Kizuna - The Japanese Restaurant in Penang Times Square

Kizuna Japanese Restaurant had reinvented itself from a lack of customers for being too pricey to being affordable with high class ambience. Above is a photo of the surroundings with Japanese paintings of ladies adorning the otherwise bare walls.

This is taken outside the restaurant in Phase 1 of Penang Times Square on the ground floor. Colourful umbrellas serve as part of the decorations that is reminiscent of Japanese culture.

A life-size mannequin in Japanese costume with the trademark umbrella stands beside the logo near the entrance. She looks awesome in kimono, the national costume of Japan.

Here is another picture for your eye candy. She is standing between 2 lamp posts while holding the signature umbrella below the sign board and logo. This certainly reminds me of Japan and I feel that I am already in this unique country where politeness and bowing of heads to greet one another as part of the culture rules. One can never go wrong by being polite and honest.

My friend ordered fried rice as he loves his carbohydrates and some prawns. It serves authentic and unique Japanese cuisine.

I had cod fish with sliced black Shitake mushrooms and topped with Japanese black sauce. It cost RM 60 or around USD 13 per dish. The cod fish was fresh and sumptuous to taste with the black sauce and paired with black Shitake mushrooms. It was embellished with faux red flowers on the side.

The pink lighted trees and wooden bridge is for photo taking and forms part of the ambience of Kizuna near the entrance cum exit. The trees certainly brightens up the dim-lighted place which gives an aura of romance in the dark.

This is a small top-view aquarium with tiny fishes and located in the middle section of Kizuna Restaurant. Decorations are placed strategically for a good view and observation. For more details, check out the contact below:

Penang Times Square, George Town, Penang
Tel: 604-370 0268
Opens 12:00PM - 10:30PM

Chap Goh Meh Celebration at Quayside

On the 11th of February 2017 was 'Chap Goh Meh' celebration at Quayside condo. For those who do not know what this phrase means, 'Chap Goh Mei' itself is the 15th night of Chinese New Year in Hokkien which also marks the end of the Chinese New Year celebration. Above was God of Prosperity giving out ang pows consisting of 2 chocolate coins wrapped in golden paper to signify money. Quayside is an upscale condo near Straits Quay Mall in Tanjung Tokong.

There was a lion dance with accompaniment of drums and cymbals. Children were feted to ang pows, notwithstanding a few adults too collected them as well.

In this photo taken by me, many hands stretched out to collect their ang pows or red packets traditionally given out to unmarried singles by the married couples or in this case, by the God of Prosperity. The shed was erected by a beach since Quayside is a seaside condo with many facilities like swimming pools, Jacuzzis, gym and an air-con reading room.

We were treated to a buffet dinner, compliments of the fund collected by the condo management. Each person costs $40 and you have to turn up after signing up, or else your money will be forfeited and you have to pay instead. There is a wide repertoire of food like char kuay teow, fried prawns, vegetables, fish fillets, fried rice and noodles, drinks, desserts and more. For those who were early, they were treated to a plate of 'yee sang' where they can toss for good luck.

We were entertained with live band and music while dining outside with the buffet dinner. Security guards were stood at strategic places to ensure safety and that everything is in order. After dinner, many residents went back to their units while some stayed on to dance to the music and wait for the announcement of lucky draw prizes.

It took about 45 minutes for all the prizes to be given away, with some being contributed by fellow residents. Many numbers were called and had to be cancelled due to absence of the lucky draw holder. Finally when the first prize was announced, no one collected and it was gone. The master of ceremony then picked another number and this time, it was my number being called at 0845 and I got a free night stay for 2 at Lone Pine Hotel with breakfast included. The prize is easily worth at least $600 as Lone Pine Hotel is also a favourite seaside hotel with premium price that is affiliated to E & O, the developer of Quayside Condo.



Above is a short video that I took of the lion dance at Quayside prior to buffet dinner.

Still Drowsy

I woke up at 5:30am this morning, fire up the laptop to learn new stuffs online but I am still feeling drowsy. I know I had to do something about it and pick up new skills online via video trainings of Get Response with many features like autoresponder, newsletters, webinars, etc. Milking the internet cash cow is possible but you also must not be lazy and work smart. 20% of the results is due to 80% of the work from the 80/20 rule. Sometimes I beg to differ, as I could also be meeting the right people who could mentor you and fast track your income exponentially with success stories like Patrick Chan, his student Gerald Soh, etc. With internet marketing platforms like Facebook, Google Adwords, LinkedIn, etc, reaching the masses in a short number of time is now possible.

Creating Paypal Subscription

My regular client just cancelled my paypal subscription and wants me to create a new one with lower price as he will advertise on my PR 2 site with only 2 links instead of 3. The old Paypal was more user friendly with more features on one's account. Now with the new Paypal, I have to search around with no results. I did a search on internet how to create a paypal subscription for monthly pay but it was the old system that was shown on Youtube. So, I had no choice but to send an email to request for the steps to Paypal via their helpdesk. This client has been with me for the last 2+ years and every month, I get passive income, albeit 2 hundred ringgit just for the advertisement links on my niche site of website designing.

