Caristales River - The Most Colourful River in the World

A friend emailed me these pictures:

The river shown in the above photographs is the CARISTALES River, located near the town of La Macarena in Colombia, South America.

The river, world famous for its colourful display, has been called,

"the River that ran away to paradise";

"the most beautiful River in the world"; or

"the River of five colours".

During Colombia's wet season, the water flows fast and deep, obscuring the bottom of the river and denying the mosses and algae that call the river home the sun that they need.

During the dry season, there is not enough water to support the dazzling array of life in the river.

But during a brief span between the wet and dry seasons, when the water is just right, the many varieties of algae and mosses bloom in a dazzling display of colours. Blotches of amarillo, blue, green, black and red, and a thousand shades in between, coat the river.

The part of the river where the colourful blooms occur is quite isolated and is not accessible by road. Adventurous tourists can now fly into La Macarena and then make their way to the river site on foot as part of a guided tours. The site was effectively closed to tourists for several years because of guerrilla activities in the region along with concerns about the impact of unregulated tourist traffic. However, the site was re-opened to visitors since 2009. The tours will follow four clearly marked and authorised paths and one is no longer permitted to stay overnight or cook!

Cave Homes - Mount Sahand, Kandovan, Iran

Received a email from my friend contained the following pictures of cave homes, some of it more than 700 years old, located in the north east of Iran at the foot of Mount Sahand, Kandovan.

The cave homes were carved out of volcanic rock!

Burger King now in Ipoh

Thank you, Burger King, for your opening of a restaurant in Ipoh, at De Garden, opposite Jusco Kinta City. We, Ipohites, no longer need to drive down to Kuala Lumpur to taste your delicious flame-grilled to perfection 'WHOPPER' sandwich.

My favourite is still 'BK Double Mushroom Cheese!

Lunch @ Citrus Wine & Dine

Citrus Wine & Dine @ Laluan Ipoh Perdana

Citrus Wine & Dine is a well known fine-dining restaurant in Ipoh operated by a relative of the famous Lee family from Ipoh. Food offered here are delicious and affordable.

I visited Citrus again as my boss give us a CNY luncheon here today.

Caesar Salad with Smoked Salmon Bits

I have Caesar Salad with Smoked Salmon Bits as Appetizer. I like the salad as it was salted with some melted cheese and the smoked salmon bits are smokey and tasty.

Cream of Pumpkin Soup & House Bread

The cream of pumpkin soup came next with Citrus house bread. The pumpkin soup was creamy and the house bread was moist and fluffy. The soup helping was big.

Pan Seared Salmon with Sautee Vegetables

As for the main course, i ordered my favourite salmon dish with sautee vegetables. However, for this round, the salmon is a bit overcooked and the salmon skin was not crispy. A bit disappointed as i always like Citrus's pan seared salmon!

Warm Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Ice-Cream

For dessert, i ordered Citrus's famous Warm Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Ice-Cream. Contained inside the cake was some warm rich chocolate. The chocolate flowed out upon small bite on the cake. As i have been told, the cake must be baked at the right temperature to melt the chocolate.
After dessert, followed by brew dark coffee to end the lunch!
Total cost for this menu is RM70++.

Ma Jie Curry Mee @ Kedai Kopi Nam Kew

Ma Jie Curry Mee is one of my favourite curry mee stall in Ipoh. The stall is located inside Kedai Kopi Nam Kew, at the junction between Jalan Leong Sin Nam and Jalan Raja Musa Aziz.

My usual order is the dry curry mee with roast pork and char siew only. I always patronise the stall in the morning around 7.45 am to get fresh & crispy roast pork. The curry is lemak type with santan. The curry mee comes with mint leaves and lime. The price at RM3.50 only! The normal serving include chicken meat and other specials you may request like chicken feet and cockles. Service is fast even with the morning crowd.

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Brother Wah ("Wah Koh") (on the right) and his able assistant!

Giant is Coming to Ipoh Parade

Giant is coming to Ipoh Parade, occupying the basement floor where previously operated by Cold Storage. Opening on Deepavali day i.e 17 October 2009.

Yik Kee Restaurant @ Karak

I was driving to Kemaman with my colleague on Sunday, 27 July 2009. As we were taking the Batang Kali old-trunk road, we have to go up to Gohtong Jaya at the basement of Genting hill and down hill to Karak highway.

As recommended by my colleague, before entering East Coast Expressway to Kuantan, we got out and turn to the old trunk road to Karak town for dinner. We stopped at Yik Kee Restaurant, an old established restaurant famous for its pastries (especially the Durian Bomb) and Sang Har mee.

The Sang Har Mee is tasty and the prawn is big and fresh! The gravy coloured by the prawn roe is sweet.

We were also recommended to try its fried Yee Wo Wan Ton, i.e deep fried wanton in soup. The wanton is big and the filling contained a mixture of minced prawn and meat.

After the meal, I was looking at the famous 'Durian Bomb' placed inside a heated pastry rack and packed some for my supper.

This is my first time testing the 'Durian Bomb' and it is good!

Yik Kee Restaurant has several branches, one at GohTong Jaya and one in Petaling Jaya.

RM0.80 for Roti Canai & Teh Tarik @ D'Sungai

The best deal in Ipoh for a set of 1 piece of roti canai and 1 cup of teh tarik at RM0.80 only!

The special deal is available only from 4 pm to 6 pm at D'Sungai located at Kinta Rivefront, behind St Michael school and beside Kinta River.

Kinta Riverfront is a commercial riverfront project by the Morubina Group.

How is the roti canai? For that price, we should not argue whether the roti canai is good or not.

Wonderful Kinta Riverfront views from the restaurant.

Be fast, the special offer will be until the start of Puasa!