Jagalchi Market (자갈치시장), the largest seafood market in Korea, representative of Busan and famous throughout the country. If you love seafood and can stand the powerful odour, you’ll be treated to delightfully fresh seafood. Simply point to what you want and the ajumma (middle-aged, or married…
Talk: Beautiful century old pictures of Russia…100 years ago
These photos, taken nearly 100 years ago, have got to be one of the most beautiful ever.
The photographer (Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii) was rather far-sighted, having taken used a specialized camera to take black & white images and using red, green and blue filters that can later be recombined and projected to show “near true color” images.
It was almost as if the photographer knew that one day technology would be advanced enough to create pictures of the world he knew and lived in and not just black and white images of an era gone by.
In his own way, and without knowing the photographer’s intent, it’s as if a time capsule has been opened. One that isn’t buried deep into the ground for future generations to open and debate about context, language and culture.
Instead, the photographs present us a snapshot of what was, together with the context, to help us understand better life as it was before the World Wars, and the Cold War and the Space Rush and all the major events that have shaped the world in the last century.
You can read the article and see the photographs here.
Courtesy of CNN Go, here are 9 other things not to bring into various countries.
I really had no idea you couldn’t bring new clothes into Malaysia. Now that’s a surprise.
“…excuse me customs officer, can I change into all my new shirts once so I can enter…?”
Experience: Langkawi Cable Car and Machinchang mountain summit
The cable car (one-way) ride is 15 Ringgit and the express fee (to avoid long queues of upwards of an hour) is 50 Ringgit per person. Trust me, it was worth it.
The cable car (operated as Skycab) operates out of the Oriental Village. There are 2 places - the middle station and the summit - that you can get off and view the panorama about you.
The Skybridge is currently under maintenance and it pays to check out their website before going. You can access their website here.
Experience: Oriental Village Langkawi nothing much to see or do
When you are next in Langkawi, do make your way to the Oriental Village. It’s located about 5 minutes away from the Berjaya Langkawi Malaysia Resort, which is an excellent resort to be based in for a few days to experience the Oriental Village, Skycab Cable Car and Sky Bridge.
However, don’t plan on doing more than take some photos and make your way to the Skycab Cable car.
This would take perhaps a grand total of 20 minutes if you are a slow photographer.
You can read some reviews here.
Here’s some of the photos you might see.
Experience: Eating at Shin Mi Seafood Village
Shin Mi Seafood Village is listed as the top seafood restaurant by TripAdvisor. You can read the reviews here.
They are located close to Sheraton and The Danna Langkawi (about 10 minutes away) and provide pick-up and drop-off services so far up to Berjaya Langkawi resort. That’s about a 15minute drive.
The address is:
No 70 KG Batu Ara | Kuala Teriang, Langkawi 07000, Malaysia
The food is delicious and the service efficient. They have English-speaking staff as well. One aspect of the service I really enjoyed, that the waiters showed was their willingness to recommend but ensure you don’t over-order. Our waiter understood for a party of two, we really wanted to enjoy fresh steamed fish but yet would like to try out their prawn dishes. He made sure we had a tasting size (i.e. 4 medium size prawns) and a good size fish (cooked two ways to test out two different cooking styles) when he could have just let us over-order and over-pay.Much appreciated!
All in all, we paid about SGD100 for a 1kg fish, 4 prawns (250g total), a veggie, an egg and a soup dish with beers.
Make sure you call ahead to make a reservation.
We were lucky to get the pick-up by the owner of the restaurant and she shared how she turned the restaurant around in just under a year. Much kudos and respect to her!
I would gladly go back to her restaurant the next time/s I am in Langkawi.
Experience: Pahn-Thai restaurant, Berjaya Langkawi Resort
The Pahn-Thai restaurant is located within the Berjaya Langkawi Resort. Visitors to the restaurant can request for a buggy from the main lobby of the resort.
Experience suggests you make a reservation if you want to sit on the side facing the sunset.
The restaurant is placed at the far end of the resort at the end of a jetty that provides superb views of both the bay and the sunset over the rainforest.
Food was good enough although having visited Thailand many times, I would have preferred the curries and the salads to be spicier. Don’t get me wrong, the quality was good and the seafood was fresh. I’m sure you can request for more spice. I just didn’t do so when I ordered. Contrary to the TripAdvisor reviews, the food took longer than I expected to arrive but it did provide me with a nice, long time at the restaurant to admire the sunset, the onset of evening and the peacefulness of early night ocean waves lapping against the restaurant pillars.
The wine list was extensive and the prices of the house wines were very reasonable. We had a Wolf Blass Billyara Chardonnay 2011 for 85 Ringgit.If possible, try both the sticky rice with mango and the warm banana with coconut cream sauce for dessert.
We had a good time. I would recommend visitors give Pahn-Thai a try for the scenic view and a slow dinner.
You can check out TripAdvisor reviews here.
