(Some) India history in bite size

I wrote about China history in bite size here, and here's the obligatory disclaimer that my knowledge in India history is even lesser than what I know about China.

I went to India early this year, and unfortunately it was an unexpected travel, so I have not had enough time to read up on anything prior to travel. Anyway, here goes.

1. The previous dynasty/rules of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur - Emperor Ashoka, Rajput Dynasties, Delhi Sultans and the Great Mughals.

2. From the beginning of the 9th century, Rajput dynasties dominated northern parts of India and became the primary obstacle to the complete Muslim conquest of Hindu India. Even after the Muslim conquest of the Punjab and the Ganga River valley, the Rajputs maintained their independence in Rajasthan and the forests of central India.

3. Amber Fort is one of the famous Rajput forts in the region.

   

Amber Fort

4. One of the famous representative of the Delhi Sultanate is the Qutb Minar.

Qutb Minar

5. Babur is the first Mughal emperor. Upon his death, he was succeeded by his son, Humayun.

6. Upon the death of Humayun, he was succeeded by his son, Akbar. (Yes, this is Akbar the Great)

7. Akbar's son was Jahangir (who ascended the throne after the death of Akbar).

Humayun Tomb

8. Shah Jahan was Jahangir's son. He built his new capital at Shahjahanabad, Delhi in 1638-1648.

9. Taj Mahal was completed in 1653 after hard labour by 20,000 workers for almost 22 years.
This, of course is among the finest example of Mughal architecture in the region.

10. After the fall of the Great Mughals, this was followed by the European India, then British India.


Side note: Do you know if stamp albums are still on sale? I have no idea where to find them in Melbourne = ="

New Zealand: 9 day South Island Itinerary

Index page for 9 days to New Zealand South Island. 

Pre-travel:
Breakdown of travel days and links to accommodation.

Christchurch
Day 1 - Day walk around Christchurch

Lake Tekapo
Hotel review - Parkbrae Estate
Day 2 - Things to do in Lake Tekapo, drive to Mount Cook

Wanaka
Day 3 - Things to do in Wanaka

Te Anau
Day 4 - Things to do in Te Anau, cruising in Milford Sound

Queenstown (as the base)
Day 5 - Things to do in Queenstown and a yummy straight-out-of-over blueberry brioche.
Day 6 - Day trip to Arrowtown
Day 7 - Day trip to Glenorchy
Day 8 - LOTR tour to Glenorchy
Day 9 - Half day in Queenstown before flying back to Melbourne

Side note: Yes, this is still one of those back posting thingy...

Ph(f)oto Friday: Blueberry Brioche

I was on cooking duty when we were in Queenstown. During our shopping trip to get the groceries, we forgot to buy the rice. LOL. So sis, BIL and of course little niece went back to get the rice and I continued cooking.

The kitchen in Shotover Lodge (the hotel we stayed in Queenstown) is a shared industry type kitchen, something like what you see in Masterchef, no pantry though. So as I was cutting the veges and all sort of other stuff, there was a man making brioche at another work station. Even luckier was, he was at the last stages and ready to pop the brioche in the oven.

As I was waiting for sis to be back with the rice and being such a slow cook, the brioche was ready before I finished cooking and I was offered a piece. One does not say no to freshly out of the oven blueberry brioche, slather with healthy portion of butter and blueberry jam!

I must've had this blissfully happy look when I ate the brioche, as the man offered me more brioche! ^^
I didn't polished all by myself, proved by picture, little niece thoroughly enjoyed the brioche. She had the "yummy food" look on her face too! :P


Side note: Maybe I shall try my hand at baking brioche... maybe.

3 days in Uluru/Kata Tjuta



Weee - does it look like cotton candy?

Of late I'm having a craving bout of sandwiches and chewing gums. Little P said it is some Aussie blood in action. I'm positive that I have no Aussie relatives, but we shall see how long this sandwiches and chewing gums craving go on. So, speaking of Aussie, Little P and I took advantage of the Good Friday/Easter Sunday long weekend and pay respect to Australia's most famous natural landmark - Uluru.

Day 1

We travelled with Jetstar, at that time there is no direct flights from Melbourne (there are now). Our flight had a transit in Sydney, not a long one, so we just lingered in the airport.

Once we touched down at Uluru Airport, we were transferred to our hotel by a shuttle bus. We stayed in Pioneer Outback Hotel & Lodge. This was the cheapest option at the time of our travel.

Front Desk - there were was a queue upon check in

I queued up to check in while Little P was in charge to see if there were any interesting activities that we could do. After sorting out both, we were starving and the only cafe that was opened at late afternoon was Kulata Academy Cafe at the Resorts Town Square.

We had a rest and relax day 1 with walking around the resort, watching some cultural dance and checking out the lookouts in the centre of the resort.

Wakagetti Cultural Dancers

Day 2

Day 2 started with my favourite activity at the resort, despite having to wake up at some ungodly hour - Camel to Sunrise!

After a short nap or chillax time, and fueled with food, we did the Valley of the Winds Walk, a 7.4km circuit/3 hours.

 This followed with Uluru sunset viewing.

Fit for the name Red Centre, doesn't it?

Day 3

We woke up early twice in three days for Talinguru Nyakunytjaku Sunrise Viewing (it's ok, you don't need to read this out loud). Can't say I'm not dedicated... think I have done my quota of sunrise this year. :P

Yes - this is sunrise. I promise.

We have done the walk at Kata Tjuta, but not yet Uluru, so our last chance for walk/climb.

The question is - to climb or not to climb?

Side note: Got to work on hand/eye/leg coordination issue...

