The Castel Of Salerno

Medieval Castles are very important tourist attractions in Europe. Some of them are "natural", built really by medieval people to protect their territory, others, built in the last decades of Middle Ages and later, were only expensive toys of their owners. I wrote some posts about castles in our zone like Castles of Campania, Castles (2) and mentioned them in other posts.

Here I want to say some words about the castel of Salerno. More photos you can find here A sunny day in Salerno. This castel was a real permanent defensive work with roots in Roman and maybe earlier times. The old town is just under it, at the foot of the hill, as you see on the photo. We know that there was only one case when the castel was conquered. It happend after 6 months of normann blockade because water finished in the castel. And it signed the end of Longobard possession in Italy.

Only once the owners tryed to organize their residence in the castel but did not like that life and went down in the town.

Sing Tat Garden Hawker Center, Butterworth

Sing Tat Garden Hawker Center (N5°25.913' E100°23.078')

We reached Butterworth around 1.30am of 25th January, 2009. I was totally exhausted cause of 9 hours driving...and this make me sleep until 12pm noon.

Once we wake up, the first thing we gonna solve is to fill our stomach. It was the eve of the Chinese New Year, so I dare not put too much hope on my favorite foods. We just drive around and depend on our luck. It was just 'too good to be true', the Hawker Center at Sing Tat Garden - Jalan Raja Uda was still on business!

Do you notice the metal chairs and tables ? They are existed 50 years ago...

Waste no time, we quickly jumped into the food court and order our favorite foods! Not many choices....my wife and daughter were having the Kuay Teow Soup and I ordered the Char Kuay Teow (Fried). Even the foods were average, not the best in town....but I felt very nice because it's been two year I haven't taste any Penang foods!

The Char Kuey Teow of Sing Tat Garden Hawker Center.

The hawkers.

This Food Court is existed more than 50 years ago. Foods serve here are very unique, and some of them you can't find the same taste elsewhere. Especially the Economy fried Mee-Hoon and Kuay Teow.

We finished our lunch in 30 minutes, and went to the Biggest Shopping Mall at Butterworth - Pacific Mega Mall. Surprisingly, all the stalls were still open on the eve of Chinese New Year. I believe this is somehow related to the World Economy downturn....

Penang Trip - Chinese New Year 2009 :-
* Dengkil R & R (RSA) Area - Selangor
* Blossom Seafood Steamboat at Auto City, Butterworth
* The Nine Emperor Gods Temple (九皇大帝) at Jalan Raja Uda, Butterworth
* Long House Seafood Restaurant, Batu Kawan - Butterworth
* Auto City of Juru - Butterworth
* 1926 Heritage Hotel at Burmah Road, Penang
* Funicular Train Station at Penang Hill, Ayer Itam - Penang
* Top of Penang Hill (Flagstaff Hill), Penang
* David Brown's Restaurant, Penang Hill - Penang
* Bellevue Hotel at Penang Hill, Penang
* Famous Tau Sar Pneah of Penang
* My CNY Penang Trip

MY TRIPS - Home

Big Monasteries To Visit

This is a splendid photo made by my friend Наталья when she visited Pochajevskaja Lavra, one of the holy places in Ukraina. I remembered that I've never mentioned this country in my blog and asked her to post her photo here.

Lavra or Laura originally meant a cluster of cells or caves for hermits, with a church and sometimes a refectory at the center. Later a big orthodox male monastery.

The Lavras I've seen are very beautiful. I was in Kiew -open this page to see this really splendid photo- and in Sankt-Petersburg in Alexandr Nevsky Lavra(Photo on the left). I was in similar constructions here in Italy too. Not far from us (about 100 km) we have a Certosa di Padula (52.000 mq!) where we, our archeological group, were guides in a modern artists exhibition. By the way, those artists were closed as monks in that ex-monastery with a task to born works of art in one month.

In any case, working or not, these monasteries have very great histories. And are very interesting to visit and to study.

Автор: Наталья *******, альбом: Фотографии со мной

Dengkil R & R (RSA) Area - Selangor

Every time I pass by this Dengkil R & R area (Rest and Service Area) (N2°54.525' E101°36.598') along the North South Expressway, I definitely will have a bite on the Nasi Lemak for the past five years. There was no exception for this time when we were on the way to Penang for the trip of Chinese New Year 2009.

