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Travel & Food 101

Anything to do with travelling and food

Delicious Food in Cape Verde – Part 2 (Lunch)

Read Part 1 (Breakfast) here

Lunch

(Cape Verde is blessed with abundance of sea food especially tuna for lunch which we can get in a bigger chunks here compared to in Malaysia. The vegetables however is nothing to shout about – we can get better vegetables here in Malaysia)

One of the key SOP when we are working at customer’s site is that firstly we minimize time taken for lunch and secondly we break into 2 teams so that there is always someone around during lunch time.

To ensure we go for lunch fast and back, we decided that it needs to be somewhere nearby (which meant within walking distance), clean (no point having team members on sick leave), a good selection of food (it should not be boring) and if possible, the restaurant staff need to know some level of English.

For lunch, after surveying around & talking to the locals, we basically short listed 3 options (actually there were 4 but last one was not viable as we need transportation to the restaurant and need to be there early, otherwise the food would be sold out).

Read More »Delicious Food in Cape Verde – Part 2 (Lunch)

Delicious Food in Cape Verde (Breakfast) – Part 1

Starting off the next part of the trip to Cape Verde series – I am starting off random posts on food and let’s start off with breakfast as that was the first meal we had the next day after we had checked in the hotel.

Food

As earlier mentioned, the dining area of the hotel was rather small – probably 6 small tables that could accommodate 15 – 18 people (sometimes even less). The tables for the food and drinks also took space in the dining area.

Read More »Delicious Food in Cape Verde (Breakfast) – Part 1

Trip to Cape Verde 2019: Part 5 – Miserable But Comfortable Hotel

 

Santa Maria Cape Verde Hotel Praia

(The front entrance of the hotel in Praia, Cape Verde – Image Source: Amoma)

We had a scheduled 69 days stay in Cape Verde for project implementation, so it was crucial that we nailed the accommodations right from the start.

It’s crucial because as in the past projects, we can expect stressful & long working hours – so we will always be looking forward towards to a cosy warm bed, a clean room and a minimum room service. Usually, for long term working days, we will arrange for an apartment so that we have a common room & kitchen but renting a house or apartment for a short period in Cape Verde was not feasible. Further of the expected long working hours, it will be tiring if we expect to come back & clean up the apartment as well.

Read More »Trip to Cape Verde 2019: Part 5 – Miserable But Comfortable Hotel

Trip to Cape Verde 2019: Part 4 – Chaos, Impatience Passengers At Airport

cape verde lisbon chaos tap return

(Chaos, confusion, uncertainty at Lisbon airport when we suppose to be in Cape Verde, we have a problem when adding impatient passengers into the equation)

The Cape Verde flight passengers started to assemble closer and rumours & assumptions started to fly – some passengers especially those with small children became restless. Someone shouted “It’s Not Fair!!!” and a bunch of passengers joined in.

Read More »Trip to Cape Verde 2019: Part 4 – Chaos, Impatience Passengers At Airport

Trip to Cape Verde 2019: Part 3 – Scary Flight And Return to Lisbon

cape verde tap air portugal lisbon flight

(Calm before the storm – this was taken just before we took off from Lisbon to Cape Verde)

This is our final leg of the journey from KL to Cape Verde and this time, we changed the airline from Emirates to TAP Air Portugal, flying on the smaller Airbus A320. And given the fact that we have been on transit in Lisbon for the last 8 hours, we were very anxious to get to our next flight and reach our final destination to Cape Verde for a hot shower, clean change of clothes and a good sleep on a soft bed.

We lined up at the boarding counter, cleared by the TAP staff after verifying the cabin luggage size and went down to catch the shuttle bus to the plane.

Read More »Trip to Cape Verde 2019: Part 3 – Scary Flight And Return to Lisbon

Trip to Cape Verde 2019: Part 2 – Ultra Modern Dubai And Breathtaking Historical Lisbon

cape verde trip

(The trip to Cape Verde started well with the flight onboard the A380 Airbus where there was a good view from the aisle seat and with the large screen in front and plenty of legroom – it was not a boring, tiring flight)

Boarding the A380 for the start of the journey to Cape Verde was proper & orderly – no morons around to cut queue or to make a scene. Boarding to the upper deck was even better. There were fewer passengers and there seems to be more space up here (I may be wrong).

Read More »Trip to Cape Verde 2019: Part 2 – Ultra Modern Dubai And Breathtaking Historical Lisbon

Trip to Cape Verde 2019: Part 1 – Long Tiring Crazy Flight Arrangement

cape verde world map

(It is on the other side of the world – Cape Verde or Cabo Verde in Portuguese and it is going to take 3 different flights to do the trip. Image source: www.mapsofworld.com)

There is a good reason why I did not post this earlier – details coming up soon.

When I first heard the name of the country; I had to google it up as well. Some of my friends & family members even mistook it as Cape Town in South Africa. Interestingly initially I was not scheduled to fly as I usually had managed things from the office. But as we started to go into the details and with some of the key team members made unavailable to fly at the last minute, the signs were obvious that I had to fly to manage things onsite.

Read More »Trip to Cape Verde 2019: Part 1 – Long Tiring Crazy Flight Arrangement

The Outraged Nasi Lemak Seller Price

(McD have the both the rice and the burger but both are priced at a level I would say ridiculous for a nasi lemak. For the same price, I can get 3-4 items more on a nasi lemak and still got spare cash for nasi tambah. Image source: McDonalds Malaysia)

One of the biggest problems that we face during the fasting month is the difficulty to get a good nasi lemak for breakfast. The usual morning nasi lemak stalls are closed for the month.

We can still get the usual nasi lemak from the nearest kedai Mamak (the sorry looking sambal that they splash on the plain rice is the same dumb sambal that they put on the roti canai, so the sambal is nothing special and probably is not fresh too. Same goes for the nuts and the anchovies) but it is not the same with the one that I usually buy from the old Makcik at the road side stall and has a really spicy sambal (you know I hate sweet sambal – read the post here).

Read More »The Outraged Nasi Lemak Seller Price

Customer Service 101: Here’s Your Beef Pizza

Pizza

(BF on the pizza list does not mean chicken, I am very sure of it but the staff insisted it is chicken. It may not look like much but add the service and the tax and soon to be GST, eating out may not be a cheap thing. Having the restaurant mixing your order is just rubbing the salt on your wounds)

Dear, that looks like beef, my wife told me as the waiter placed the pizza on the table…

Read More »Customer Service 101: Here’s Your Beef Pizza

Overseas Assignments 101: When 1 is On A Critical Mission Overseas

mission

(My favourite shot – taken when I am at the departure gate, coming back home. It also means the mission completed successfully and I have 1 less thing to worry about once I am back)

Hold on for a second whilst I l take a moment to dust off the dust from this blog.

Damn, is that been that long since we last met?

Read More »Overseas Assignments 101: When 1 is On A Critical Mission Overseas

World News 101: Hong Kong Peaceful Occupy Central Rally 2014

hong kong

(The first night of the protest in Hong Kong was bad with tear gas & pepper spray on the protestors and this prompted greater support for the rally but it is not something new here. Image source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk)

Well thing for sure, my trip this time has been screwed up big time and need to be rescheduled. There’s plenty of work that needs to be done and the last thing I need now is for a prolonged public protest and plenty of uncertainty.

Read More »World News 101: Hong Kong Peaceful Occupy Central Rally 2014