Eating Spree in Singapore and Malaysia

Everytime before I make a trip home, I will have two lists - one "to do" and the other "to eat". Despite there are many Malaysian food based restaurants in Melbourne, Malaysian food in Malaysia taste different, better. Must be the water or something. Also, not all Malaysian food are found here. Though having many Malaysian food options here does help to ease the craving.

Eating spree started even on flight, extra cost incurred for ordering food option on Jetstar but the food wasn't shabby. There was also a snack meal a few hours after this, before touched down.

Dinner was at Toa Payoh Market & Food Centre (I think that's the correct name) with friends. I didn't take any picture of the food. Dessert was tau fu fah. Yumm.

Breakfast the next day was at Toast Box.

Clockwise from top left: Peanut butter toast, nasi lemak, half boiled egg with earlier toast, mee siam

We went about to do some shopping/errand done and had I♥TaiMei as mid morning tea. Little P has been raving about food in I♥TaiMei so the longest time. Her favourite set is 小S (Xiao S) which comprises of popcorn chicken + sweet potato fries and a drink.

Main star - pop corn chicken, fries on top and bottom mushroom

Despite having a drink that goes with our meal, Moo Moo Cow recommended that we should try this yummy lava cake from Chocolate Origin. :)
We went to the branch in Bugis Junction.

Lunch was at 4 Fingers. I was surprised that I couldn't find any photo in my stash, I remembered taking a shot or two. Was suppose to meet up with a friend and had tea but he stood me up and I ended up hovering at Orchard station for over an hour, carrying some stuff that I wanted to pass to him. The stash of things included a bottle of wine, thinking back, or obviously I wasn't thinking or I would've just open and had many sips. LOL. This followed with dinner at Sakae Sushi with another friend at Junction 8 branch. No photo on this one.

My last meal before departing from Singapore was at a 三盅两件 (sān zhōng liǎng jiàn), according to it's own website as Soup Restaurant. Little P's favourite dish from this restaurant was Samsui Ginger Chicken (below).

Fairly obvious that I wasn't any food blogger cos I just dived in to all other food, so no photos. Grin.

First meal in Malaysia, at Nyonya Colours in Gardens.

Clockwise from top left: Cucur udang, curry noodles,  nasi lemak, nasi kunyit, cendol

These were the only one I didn't eat, we just bought them on behalf of a friend. At Big Apple Donuts & Coffee. They used to do durian doughnuts called Duren Duren but somehow not available when we were there.

One of the food that is always on my to-eat list is Portuguese Grilled Seafood - we usually ordered stingray, a vege dish (usually some beans) and either squid or clams. I picked clams this round.

Of course, there were many more meals but I didn't take photos of all but here are a few more notable ones.

Three Cup Chicken @ Ki Ki Taiwan Cuisine, KLCC

Fat Boy's Wimpy Burger @ Avenue K

Durian Pancake from Sumptuous Desserts

 One of my favourite food and must-eat is this banana leaf wrapped nasi lemak.

Side note: Maybe I should make my own banana leaf nasi lemak? But where to find banana leaf eh?

Glenorchy: Off Road Glenorchy Tour version



Welcome to Paradise

Pardon my subpar photo of Paradise. I took it from a moving 4WD. We signed up to a Glenorchy 4WD tour, in the perception that a normal sedan car might be having some issues driving on a never-ending-looking gravel road.

Source: Here

The gravel road did lasted awhile but if you pressed on, you will reach Paradise. Our guide cum driver picked sis and I from hotel, and made a few more pick ups before travelling Glenorchy. Long story short, BIL and niece went for the TSS Earnslaw Steamship Cruise.

We had a stop along the way to Glenorchy as well, remember Wilson Bay and Bennets Bluff? ;)
It was drizzling but we had our photo opportunities the day before as well, so it was all good.

We had a stop for lunch of sandwich and coffee, overlooking wharf view in Glenorchy.

Next stop - Forest of Middle Earth.

Then we were in Paradise.

Of course, we passed the Lord of the Ring's made famous Dart River again, and we had a 4WD off roading treat on the way before reaching Queenstown.

That was our last stop destination in Queenstown. Sis, BIL and niece's flight out of Queenstown was slightly earlier than mine, and involved a transit in Sydney. My flight was about 2 hours later, via a transit in Auckland, so I went to the airport myself, taking ConnectABus. I bought the bus ticket from a stop outside O'Connells Mall.


Side note: Do you know that Malaysians need a visa to enter Serbia?

Glenorchy: Self-drive version

Wilson Bay

Glenorchy is a small settlement at the northern end of Lake Wakatipu, in the region of Otago. It is about 45 km by road from Queenstown and famed for beautiful scenary, making it one of the popular shooting scene for a few film location. Of note - Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings and X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Source: Here

One of the guide books we had in possession recommended a stop at Bennetts Bluff Lookout (on the left, 25 km from Queenstown) for an amazing view of the head of the lake. Due to lack of map and GPS, we stopped a little before Bennett Bluff at Wilson Bay - which also offers superb view. Of course, we also stopped at Bennett Bluff therafter.

TSS Earnslaw Steamship Cruise

By the time we reached Glenorchy, we just missed the Dart River tour for the day. There are certain parts of Glenorchy which are only assessible on horseback or boat. In fact, these are probably the more Middle Earth looking part too.

We did some driving around but stopped just right after the start of gravel road. We didn't know how far out was the gravel road at that time but found out the next day that despite it went on for a bit, there is an end to it. One could pressed on all the way to Paradise by normal sedan car. (Yes - I do mean Paradise)

To make things clearer, here's another map I borrowed from here.

Dash lines shows gravel road

Instead, we turned back to Glenorchy town and did a 40 minutes loop near the Glenorchy Lagoon. Little niece got a ride instead.

Side note: Lotus biscuits are so addictive = bad for me.. I think it is also known as speculoos or biscoff