Dengkil Rest and Service Area

Nasi Lemak of Dengkil Rest & Service Area

Disappointed! The taste was totally different and it's not delicious at all! The sambal was not as good as before, the last I had was 2 years ago...hmm...too bad, it's changed! So we decided this will be our Last time for the Nasi Lemak of Dengkil.

Beside that, we had order the Kajang Satay of the stall named 'Haji Samuri'. The satay were tasty but it's still not as good as the Kajang Satay I had before at Kajang. I can still remember the shop named 'Restoran Malaysia' very well. They serve the BEST Satay I ever taste it in Malaysia.

The shop is located at the right end of the Rest Area.

Special Sauce which is mixture of peanuts, sauce and sambal.

The Kajang Satay at Dengkil Rest and Service Area.

Chicken : MYR0.60 per stick.
Mutton : MYR0.90 per stick.
The total price to the Satay above : MYR8.70.

After one hour rest, we continue our journey to Penang...

Penang Trip - Chinese New Year 2009 :-
* Sing Tat Garden Hawker Center, Butterworth
* Blossom Seafood Steamboat at Auto City, Butterworth
* The Nine Emperor Gods Temple (九皇大帝) at Jalan Raja Uda, Butterworth
* Long House Seafood Restaurant, Batu Kawan - Butterworth
* Auto City of Juru - Butterworth
* 1926 Heritage Hotel at Burmah Road, Penang
* Funicular Train Station at Penang Hill, Ayer Itam - Penang
* Top of Penang Hill (Flagstaff Hill), Penang
* David Brown's Restaurant, Penang Hill - Penang
* Bellevue Hotel at Penang Hill, Penang
* Famous Tau Sar Pneah of Penang
* My CNY Penang Trip

MY TRIPS - Home

Pompei Of Nocera

It is a joke for us. We call this place in Nocera Superiore "Pompei of Nocera". About a year ago the park you seeon this photo was something very bad. There were the sloppy rests of an old animal-market. All this zone had a vey bad look.

Now it's a park with archeological excavations in one part of it.
I wrote about this part of Nocera in my post A Day Without Rain In Nocera Superiore
This park is situated some steps after the Baptistry.

The administration of the town wants to attract tourists in this zone to create job for residents and makes the town really beautiful.

From other side, Nuceria Alfaterna was a great and maybe most important city here in antique times. Pompei was it's port, Salerno did not exist as something valuable. Nuceria was a sort of capital, main city of Sannitic tibes. It's amphitheater (under earth now) seems to be the greatest in that period in Italy, it's theater is a piece of acustic art. There are infinite and very beautiful stories happend here. No one movie invented something similar the truth.

With the idea to make Nocera Superiore interesting for tourists, archeological excavations began. This part has to be Roman Forum of Nuceria.

Famous Skudai Duck Rice, Johor.

Sin Hai Cheng Duck Rice (N1°32.794' E103°39.382')

The Skudai Duck Rice or Noodle is very famous within Johor Bahru area especially for food lover.

The Sin Hai Cheng Duck Rice is located at the second shop of Jalan Emas Putih 2 of Taman Sri Skudai. Most of peoples will visit the corner shop opposite, because it is the First of Johor Bahru. But I just can't stand the bad attitude of the owner there! It's not friendly at all!
So we decided not to go there anymore and changed to this shop.

The Duck is as good as the corner shop and serve with a polite & friendly attitude.

It was packed with customers when we were there. Waitied for almost 15 minutes for the table...

The boneless duck and side dishes was good!

The duck serve by the restaurant.

Side dish - Pork and Tou-fu.

We spent about an hour at this restaurant for enjoying the meal...

Total damage : MYR29.00 (For 4 adults and 1 child). IT'S CHEAP and DELICIOUS!

I will recomend all my friend to this shop rather than the opposite corner Restaurant...

