The Hottest Place in Malaysia
First all, we wish Happy Chinese New Year to all our Chinese readers, friends and fans and Happy Holiday for our non-Chinese readers, friends and fans.
For days, the weather in Kuala Lumpur has been scorching hot. The temperature reads 35.5 degree Celsius during the day. We advise everyone to drink more water at this time to avoid any sickness.

By the way, do you know where is the hottest place in Malaysia and how hot it was?
No one could get the answer right for this.
The hottest place …

Geisha and Maiko in Gion Kyoto
Luck must be on our side. We have heard stories about Geisha in Kyoto and seeing them in public must be pure coincidence or else you have to pay a premium price for watch them performing. We had our lunch at one of the local restaurants and as we were walking towards the Yasaka Shrine (Yasaka Jinja 八坂神社), we saw a group of Geisha walking towards our directions.

A group of Geisha and Maiko walking hastily on our direction.
Our Japanese friend, Mariko was like telling us, …

Vote PlacesAndFoods.com Best Travel and Food Blog for World Bloggers and Social Media Awards 2012

*Click picture to vote.*
Vote PlacesAndFoods.com for Best Travel and Food Blog for World Bloggers and Social Media Awards 2012. Firstly, we are humbled to be nominated for two categories (Best Travel Blog 2012 and Best F&B Blog 2012) by our reader for the World Bloggers and Social Media Awards 2012.
We have been running this blog since 2007 and we have been involved in various blog competitions since then. Even though we did not win any award …

Famous Kobe Beef at 大井肉店 Oi Butcher, Kobe Japan
What will you do when you are in Osaka which is just a few kilometres away from the world famous beef producing city Kobe? Of course we will go there and try out their infamous Kobe beef.

A deer with the backdrop of the gate entrance of Todaiji Temple in Nara.
We were travelling to the deer city of Nara on the second day of our trip to Kansai Japan and we decided to have our dinner in Kobe. This was our first time …

Den Den Town Nippombashi the Otaku Haven in Osaka
If there is Akihabara in Tokyo, then there is Den Den Town in Osaka. The actual name of the place is called Nipponbashi and it is located near (walking distance) Namba and the busy Dotonburi.  Hence, if you are looking for manga, toys (such as Transformers, Gundam, Macross, Gashapons and Figurines including the sexy ones) and also cosplay items, Den Den Town is the best place for you.

Usual scene of Den Den Town
How to go to Nipponbashi via train and Subway:
There is …

First visit to Kansai, Japan
We were supposed to backpack last March but due to the unforeseen circumstances, we cancelled our trip. Then we got a really great deal with AirAsiaGo.com and we are now in Osaka Japan. We flew to Japan via AirAsiaX (our first time experience too).
We got a very strategic hotel via the package and we bought the Kansai Thru Pass in the airport. We bought the three day passes which allowed us to travel within Kansai area with designated trains and buses.

We always thought that traveling in …

Floating Mosque of Al-Hussain, Kuala Perlis
Last month I was invited to visit Perlis by Santai travel magazine and Tourism Malaysia Perlis. It was my first time venturing the northernmost state in Peninsula Malaysia. While many wonder what do the smallest state in Malaysia offers, there are more than I expected.
 

One of the highlights of Perlis or Kuala Perlis in particular is the newly built Al-Hussain Floating Mosque. Kuala Perlis is a busy getaway for tourists heading to the popular island of Langkawi added Al-Hussain Floating Mosque as the new tourist …

Shanghai Wonderful Restaurant Richmond, Vancouver
If you are looking for an authentic Shanghai food in Vancouver, this restaurant will be the right place for you. Located in Richmond, a Chinese populated area of Vancouver, Shanghai Wonderful restaurant lived up to its name.

Like many popular Chinese restaurants, the restaurant was often packed.

Even for a table of four, we waited for almost 45 min.

For those who didn’t know, Shangfai food has lots of variant cold served food. That was something that we are not really used to it.

The hot food like the prawns …

San Francisco Steakhouse New Menu
San Francisco Steakhouse is best known for its outstanding charbroiled prime steaks, juicy burgers, fresh seafood and other Western delights in a warm and cosy ambience. Find full-flavoured top-notched steaks at this cosy restaurant.  Steak aficionados will be thrilled to know that San Francisco Steakhouse uses 100% imported beef-selected from the highest grade of farm-bred, corn fed cattle. Last year, San Francisco Steakhouse celebrates Christmas with the launch of its new menu for 2012, especially in celebration of the festivities ahead in Malaysia! The star of the …

Neroteca Meatilicous Chinese New Year 2012
This month Neroteca will having NEROTECA’S “MEATILICOUS” JANUARY OFFERS A SELECTION OFITALY’S BEST MEATS & WINES for Chinese New Year and the Year of Dragon.

In celebration of Chinese New Year and the 2012 auspicious Year of the Dragon, Neroteca is offering a range of Italian meat delights, with authentic flavors of lamb, pork and beef based cuisines.

We visited Neroteca once in 2008. We celebrated a friend’s birthday there and we enjoyed our dinner. After three years, we revisited Neroteca for their Neroteca Meatilicous Chinese …

Kenanga Wholesale City (何清园时装城) Shopping Center Kuala Lumpur
A few years ago, we heard about an ambitious project to build a whole shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur. The location is the ever popular wholesale area of San Peng. The shopping is called Kenanga Wholesale City and it has opened for more than two months. It is the first wholesale shopping mall in Malaysia and set to rival Bangkok’s Platinum Fashion Mall.

We were driving near Jalan Loke Yew and we saw the signs of Kenanga Wholesale City. We thought why not going …

Shabuland Bandar Menjalara
Earlier this month, we ventured to Bandar Menjalara for a shabu-shabu buffet. We dine at Shabuland with a group of blogger friends. Many compare shabu-shabu with steamboat but due to hygiene, we prefer shabu-shabu. Shabu-shabu is a Japanese style hot pot where everyone has their own hot pot.

Shabuland offers shabu-shabu buffet or eat all you can style food for a very reasonable price. They offered a variety of food such as seafood (clams, crabs, scallops, fish noodles, etc), meat (thin slices of beef, pork, lamb), vegetables, noodles and …

How to apply Japan Visa in Malaysia
How to apply Japan Visa in Malaysia? With low fares now from Air AsiaX and they are flying to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport and Osaka’s Kansai Airport a few times a week from Kuala Lumpur, there are more Malaysians now traveling to Japan either with travel companies or by themselves.
We were supposed to backpack in Japan this March. However, due to the natural disasters which happened just a few days before our trip, we had to call it off. Hence, we are planning to go …

Kaki Bukit 加基武吉, Old Mining Town of Perlis
Last week, I joined local travel magazine Majalah Santai to visit Perlis, the northernmost state in Peninsula Malaysia. Sponsored by Tourism Malaysia Perlis, I stayed in Perlis for 3 days 2 nights.

On the second day and on the way to Perlis State Park (Taman Negeri Perlis) we passed by a quiet town by the name of Kaki Bukit 加基武吉. As we were told by our tour guide, Mr. Ron this town used to be a mining town. You can tell with a few …

Ramen Jinya: Best Ramen in Vancouver
Vancouver downtown (for the most part) is widely influenced by Japanese food culture. However, there wasn’t any ramen place in Yaletown often due to expensive rent. So I was delighted Jinya Ramen finally opened a shop in Yaletown on Robson street.

It is actually a chain that started in LA, Studio City. Unlike of all of those fake Japanese restaurants that are run by Korean or Chinese, this is actually owned and operated by Japanese.

Personal favorite: Shio Tonkotsu Ramen with HAKATA Pork Premium rich broth …