Footsteps - Jotaro's Travels: July 2013

Monday, July 29, 2013

YummY! - Ice Kacang @ 3^7 Stall, Kepong Baru

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YummY! Jotaro's Food Review
ICE KACANG @ 3^7 STALL

Kepong Baru, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - July, 2013

Sometimes one stumble on nice food in the least expected of places. It does not have to be some exquisite French cooking, and it does not have to be in a posh restaurant.

I had this nice ice-kacang at a simple road-side lean-to stall, a place with no frills and no airs. One of my cyclist friends Anne, took us there while we were cycling around Kepong Baru. It was very good, very refreshing - it was like finding a nugget in the wild.

The name of the place is a bit odd too - see the signage above. Should it be called "3 Arrow 7" or "3 Up 7", well I will opt for the later as it reflects the uppity mood of the place.

The stall is operated by this lady who seems to be very jovial, ever smiling. Perhaps she has put a tinge of happiness into every bowl of ice kacang that she makes, and perhaps that's why we were all smiles when eating her dessert.

Those who are uninitiated will probably be asking - "What IS ice kacang?"

Ice kacang (translated into English; "Ice Beans") is a dessert made with shaved ice with ingredients thrown in and topped up with evaporated milk and sugar syrup. The basic ingredients are boiled red beans, cincau (grass jelly), and sweet corn.

Depending on the stall, other ingredients that may be included are ground nuts, cendul, nipah palm seeds, red jelly, sea coconut, etc. The syrup used is mostly red rose syrup or sarsaparilla; although many have come up with multi-colors like green, blue, yellow or orange syrups.

So what is so good about this ice kacang that makes it stand out from the rest. Firstly, the ice here is very finely shaved - no large piece with jagged edge, it's like a smoothie, slowly melting in the mouth.

Secondly, they use Gula Melaka (palm sugar) instead of the normal sugar syrup. And not just plain Gula Melaka but one that is "molasses" thick with a good coconut flavor.

The ingredients used here are boiled red beans (of the smaller variety), cendul, sweet corn, groundnuts, nipah palm seeds and sea coconut. The beans were well boiled until they were very soft.

The ingredient I liked best was the sea coconut, that's the whitish translucent stuff in the picture. Firmer than jelly, it had a good bite with a slight fleshy coconut taste.

ICE KACANG @ 3^7 STALL

Address : Roadside, Jalan Mergastua,

Kepong Baru, Kuala Lumpur,

Malaysia

GPS : 3.202212, 101.645765

Hours : 10:00am to 10:00pm (Everyday)

Ice Kacang @ Kepong Baru Location Map (Google Map Link)

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Malaysia 2013 - Royal Malaysian Airforce Museum

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Footsteps - Jotaro's Travels

Malaysia 2013 : Royal Malaysian Airforce Museum Kuala Lumpur - February 2013

One of the destinations during our cycling tour of Kuala Lumpur (...see Lost Again! - Even More Lost) was the Royal Malaysian Airforce Museum in Sungei Besi. In local Bahasa Malaysia it is known as Muzium Tentara Udara Diraja Malaysia. This museum is actually a very interesting place, with real aeroplanes that lay out the history of the Royal Malaysian Airforce. It's a pity that many do not even know where it is, and even much more the pity that even more does not know it exists!

A. THE ENTRANCE

To get there use Jalan Dewan Bahasa and continue on to Jalan Lapangan Udara Lama. This will lead to a guard post that is the entrance to the air base. Inform the guard that one wishes to visit the Museum and you are let in. The museum is towards the left after passing the guard post.

After the guard house is the interesting Kuala Lumpur Airbase Mosque which has an unique dome shaped like the aerodrome of airbases.

On a signboard are on display the different insignia badges of the different squadrons of the air force.

Just before the aerodrome section of the museum is this interesting helicopter.

I say interesting because one can really go into the helicopter, sit inside and have a good feel of how it's like.
This museum is unique that it encourages the public to have hands-on experience with the show pieces. One can touch and feel most of the aircraft and can even step into some of them. But more of this hands-on experience later.

B. THE HANGAR SECTION

The centrepiece here is this Northrop F-5E Tiger II fighter plane that looks sleek like a tiger ready to pounce.
(... see listing of the air force aircraft)

Douglas A-4 Skyhawk fighter-bomber.

McDonald Douglas A-4 Skyhawk 2-seater trainer.

Under wing nacelles weapons docking array for the Skyhawk.

One of the earlier planes used by the airforce; the Canadair CL41G Tebuan fighter-bomber jet.

A personnel transport plane.
(I can't recall some of the names & I do hope some readers can help out and comment accordingly.)

Front view of the personnel transport plane.

Douglas SBD Dauntless scout plane & dive-bomber.

Side view of the Dauntless.

Trainer planes.

de Havilland Tiger Moth - mainly used as a trainer. It's one of the few bi-planes still in use during the 2nd World War.

A turbojet engine.

A turboprop engine without the propeller.

Another turboprop engine but this one with the propeller.

A air pilot full flight suit.

Anti-missile starburst launcher.

Hangar wall posters of present and past aircraft of the air force.

More posters of aircraft.

Wall poster of even more aircraft.

Giant poster of the the latest addition to the airforce - the Sukhoi Su-30 MKM fighter jet.

Poster of some of the past & present aircraft of the airforce indicating their years of service.

C. AIRFIELD SECTION

Recce Helicopter.

The Rajawali - a Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer Mk.1

deHavilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou, military personnel transport.

Front view of the Caribou transport plane.

Grumman HU-16 Albatross, a transport plane capable of amphibious landing

CAC Sabre fighter jet.

Aerospataile Alouette HIB helicopter.

The easily recognisable Bell 47G-5 helicopter.

McDonnell Douglas A-4 PTM Skyhawk fighter plane.

Another view of the Skyhawk

Aermacchi MB-339A light attack aircraft.

Northrop F-5E Tiger II fighter jet, adorned in sea colors camouflage.

Another view of the F-5E Tiger II.

Canadair CL41G Tebuan jet fighter.

Front bottom up view of the Tebuan jet.

Marconi S605B mobile radar.

Fire Engine Truck.

Airplane refueling truck.

Close-up view of the refueling trucks.

The curators of this museum has gone to lengths to make the public more educated about their planes. There is even a cut-out Sabre jet that shows the complicated internals of the plane.

Close-up view of the cut-out Sabre fighter jet, showing the internal mechanisms, even the wiring can be seen.

Transverse section showing airplane wing aerofoil and part engine.

A plane with it's front and wings cut off to show their internal mechanism.

D. HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE

As earlier mentioned, the most of the museum display pieces are un-restricted. The public can look at close up and even feel the aircraft. For some of the aircraft, the public can even get into the cockpit for a good, realistic feel of the aircraft.

My Cyclist Friends eager to take their turns in the helicopter.

Trying his hand on the Anit-missile starburst launcher.

Trying out one of the trainer planes.

Posing with the F-5E Tiger fighter plane.

Action in the cockpit.

Trying out the flight simulator.
This simulator is much more than those personal computer type. One can don the pilot's helmet, and there is a proper joystick. The best thing is that the pilot's chair has haptic feedback, it vibrates accordingly to the flight pattern.