MY TRIPS - Home

...And Now Video About Pompei

I wrote different times about Pompei in the last weeks
... And Excavatins Of Pompei
Modern Pompei

Now I foud an interesting video about the antique town and hope it will be interesting for you too. Many things you see in this documentary are not in Pompei actually, they are in different museums.


When you visit excavations you have to go there with a guide because it is not so interesting when you don't understand what you see. If it is not possible to pay a guide that works in the excavation because they are very expensive often as in Pompei where it's a business, you have to read something about it. History is very interesting when you understand what is in front of you.

Sam Kee BBQ Place, Kluang - Johor

Sam Kee BBQ Place (N2°01.556' E103°19.208')
We keep asking around the peoples about this place at the BCB Plaza. Fortunately, there were 2 helpful women guide us to the location. They even told the cab driver how to go to the restaurant, thanks you very much! (Kluang peoples are really friendly!!)

It's took us 5-10 minutes to reach. The restaurant is located less than 2KM from the Bus Terminal, along the street named - Jalan Lambak.

Opposite to Chinese Association and Chinese School Hall.


The queue was long while we reached. Nothing can stop us for seduction the Roasted Pork & BBQ Pork, so we queued. It's took us at least 30 minutes to get our foods!

Queue of the day!

The Roasted & BBQ Pork

I think the kids were hungry than us, because they stop talking again! I was wondering about their expression...they were either too hungry or the foods were too Good for them!

The BBQ Pork

The Roasted Pork

The temptation was too strong for me to wait until the kids finish, so I took a piece of the BBQ & Roasted Pork from my daughter plate! It's good and delicious!! No wonder they claim the BEST in Kluang! You need to taste it if you are happen in Kluang. (No matter you are hungry or not!)

We spent around one hour at the restaurant, after everyone had enough and satisfy with the foods....we bought some of it back. One kilogram of each is less than MYR35.00. It's cheap!
Then we are ready to catch the bus back to Johor Bahru...

While we reached the Bus Terminal, the time was exactly 2.00pm. That means we still have 30 minutes to go....
Therefore I and Kenny have another drink on the first level food court before we say 'bye bye' to Kluang.

The food court at the First Level of Kluang Bus Terminal

Then we jumped up to the Orkid Express Bus and 'Bye' to Kluang. The journey back to Johor Bahru took about 1 hour.

Orkid Express Bus

The Bus reached JB around 3.30pm and the bus driver drop us at the bus station of Skudai Parade, then my nephew gave us a free ride to Kempas Railway Station.
Before we drive back, Kenny bought all the Curry-Puff from the Canteen beside the Kempas Station! Haha!

We really enjoyed this 'Backpacker' Trip!

The Roasted Pork were still crispy after 4 hours back from Kluang.

Kluang Day Trip 4th JAN 2009 :-
* Kempas Railway Station (KTM), Johor Bahru
* Kluang Railway Station Coffee, Johor
* Kluang Fire Department, Johor.
* Kluang Bus Terminal, Johor

MY TRIPS - Home

Our Luggage Story

Well, you buy your beautiful, comfortable, modern luggage, and you like to use it, and you go proudly in the airport between others that take proudly their precious luggages. Than you pass check-in, take your airplane, arrive in the city where you are going and... discover that your precious luggage did not take the same plane that you took some time ago. This is what happend to my husband on 28 December.

Some days before he turned home he told me by phone about the things he bought. He was so happy about the jacket he found. He looked for this jacket everywhere but could not find the model he wanted. And finally he found it!!!! Oh how happy he was!!!! Then there were some other things that is possible to buy only in Argentina, and then there were some things for me that I do not find in this zone where we live.

On 29 of December I went in the airport of Naples to meet him. First the plane arrived later as it had to. Than, when we knew that the pane is in Naples, the passengers did not come out. We all who waited for this plane did not know what to think about it. Finally they came out. Without luggages. Because they, luggages, were not carried in the plane.

Fortunatelly, the luggage of my husband was protected with plastic and had insurance. He learnd to do it after his luggage was opened in Naples a year ago, and the thieves took everything they wanted to take. From other side, he saw how an airport worker lost some luggages he had to carry to an airplane, and they remained under the rain on the road.

