Grand Bayview Seafood Restaurant @ Johor Bahru in Malaysia

When it comes to seafood in Johor Bahru (JB), the one that comes to most Singaporeans' mind would be Restoran Todak (旗鱼海番村) which is east of JB and with over 5,000 reviewers on Google Map! 

For my birthday in April, Alex decided to bring me to Grand Bayview Seafood Restaurant on the west side of JB; where a large lobster statue beckoned us to go in! While it doesn't have that many reviewers as Todak, 1,400 reviewers and a score of 4.1 on Google Map were decent enough.

First thing that greeted all diners would be these aquamarine displays of live seafood! It's quite a sight and the variety was mind-blowing; latter of which didn't matter much to us since there were just two of us.

One thing for sure, I would love to have crabs! 

There were three dining sections; sheltered, non-air-conditioned area like the above, an air-conditioned space on the side, and an open air one overlooking the Skudai River. As our arrival was at 4.30 pm, there weren't many customers.

Five dishes for two persons; one of whom has a tiny stomach. For one who doesn't like to waste food, I know a weight gain by the end of the day shall be inevitable. 

Here's the full display; fit for four persons! 

Braised Shark's Fins Soup - I am not that huge a fan of shark's fins compared to Alex and this was his only order since I am the birthday boy. Not exactly cheap and it was just so full of starch. We were better off with the 300 baht one at Werng Crab Fried Rice in Bangkok. 

Green Dragon Vegetable - I usually have only good words for green dragon vegetables but this plate was disappointing; oily, overly garlicky and salty! I need vegetables to give me a false illusion I am eating healthy and having this one from Grand Bayview Seafood just made me guilty! 

Crispy Oats Prawns - as far as freshness was concerned, the prawns were amazing! Pity the flavor of oats was too weak and I guess I am better off having the prawns steamed instead.

Deep Fried Buns - At just RM 1.10 ( about Singapore 30 cents) each, these shall be our carbohydrates for the day. Boy were they good; although they featured an oily sheen, the texture was crisp on the outside and soft on the inside!  

Chilli Crab - the 850 grams meat crab that was priced at RM 240 a kilogram. Given we had so much food, this size would be sufficient for us.

Meat was solid, non-mushy and satisfying! 

Now on the all-important gravy. 

Tomato based with a touch of garlicky spiciness that absolutely appealed to me! It wasn't too spicy and the only thing I thought needed improvement was having more eggs beaten into the gravy! 

Nonetheless, the gravy was perfect for the buns, and the de-shelled oat prawns. If not for the fact that I am cutting down on rice, I would have ordered a bowl of white rice to go with the chilli. Wait, I didn't do that because I was simply too full! 

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Would i come back? I will for the crabs and the buns!

Maybe next time, it's one crab, all for myself. 

Address

Lot PTD 21349, Batu 3 1/2, Skudai Hwy, 

Danga Bay, 80200 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia

Map

As above. 

Pricing

Braised Shark's Fins Soup (S) - RM 80.00

Green Dragon Vegetable (S) - RM 20.00

Crispy Oats Prawns (300g) - RM 37.50

Deep Fried Buns - RM 204.00

Chilli Crab (0.85kg) - RM 1.10 each

(Subject to Service Charge and Tax)

台埔茶葉竹山店 - Mandatory Shopping Stop for Tea & Experience Tea Leaves Picking @ Taiwan

The one thing I don't like of tour packages in Taiwan, purchased from Singapore, is that they have this "shopping element" that brought back many bad memories I had in China. 

And this visit to a tea factory, 台埔茶葉竹山店, was the first mandatory shopping stop for our 8 Days 7 Nights See Iconic Taiwan Anew Tour Package by Chan Brothers. 

Our arrival was welcomed by this loud uncle with a strong Taiwanese accent; as a veteran of commissioned shopping and marketing gimmicks, I am so not looking forward as such 'shoppings' are literally a waste of time! 

While I was wondering when we would be brought to a room to hear the sales pitch, we were instead asked to don farmer hat and proceeded to step into the purpose-built tea plantation next to the factory! Thankfully the rain had stopped. 

Bringing us to the "original habitat", we were educated on the plants where tea leaves were harvested from, which leaves to pick for tea selection, how plantations usually harvest the tea leaves (with a blade) etc. And do you know that the trees flower too? 

