the best night scenes in Asia. For anyone that like party, there is a lot to choose from of neon-lit clubs and bars with cheap alcohol.

This New Year eve we decided to stay at the same location as we would celebrate as from earlier experience trying to get taxi on New year eve can be quite tricky so we booked our stay at the Lebua with a room overlooking the river.

We touched down in Bangkok around lunch time, checked in to our hotel and started our celebration with lunch at the poolside restaurant and a few glasses of rose while waiting for our room to get ready.

As we had not made any dinner plans up front and most things were fully booked for New Years eve events, we ended up with a table at the Opus Wine bar for a 7 course dinner. Not what we had in mind but as options was limited for this evening we went for it and it ended up being a surprising evening with fantastic food and wine.

We welcomed 2016 reaching for the stars at the Dome sipping Champagne at Flute A Perrier-Jouët Champagne bar with an amazing view and fantastic atmosphere. Our new found friends at the bar invited us to tangle along for some drinks to check out Bangkok’s night life but we turned it down. Waking up next morning we were both happy we did.

Bangkok, also known as the Asian “City of Angles” is the perfect place to spend New year eve and some days after to laze around, indulge and get pampered. And this is just what we did.

Our remaining days was spent visiting the different temples and trying out some local Thai food.

We found our way to the Chao Phraya river, also named “the river of kings” by King Rama I, to check out Bangkok’s waterway. The Riverboats are a great way to get around to the different sites. After the New Year celebration it felt good with the nice breeze from the river.

We visited What Arun “Temple of Dawn”, named after Aruna, the Indian God of Dawn. Sitting majestically on the Thonburi side of the Chao Phraya River, the legendary Wat Arun is one of the most striking riverside landmarks of Thailand.

Followed by a visit to Wat Pho “Temple of Reclining Buddha” that is just across the river so just a short ferry ride away.

Wat Pho’s top highlight is the genuinely impressive Reclining Buddha and it’s an amazing site. We had to queue up to enter in to the room where it is located and had to take off the shoes. They provide plastic bags for you to bring them along with you so when you get back out they will not be lost.

We spent some morning hours at the Chatuchak weekend market, that is Asia’s largest market with 27 sections and over 15.000 booths selling virtually everything. As we went early morning it was not to crowded but at the time we left it was quite packed.

We picked up a map at the entrance to make sure not to get lost.

As Bangkok get really hot on a sunny day a refreshing coconut ice cream would have been a good option to try, but as the queue was to long we ended up with some water instead.

We visited Chinatown for a stroll around and different from other places in Bangkok on this day when most stores were closed due to the holiday, Chinatown was quite busy.

The many gold shops along the street was packed with people and just off the small side roads in any directions we passed stores selling just about anything you would be looking for.

After a long day strolling the streets we visiting one of the many massage places in Bangkok for a well earned foot massage. To get around Bangkok we used Tuk-Tuk as long as the distance was not to far. It is a easy way to get around and your find them everywhere.

Food lovers as we are and having tried out some of the local food that we both love, we wanted to try out Bangkok’s international kitchen. Due to the holiday lots of places were closed, but at the end we managed to book a table at the Savelberg Restaurant. And it ended up being and amazing culinary experience.

Savelberg Bangkok is located at the Oriental Residence and is run by Henk Savelberg, a critically-acclaimed chef behind four different Michelin-starred restaurants in the Netherlands. As the main man himself is working the kitchen on a daily basis we had the pleasure of meeting him when he came over to our table to welcome us to the restaurant.

We headed up to the sky bar at the Dome to watch the sunset and to try out the smooth yet powerful Hangovertini before ending our evening checking out Bangkok’s famous night life. Bangkok becomes a different city at night so well worth to try it out.

The Hangovertini cocktail was created by Lebua’s mixologist for cast and crew of “The Hangover Part II,” which features a few key scenes shot at the hotel. The Cocktail is made with Chivas 18 years, Zen green tea liqueur, Martini Rosso, green apple juice & rosemary infused honey.

Our flight to Bangkok from Singapore was with Tiger Air.

Our hotel during our stay: Lebua at state tower

Bars with a view: Sky bar at Lebua

Places to eat: Savelberg, for a culinary experience (French), Blue Elephant (Thai), Opus Wine bar (Italian)

A City, a river, a kirkyard & a Castle

Welcome to Scotland

It was wet and muddy as It had been raining during the morning when i arrived. I walked over to the graveyard or kirkyard as it said on the sign when entering it. I was standing on the historic site of the Knight Templars Kirkyard. A little known graveyard.

Arriving at the hotel I decided to go for a walk as I started to see some glimpse of the sun finding the way through the clouds. I was in Aberdeen for a business trip and had been booked in at the Maryculter House Hotel. A Hotel located quite a distance from the city center.