Because I waited for my husband more than 3 hours I had to pay 14 euros for parking. Than we had to come in the airport 5 days later for control and paid other trip and parking. That trip was only to leave signature and to know that there are not notices about this luggage. We had to send letters to Alitalia (second time he flys with this company and second time has problems with his luggage), we had to pay an incredible quantity of calls because nobody wanted even to repeat what we have to do, I don't say you to explain or to listen to us... The cost of this luggage was every day nearer and nearer to the piece of gold of the same weight.

Suddenly, at 16 of December, Lost Luggages Service of airport of Naples called us that the luggage is there now.When my husband went to take his luggage there, he found mountains of luggages inside and outside the little room of the office. Fortunatelly his one was safe. But one German man found only some pieces in his. Others were crushed...

All this happend because company Alitalia had it's problems. Finally was found a solution for it and the luggages arrived.

I thought about those musicists from Nebrasca that came with the same airplane with my husband for concerts in Italy and their instruments did not come with that airplane. What can they feel, these poor musicists? And what have they received after 20 days of Alitalia-problems?

Kluang Bus Terminal, Johor

Bye bye to Fire Station, we continue our walking to Kluang Bus Terminal (N2°02.165' E103°19.351'). We passed through many shops along the street and seems like most of them are selling shoes. It's looks like a Shoe street to me....
The street named 'Jalan Dato Tan Seng Leong'.

Ops! (Kluang Bus Terminal after this bridge)

The Bus Terminal is no different with other....Busy, noisy, smokes everywhere....Taxi Terminal was just beside...
There were Plenty of Express Bus from Kluang to Johor Bahru, and the timings are every 30 minutes one bus (Might same schedule from JB to Kluang). So we can choose our comfort time for the ticket, finally we confirmed on 2.30pm and the Bus ticket was MYR9.00 per adult. Cheaper than train, comfort? No idea yet...

They were busy discussed on the Bus tickets, I'm busy taking photos...

There is a food court on the First floor, culture of Malaysia Bus Terminal.

Once we settled the tickets, we walked into the Shopping Complex beside, The BCB Plaza (N2°02.116' E103°19.376').
Nothing much, just another shopping complex. The Store is the Anchor Tenant.

The building after the BCB Plaza is Prime City Hotel of Kluang.

Not much of CNY decoration...

But I noticed, there were many shops selling same product like the picture below...

After the walk, we felt hungry again?! Oh! Goodness! It's so easy to get hungry by walking...
So we proceed to taste the Famous Roasted Pork of Kluang.

Kluang Day Trip 4th JAN 2009 :-
* Kempas Railway Station (KTM), Johor Bahru
* Kluang Railway Station Coffee, Johor
* Kluang Fire Department, Johor.
* Kluang Bus Terminal, Johor
* Sam Kee BBQ Place, Kluang - Johor

MY TRIPS - Home

Kluang Fire Department, Johor.

Kluang Fire Station (N2°02.033' E103°19.178')
While we walked towards the Kluang Bus Terminal for Express Bus tickets, we passed by this Fire Station which located at the junction of Jalan Sultanah and Jalan Haji Manan.

Me and Kenny just walk in to take some photos, suddenly alert two fireman from the station and walk toward the gate. We thought, we will be chase out by these two firemans....but unexpectedly, they are so friendly and invite us to walk around the Fire Station, even to be our Tour Guide! We were surprised! (Our first impression for Kluang peoples)

They explained everything within the station, and kind enough to let us go into the trucks.

Inside the Truck.

Life saver.

One of the classic Fire Engine...

The suits...

They even show us the Control Room, and elaborate about their operations...but we cannot enter...

Their organization chart.

I respect them because they are the Hero of the peoples! They save life in every operations!

Our 'Tour Guide'. Salute!!

We continue our walk to the Bus Terminal after the warm welcome from the Kluang Fire Department...

Kluang Day Trip 4th JAN 2009 :-
* Kempas Railway Station (KTM), Johor Bahru
* Kluang Railway Station Coffee, Johor
* Kluang Bus Terminal, Johor
* Sam Kee BBQ Place, Kluang - Johor

MY TRIPS - Home