Marche oh Marche

As I mentioned, it had been almost a year since we last been to Marche. We used to go there at least a couple of times a month, but we realised that since the pizza oven broke down, the food there had never been the same. Take my steak there yesterday for example, it used to be cooked to what I asked for. Yesterday, I asked for medium well. I got rare instead. I asked for it to be cooked further, and it became medium. I just gave up.

The pizza was another travesty. For some reason, they did not cook pizza with any tomato base, and they used thick crust. I understood if they wanted to go all Italian and baked them thin-crusted, but no.

But any how, the rosti was excellent, and so were the dessert. The salad was only so and so. Nothing special. For a Sunday afternoon, I thought they did not have enough staff. The table took ages to be cleared, and we had to ask for our plates to be taken away as we piled on more food. It used to be much better.

We crossed over to IKANO, and at the main foyer, Harvey Normal was doing sales for their beddings. The "Tempur" mattress were to die for … but going at RM25K, we would probably literally die as well. Damn expensive stuff, so much so that it came with a free bed …… But once you sat on one, you just did not want to get up. It was so soft and welcoming.

It was Octoberfest at Marche that dayIdlan doing his own order

We spent some time doing some shopping for household stuff. The boys got their toys, and that should keep them going for another couple of weeks. I noticed that the traffic heading into The Curve was heavy by the time we were about to leave. We decided against staying for dinner as Irfan some homework to finish.

Finally, An Outing

After commuting in and out of Subang for the last week sorting out my Mum and brother-in-law, I finally had a day of respite. After giving a lift to my brother when he got discharged this morning, I left for Mid Valley almost straight away for the KL Photography Festival. More about that later.

When I returned just after 2, I took Anita and the boys put to The Curve. We had a nice late lunch at Marche, Anita did some shopping, and the boys got their toys. We probably hang around a bit more and buy dinner on the way home - United playing Newcastle later tonight, so it would be Tandoori tonight.

I need to stop at the chemist to get some toiletries, before heading home. And the boys need haircuts ....

Tokyo Street

I had read the posters about Tokyo Street every time I went to Pavilion but was never really bothered to ask what that was about. Finally, on New Year's Eve, after visiting the Buddy Bears, we all went up to the 6th floor looking for food. Finally, I found out what Tokyo Street was all about.

It was rows of stalls, Japanese-theme right at a corner of Pavilion where an interior design shop used to be. The stalls were arranged in streets with an open lighting system coming from the top for the spaces between the stalls or "street" giving the feeling that you were outdoor. It worked.

The cafe that we had some drinks in. Hmm! Can't recall what it was called.This lychee soda was heavenly!Something you would expect here - a ramen house ....The white light coming from the ceiling gave the impression that you were outdoors, much like in an open street.I couldn't help but felt that I was actually out and about in a street, going into one shop to another. And all these stalls sold food and ornaments from Japan. They had sushi and snacks of course, ramen, toys, chocolates and of course desserts. The staffs all wore kimonos and Japanese-styled costume. Nope! There were no anime characters on display.

Anita was hounded by this cuddly mascotThis was chocolate heaven!We soon settled at a Japanese bread shop, and had tea and seaweed potato chips there. It was nice and relaxing. For drinks, I had lychee and soda. On a hot day like it was, it really hit the spot.

I would definitely be visiting the Street again.

Return to Colmar

It is such a relief to know that a quick escape from my house in Gombak was only a half an hour drive. A quick drive up the Karak Highway, a left turn after Genting Sempah stop. The next thing you know, you were already halfway up the hill towards the destination.

And the destination was of course Colmar Tropicale. The last time we went up there was almost a year ago when we spent the night there. Apparently, the hotel had been refurbished and new attractions were opened.

Nice blue skyYoung couples mingling aboutA rather interesting looking statue. This was new as I couldn't recall it being there the last time we were here.Close-up revealed quite an inrticate workThe service to go up towards the Japanese Garden was also revamped. There was now a car park halfway up should you wanted to do your own driving and then do the short climb to the garden. The botanical garden had also been reopened. The buggy which took you up the hill from the hotel now only climbed to the new carpark. So, regardless of whether you drove yourself or took the buggy, the final climb was the same.

Colours everywhereAs well as street singersAs a result, we took the buggy up, and then straight down.

More in Part II

More Strawberries

There were just too many photos to post in the main entry, so I thought I create another one. This would just be photos, hopefully .....

This was actually outside the main gift store, just after the boys had their fries. This led to the mushroom and fresh flower stalls.

Idlan was squeamish when he saw bees on the television monitor.Irfan and my LX-3. He does take a mean photo, and he were to keep this up, I might have to get him his own flickr account!The gift shop. Very important.Taking a breatherIdlan needed some fuelExploringMore stalls to be seenFresh corn. Apparently from Cameron Highlands. Not Genting.Don't really know what this was, but nice none the less.Then, there were pot of flowersPlenty of themThat was one huge pumpkin!I snapped plenty more, and you can see them in my PhotoBlog here.