Dad being the tea worker for the day; correction, for less than 20 minutes. As he is super tanned, it's quite common for people to assume my dad worked long hours under the sun! 

Video of the uncle! Honestly, he was friendly, very funny and thoughtful! At the back of my head, I was telling myself not to be "cheated" of my feelings as his main objective was to sell things to us! 

Okay, time for the sales pitch.

So invigorating to "wash" our hands with the warm rolled tea leaves that were in the two baskets! The smell was just so relaxing and I can still catch whiffs of tea aroma when I sniffed my hands afterwards.

The inevitable.

Most shopping stops would at most give us water / tea but at this tea shop; there were plates of biscuits and sunflower seeds! That's one guaranteed way to force me to drink more of their tea! 

Tea aside, I must say this bamboo shoot biscuits were amazingly good! So impressed I was; I actually went all out to ask if they could sell me the biscuits! p.s. I managed to get my hands on 3 boxes, and if memory serves me right; they were priced at 200 Taiwan dollars each. 

Beginning of the sales pitch by the same Taiwanese uncle and from the reviews I read on Google Map; he is the de facto face for the tea factory, and many of the higher review scores were attributed to him. 

A year older than my dad, the uncle shared that there were three seasons to the tea harvest, in spring, autumn and winter and they can harvest 250,000 Taiwan catties a year, a reduction from 400,000 ever since they went on a drive towards an organic, no insecticide farming.

Tea sampling time; and washing it down with bamboo shoot biscuits! 

These particular tea leaves were 半生茶 which had a nicer taste with a sweet after taste. Only problem with such tea is its high caffeine, unsuitable for insomnias like me.

The tea with the darker shade was 陈年茶, which would be under the same class as yunnan pu-erh. Although this doesn't have much caffeine, the big disadvantage as compared to pu-erh was its astringent taste. 

半生茶 is more palatable even though as far as taste was concerned, I would say typical green tea sachets from OJK, at 50 sachets for about S$6, would be sufficient to satisfy my needs for healthier drinks.

But the uncle whipped out another product; green tea powder! Extolling the health benefits like constipation, improve immunity, and its usage for masks, he also shared that green tea powder should mix with cold, room temperature, and not hot / warm water.

His preferred way was to mix with a probiotic drink like Yakult / Vitagen, which he proceeded to ask his staff members to pour into our teacups! 

Now going into the product sale segment; they were not cheap and were priced between 2,000 to 2,500 a box. Seeing that we were unmoved by the high price, he started throwing in bundle promotions; buy three, get two free etc. 

That resulted in some stirrings amongst our tour mates and even I was excited about the deals! If I were to buy 5 boxes of green tea powder, that would be 1,200 Taiwan dollars (about S$50) a box, which is quite reasonable for organic green tea.

The uncle's literal shit talk! When it comes to selling, I must admit this uncle was top-notch; humorous, persuasive with the flexibility in negotiating and putting customers at ease. And he kept pumping us with tea! 

I left satisfied, with plenty of tea in my tummy, and my credit card bearing a line with an outlay of a few hundred Singapore dollars. p.s. and I am drinking green tea powder mixed with yakult every night. Three more boxes to go. 

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Address

No. 358, Section 2, Jishan Rd, 

Zhushan Township, Nantou County, 

Taiwan

Map

As above.

Click HERE for the Summarized Itinerary for Our 8 Days 7 Nights See Iconic Taiwan Anew Tour Package via Chan Brothers

Wenwu Temple (日月潭文武廟) @ Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan

What's a must-visit when one is at Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan? Aside from the lake, another key attraction would be Wenwu Temple, which I didn't have time for in 2014 although I finally managed to check it after a wait of almost 10 years! 

Grand entrance - some facts about this temple, which was relocated and built in 1938, rebuilt in 1969 and finally underwent a massive restoration from 1999 after severe damage after the great earthquake of September 21.

One of two gigantic red lions that protected the temple and were unique icons that set this religious abode from many others as I have never seen such lions in other countries!

Maybe because the temple was at an elevation with an impressive facade; it felt majestic, as if I am going in to pay homage to an oriental king / emperor. 