Staying at Mandarin Oriental on Saturday for 1 Night

I have to wake up at 5:15am tomorrow in order to leave the place by 6:00am to catch a flight with boarding time at 7:35am to Kuala Lumpur. My partner has an interview with an architect and on Saturday, we will head off to Mandarin Oriental Hotel to stay using the last 50% Elite Club Voucher that expires in February 2017. My spouse has already renewed the Elite Club membership for $888 for another year. After checking out, we will head to my small condo in Rhythm Avenue to rest before catching a plane back to Penang in the evening. I just pray for journey mercies and that the interview would be successful.

Orchids Odyssey at Gurney Plaza Penang

Orchids decorations have been splendidly displayed in an aisle along the new block of Gurney Plaza Penang building. Above is a shot of pretty orange orchids odyssey in a pot to spruce up the place with pizzazz and pomp. Chinese New Year is just around the corner, less than a month away, falling on the 28th and 29th January 2017 on a weekend. Since M Mall was set up early this year, I guess there has been silent competition amongst premier malls to decorate their place with nothing but the best attractions to pull in customers and tourists dollars.

The purple orchids above are more commonly seen in various places, especially Singapore where the orchid is their national flower. These flowers and plants need lots of sunshine and tender loving care with watering every day as the roots are exposed and normally placed in a pot of charcoal to hold the plants. One can never go wrong with orchids as these flowers are unique and takes more effort to plant and tend to.

Above is a full blossom of yellow orchids as part of the decoration which seems to compete for attention this year in Penang amongst the different malls. Tourist dollars are very lucrative and they are big spenders. Having changed to the country's currency, they will spend all of it and splurge on expensive souvenirs to bring back as momentos.

Here is a myriad of colours of the various orchid species placed together in this odyssey along the aisle. They look refreshing and gorgeous with a bursting display of colours. The green leaves are long and hard, succulent with water and photosynthesizes with the sun light and oxygen to make food needed for the orchid plants to grow healthily. If you love to see orchid flowers, then take a trip down to Penang’s Gurney Plaza Mall to digest in the beautiful sights specially arranged prior to Chinese New Year 2017.

1 Night Cruise on SuperStar Libra

On Christmas Eve, 24th December 2016, I spend a night cruise to the high seas on Genting's SuperStar Libra which departed from Swettenhem Pier, Penang. You can park your car nearby the private carpark and the counters were opened at 5:30pm in the evening for checking in to the ship. You have to surrender your NRIC and they will give you a card for all payment transactions on board the ship.

This was taken from deck 5 where the Christmas decorations were with Santa in a sleigh pulled by a reindeer in the center of the ship on deck 4 where you enter after scanning your bags for security reasons. Bright sparkling ornaments were used to decorate the atrium.

This was the entrance to the Chinese Restaurant which was heavily carpeted for a luxe feel and ambiance. Again, you had to scan your card given in exchange for your NRIC and a table number will be assigned based on the number of people. You could also request for window seat or center table where all the food were placed.

Since it was Christmas Eve, a nice gingerbread house with white icing and colourful candies was offered. A turkey with a plethora of vegetables on the side was also part of the food for the evening. It was semi-buffet with unlimited helping of Christmas chocolate log cake, salad, drinks, etc.

As it was Chinese set meal, we had vegetables with mushrooms and small abalones, fried prawns, steamed chicken, braised beancurd, soup and rice. You could also request for extra helping of the vegetables at no extra charge. The idea is to make you happy to come back and gamble; but for us, it was pure holiday on Christmas Eve and gambling was a no-no, so that we don't lose money unnecessarily and spoil the cruise which cost RM 868 for 2 persons. The price was hiked up on a peak season like during Christmas eve; otherwise, it would normally be around RM 500++ including port tax of RM 100.

This christmas tree was placed in the atrium where the counter are. It stands majestically and bedecked with sparkling baubles, tinsels and other groovy ornaments with the star of Bethlehem right at the top.

This was the duty free shop selling branded women's handbags, perfume, cosmetics, etc.

Above was my partner and myself in a casual chic blouse and pants.



Above was the video I took for the late night Christmas Eve performance by the crew. The ship captain gave a short speech followed by cake cutting for the crew. Thereafter, this was followed by caroling choir by a local church with a pastor and finally the lively performance by young foreigners. The spectators were given Christmas toys to blow and Santa hats of various designs much earlier, especially for the children.

We enjoyed our cruise to the high seas on Christmas eve till Christmas where we departed at around 11:00am after a buffet breakfast at the same Chinese restaurant. There were several other restaurants with one on the top deck with open air and swimming pool to cater to the larger than expected crowd. It was pure fun and joy and a Christmas that I will remember.