Tong Juan @ Kemaman

Initially, we wanted to try the Kemaman Mee for lunch before we start our work. But because the shop has finished all the ingredients, we tried elsewhere. And then we turned into a street facing some river. Seeing this shop with a lot of people, we went in.....

What we discovered was that this shop deals with a lof of seafood and since everyone was ordering stuffed crab, we decided to try some too. We also ordered some tofu dish and lemon chicken. When the stuffed crab came, it arrived in a big oval dish and accompanied with a generous helping of cucumber (read: three slices). The stuffed crab is actually a combination of crab meat with onions, spring onions, garlic, etc. "stuffed" into a crab shell and then deep fried. So, like some kampung fella who has never seen a stuffed crab (crab! crab! not person, OK!) I took a lot of photos. The crab is quite nice and its like eating crab meat mixed with onions, spring
onions, garlic, etc. stuffed" into a crab shell and then deep fried.

The lemon chicken (leg) we ordered was nice! The lemon sauce as quite delicious without that tangy aftertaste your normally find in any other restaurants. But if you like those sauce, you would need to spoon a lot into your mouth before you can taste the real lemon in there. The chicken was deep friend very thoroughly which produces a very crispy outside while maintaining the soft succulent meat inside.

The tofu also presented a new gastronomic experience. It has the best (mushroom?) sauce I have ever tasted. All the flavours are there and with just a hint of mushroom it is an ideal sauce.
Overall, it is a good experience and I would definitely return to try other dishes as I am curious about one dish which has brawn sauce and stuff crab.


Later on, in the Hotel, only did I discover why Tong Juan is so famous. Stuffed crab (crab meat with onion,garlic, etc. and then deep fried.) is their specialty. Oh, and don't bother going to their website http://www.stuffedcrab.com as I think its expired. You can find more information on the Internet instead. And while you're there, you can check out the music shop two doors away. I met a very knowledgeable chap when I was looking for "Meet Joe Black" Sountrack CD and Sudirman's 1980's "Balik Kampung CD. I think it was called Kemaman Music or something.


[Clockwise from Left to right]
[1] You have to take a right at the lights just before this right turn to this square. If you see this, then you have missed the turning.
[2] Go on straight, then make some right turn (about three or so kilometres) to the main street facing the river and you can see the restaurant itself.
[3] This is a very nice chilli sauce (if they didn't make it so sour) and with some Pringles non-salted potato crisps, it would be an ideal dip
[4] The stuffed crab


[Clockwise from Left to right]
[1] Turning the crab over, it has a very nice colour unlike those normal reddish hues
[2] The insides of the stuffed crab
[3] The lemon chicken on the left and the tofu on the right
[4] I was thinking about the joke where the Doctor threw the foreskin into a dustbin and some Hobos thought it was very tough onion rings......


[Clockwise from Left to right]

[1] The delicious looking fried egg which I thought was fried rice
[2] Pretty stiff for a stuff crab. RM7.00 each.
[3] Here is their address
[4] I wanted to take a photo of the shop selling Kemaman mee but it was closed


The trip NorthEast part I

So, here I am, working through the weekend to visit our customers in Kuantan, Kemaman, Kota Bahru and Prai. We left KL at about seven thirty, almost ninety minutes late. The reason why we did this was two-fold:

1) We can arrive in Kuantan in the morning and Kemaman in the afternoon so that we can stay the night in Kota Bahru

2) To see the mists on the East-West Highway, just before Kuantan

The case in Kuantan was a very straightforward problem but it took me a lot of time to solve it. It seemed that one of the Telekom cable was faulty and Telekom decided to move the affected line to a new port. And as usual, either they did not inform anyone or they told the wrong person. For the rest of the morning, I had to trace the faulty cable and then replace it with another one.

Then we dropped by Kemaman to follow up with the botched installation job last week. This time, they have rectified the problem of missing powerpoints and also re-did the partition wall. So, it was a straight installation for me. But because of the electrical problems, I could not switch on the air-conditioner and had to work in a non ventilated environment. Two hours later, with sweat everywhere, I finished the job but we have to come back again when they move into the building "just in case" something happens.

But the time we reached Kota Bahru, it was slightly after quarter-past eleven and we were lucky to get a room for the night. The journey there was quite bad due to slow lorries and even slower cars reducing their speed every now and then in case there is a cop on bicycle chasing after them.

Nothing to mention except for a "I told you so" illegal U-Turn. It was just bad timing, man.


[Clockwise from Top left]
[1] Picture taken from the only Petronas Station just before the second Toll (RM3.00)
[2] Just after Temerloh, I think, were the beautiful mists
[3] It looked like Genting but without the cold
[4] I liked this most, just wished the road was a river instead


[Clockwise from Top left]
[1] Well, the same problem again, as we experience in Kemaman last week: No electrical power point
[2] In Kuantan, we had to deal with this stupidity and also Telekom relocating one of their lines without informing anyone
[3] Its very hard to find a model to do this car any justice
[4] Mommy scolding the boy who wanted to model for me


[Left to Right]
[1] In Kemaman again, this time they have the powerpoint for me
[2] Two hours later, all done! But we need to go back when their staff moves in later

We have no Rat




I cried today when I received her SMS while in Kuantan

I cried today because there is no more heartbeat and we have to let go

I cried today because I could not be there for her
I cried today because I was too far away and could do nothing