CAMBODIA | Ta Phrom a.k.a. The Tomb Raider's

A visit to the Angkor Thom area is not complete without stepping your feet to Ta Phrom.


As you can see from the above photo, tourists are flocking their way to Ta Phrom, it is quite difficult to capture a tourist free photo.


What is so unique about Ta Phrom if you may asked, besides the delicate carving on the walls?


Obviously, carvings can be seen everywhere, done in meticulous fashion.


But what actually stands out in Ta Phrom, are the huge tree roots that seems to hug the structure.


The tourists are captured in this photo to show the size of the tree roots!


And this is the infamous doorway where Angelina Jolie passed through in the film Tomb Raiders, as the ultra sleek Lara Croft.

WORLD | Happy Chinese New Year

Chinese communities all over are celebrating Chinese New Year.

In Brunei, as usual, the main attraction early in the morning is at the Chinese Temple at the capital.


Red is considered to be a part of the tradition, and Gold as the icing of the cake.


Playing around with the Chinese character, writing it upside down, rearranging their orientation, characters, and such are an art that are mastered by few.


Even the grilles are painted red, not surprising, some part of the world the town are painted red.

To those celebrating the Chinese New Year, Gong Xi Fa Cai!

ANGKOR | Warning! Climbing at your Risk!

The structures within Angkor are mostly tall with ultra steep sides.


Just by looking at the above photo, you can see the very steep gradient of the staircase (if you can call that a staircase!)


Obviously, warning are everywhere, Climbing at your own risk! But how come that guy on the warning sign seems so relax climbing the stairs?


So the question is, will you dare to climb it or just put your feet on the ground and just watch the people climbing their way up.

I must admit, it was a tough decision, after spending your dosh and time, traveling thousand of miles to come here, and to make this decision is quite tough, climbing is risky, but not climbing it might make you lost you sleep, regretting it.

There is a story of why the steps were built as such.


After so much thought, and after watching the other tourist doing their acrobatic stunt climbing, securing all of my belonging tightly to my body, especially holding tight to my priceless camera equipments, I finally decided to give it a go, balancing myself on the steps, and taking photo, thank God I made it to the top.


Hence what is on top you may ask, well, just some wild plants and ruins of course! No, kidding, actually, you can see the breathtaking view of the surrounding.


But what I wanted to share with you, is how the stairs or the ultra steep steps look like from above, well folks, this is how it looks like!

How scary is that?

And when I was on top, I said to myself, why did I "punished" myself climbing to the top, now, how do I go down?

JAPAN | Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building

Tocho, or Tokyo city Hall is the other name for this 248 meters high Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku.

Costing about USD 1 Billion, it was declared as the 2nd tallest structure after Tokyo Tower, when it was completed in 1991, and has observatory decks on the 45th floor of both towers.
One can choose either the South Tower or the North Tower, and one needs to join the queue to go up the observatory deck.


Once on top, one can see the exhilarating view of Tokyo.


Although it was a sunny cool day, but it was also foggy.


According to the View Guide, on a clear day, Mt. Fuji can be seen from here, as you can see from the photo marked number 10.


Zooming closer to the ground, I saw this interesting colours.


Looking at a different side, one can see the lush park within the city area.


The building on the very right is the other observation deck, designed as such by the architect Kenzo Tange, which was designed to look like a computer chip.


Watching people watching other people.


Another interesting thing I saw was how the flyover meanders in between the tall buildings, brilliant piece of engineering in this earthquake prone country.

TOKYO | Halal Food Guide

Unlike Seoul, Halal food cannot be found near the Tokyo Mosque, (I have asked the Imam/ Mosque's Official regarding this), hence they gave me option to go to a Halal restaurant in Shibuya & Shinjuku.

So I would like to share some places of Halal eateries within Tokyo, but in no particular orders.


Hilal is one of the recommended Halal eateries by the mosque's official, located just a walking distance from the Shibuya station. But due to time constraint, I have no opportunity to eat there, but I just walk around it, to know the whereabout.


The next one recommended by them is the Kebab Ye, a small, but cozy fast food like Halal eatery located in Shinjuku.


Just a glimpse of the interior of Kebab Ye, good Turkish food, good service, price wise is quite affordable, and I can give my personal recommendation.


Then another corner of Shinjuku, one can find Taz Mahal.


What I noticed about Taz Mahal or Taj Mahal is, theye are "everywhere", I think I saw one in Seoul and there is also one in Siem Reap, (might post Halal guide in Siem Reap in future post), but I doubt that they are franchise eateries.


If you are in Roppongi, step inside the Aladdin, do not expect any magic flying carpet ride, you need to climb the stairs, and do not ask for the magic lamp, the only lamp they have is the electrical wall lamp! Thou the ambience is quite nice.

So, how about Ginza you might ask, well, there are also quite a number of Halal eateries within Ginza Five area, such as the Rasa Malaysia and the Gandhara. I have tried both of them, and they are quite alright. Unfortunately I did not manage to get any photo of the eateries.

By the way, these are just a few, there are probably more that I have not been to, feel free to share with the others, anyway, enjoy your trip!