The Templar Kirkyard is a part of the Templar Park now located on the grounds of Maryculter House Hotel. The park was dedicated to the Virgin Mary by the Knights Templars around 1225 and a Chapel was built on the site in 1287. The Kirkyard is surrounded by a wall that makes it sheltered from the park. It’s small and have a number of good examples of 18th century stones still in good conditions.

I walked around the graveyard and found my way down to the river. The hotel is located next to the River Dee.

A river that reaches the North sea at Aberdeen and is also known to be a river great for fishing so one of the activities of the hotel, as things to do in the area, and that is a unique aspect of Maryculter House is fishing. The river Dee is a world famous salmon river. I found a road along the river and kept walking. It was wet after the rain so I had to be careful where to step and at some points the road went over to a small pathway.

I found the way up to the main road to try to find my way back to the hotel.

Getting close to the hotel I saw the sign to Storybook Glen and got curious, so I headed up the road to have a look and see what It could be. Saying storybook, A bell should probably be ringing, telling me that It is for kids, but well It did not ring yet. Getting closer I found out it’s a park and the women selling me the ticket to go in to the park probably told me it’s a children park, but at this time It must have been the Scottish accent that I did not understand or it might as well have been the jet lag.

It was only when I entered the park I realized it was a kids park, but as I was already inside I made my walk through the park and It ended up being a nice walk. The park is quite large and a great park to bring the kids for some play. Looking at the figures from different cartoons and children stories, I could even recognize some from the stories I was told In my childhood.

Arriving in Aberdeen I discover a bustling, cosmopolitan city with Beautiful Architecture and a good range of restaurants, cafes and bars to choose from.

Aberdeen City and Shire is a region full of maritime heritage so I spent some hours I had free to walking around in the city. I had to try out some of the tasteful seafood as the area is known for some of the worlds finest seafood. I strolled around for a couple of hours visiting some attractions and ended up having lunch at the Jamie Oliver restaurant in town.

And one of the thing I could not miss was the coast line and the majestic landscape Scotland is know for, so i headed out to the Dunnottar Castle on my last day in town. I arrived at the entrance to the Castle and it looked liked it might be closed. No cars at the parking and I did not see anyone around. I found a sign telling me it was open so I continued in the direction of the castle. It was a bit of rain in the air and getting closer to the coast line it started to be quite windy. The Castle is located on an enormous flat-topped rock with cliffs on three sides and attached to the main land only by a narrow neck of land. I read on the website of the Castle that it had been closed a few days before I went to visit and being late February with strong wind and rain and this location I could understand that it’s probably not the place you would want to be with that type of weather.

Entering Dunnottar Castle was like stepping back in history. This rock and the buildings reflects much of the rich and tragic story of Scottish history. I spent some time walking around in the different buildings and it’s an impressive site. I could imagine how it must have been in the old days.

St Ninian, William Wallace, Mary Queeen of Scots and the Marquies of Montrose have all appeared on this dramatic stage. Most famously, though, it was at Dunnottar Castle that a small garrison held out against the might of Cromwell’s army for eight months and saved the Scottish Crown Jewels from destruction.

After visiting the Castle I made my way back to the small town of Stonehaven following the path along the coast line. It was still rain in the air and the wind had become more strong than when i entered the Castle but I decided to do the walk anyway as I wanted to see the landscape and make some photos on the way. And It is an impressive coast line well worth the walk.

Walking the coastal path I also passed the war memorial and had some amazing view back to the Dunnotar Castel and down to the Stonehaven city. The walk was fairly easy and took me about half an hour.

Walking down to Stonehaven you have a great view of the small seaside town. It’s a cozy city and easy to get around. I found my way over to the central part to try to find a way to get back to Aberdeen. I found a tourist information center but it was closed, but had some stands outside of the buildings with some information about the city and a map. The city is a good starting point for entering the Dunnottar Castle and also for other hiking options in the area.

Back at the hotel it was time for an afternoon coffee and some snack before heading to the airport. The hotel is stepped in history and tradition and is often used as a location for arranging weddings. Before leaving I was told that The Knights Templar’s whose original function was to protect those on pilgrimage to the Holy Lands, were never completely dissolved in Scotland and that the organization still exist today.

Some useful information:

http://www.maryculterhousehotel.com/

http://www.dunnottarcastle.co.uk/

http://www.storybookglenaberdeen.co.uk/

	Catherine Adams on A City, a river, a kirkyard…
	Judy on Hiking Mt. Hallasan
	Marta Macias aragone… on Seokbulsa Temple
	Green Corridor (Rail… on The Green Corridor of Sin…
	Chiara on A Sunday stroll around Bangsar…

Where is my next adventure?

come and explore