And it was surrounded by mountains and dotted with stone statues that were likely for decorative purpose as there's no identification if they were modelled after a notable person in the past.

First building housed five Taoist deities like the God of War, God of Wealth, Emperor Wenchang, Guan Ping and I think General Zhou Cang. Main deity in this case of Guan Yu, the God of War.

Dragon stone carving in between the first and second building. Looks like two dragons were chasing after a golden ball which was right in the middle! The Chinese ethnicity has an obsession with dragons and believe we are all the descendents of dragons. 

Let's proceed to level two!

Hanging tokens of wishes by devotees! Some were embossed with standard wishes like peace and good health to the family although you can also choose to pen down your wishes. 

Second building had an interesting plaque hung over the door which means long live loyalty. Usually, Chinese deities are honoured in odd numbers, for example, 1, 3 or 5 etc. But in this case, there were only two deities, and both were male.

They were famous personalities in the history of China and known for their war prowess; one was Yue Fei, a military general who lived during the Southern Song dynasty, and of course, Guan Yu, another military general serving under the warlord Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China! 

What I thought was eerie was the hollow ceiling right in front of the altar; from far, the carvings inside appeared to be like heads but when I zoomed in, they seemed to be little carvings of fairies. 

A stone statue of a tortoise where you can touch specific parts to have your wishes come true, like touching the shell for a stable career. In my opinion, just touch ALL parts, to play safe!  

Another stone carving wall in the middle of the two staircases going up to the third building, which featured nine dragons! By the way, the third level was intriguing as it housed statues across three religions; Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism.

Confucianism - main altar was to honor the founder of Confucianism, Confucius. This Chinese philosopher had a profound impact in East Asia, with many dynasties following his way of managing people and country for thousands of years. 

Buddhism - known as the Medicine Buddha or the Blue Bodhisattva, I actually never hear of him/her before. One thing to note of this hall, the statues were in captivating ultraviolet blue. 

Taoism - Yue Lao was said to be a god whose job was to connect the red threads between two individuals so that they fall in love; similar to cupid albeit a lot older. 

In recent years, there were efforts to transform Chinese gods into something cute so that they would appeal to the younger generation; popular gods include God of Wealth and Yue Lao, given deep interest in money and romance! 

We have concluded the three sections of Wenwu temple but it's not all; there's still a large area at the back, starting with this wishing pool right in the middle.

And it's a few floors up, with exquisite, monumental stone archways on top that seemed to make one feel that they would be reaching the gates of the heavenly, immortal realm.

Come, let's made our way up!

View from the top and look at the amount of coins that devotees attempted to throw down to the wishing well! Although I am not religious, there's absolutely no harm in making a wish, and hoping for the best!

Nothing much on top; apart from the archways, there's this point with a three-tortoise statue that strangely had a sad expression from all three of them. There's a plaque indicating a confucius saying that refers to "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil".

Dad with the staggering high marble pillar next to the archway. 

View of the temple's roof architecture and also the sun moon lake right in front. As mentioned previously, the temple was relocated in 1938 but it used to be two separate temples by the lake that were in danger of being flooded after the Japanese colonizers decided to build a dam.

The archways on top.

Pixiu overlooking the sun moon lake. I always find pixiu fascinating as it's not as well known as qilin, yet was marketed heavily as it was said to bestow wealth for those who keep a jade statue of it. 

A replica of the blue dragon falchion that was said to be used by Guan Yu, the God of War. I have my reservations as it was said to be over 175 kilograms, and you need a giant to be able to weld it effectively! Rumour said Guan Yu was over two meters tall. 

Going up the staircase given the notice that there was an observatory platform!

A pretty good view although the temple roofs blocked out quite a large part of the lake. However, having the panorama with a bird's eye view was still worth the effort of the relatively short climb. 

Numerous photographs at Wenwu Temple, with dad as the model.

For a close-up shot with the lake, my recommendation was to go right to the entrance and cross the road. Essentially, it would be right next to the Year of Steps.

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Address

No. 63, Zhongzheng Rd, Yuchi Township, 

Nantou County, Taiwan 

Map

As above.

Floor Plan

As above.

Click HERE for the Summarized Itinerary for Our 8 Days 7 Nights See Iconic Taiwan Anew Tour Package via Chan Brother