Bangkok Village Restaurant at Taman Desa Tebrau, Johor Bahru.

Bangkok Village Thai Restaurant (N1 33.296 E103 48.087) is located in the One Garden Center of Taman Desa Tebrau, Johor Bahru.(Easily spotted along the Kota Tinggi Road)

I was curious about this restaurant because of the Garden setting, so we decided to visit it on one of the Saturday evening for dinner.

We were really impressed by the restaurant environment! It's located in the middle of the well maintained garden! Every corners are well decorated. Beautiful!

The Bangkok Village Thai Restaurant dining area

The other side of the dining area, the Ikan Bakar stall at the back

Beside the public dining area, there were also some private tables at another side of the garden which I think it's suitable for couple! Kind of romantic... :)
Me and my daughter walked the area before the foods serve...the surrounding was really nice and clean. On the right of the restaurant, there was a shop selling some decorative items and water features for gardening.

And I like this row of small huts, but it seems like too dark to have our dinner between it...

Nice decoration with water feature

Our order :-

1)  Assam Steam Fish

2)  Mango Salad

3)  Butter Prawn

4)  Bean Sprout with salted fish

5)  Omelette

Assam Steam Fish

Mango Salad

Butter Prawn

Bean Sprout with salted fish

The foods were average. The Assam Steam Fish had a weird taste! We have been tasted many Assam Fish and this was really weird! The Mango Salad, Bean Sprout, Omelette and the Butter Prawn were average, I felt the prawn serve was a bit dark (as you can see from the photo). Overall, the food presentations were poor. Maybe we were unlucky! :)
The advantage of this restaurant was the beautiful garden environment!

The Damage : MYR119.70 included a jug of watermelon juice for 4 adults and 1 child. A bit pricey for the mediocre foods. But the ambience is worth trying if you haven't visit the Bangkok Village Thai Restaurant.

Location map of Bangkok Village Restaurant at Taman Desa Tebrau, Johor Bahru.

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European Day of Jewish Culture article

My latest article on JTA is a preview of the European Day of Jewish Culture -- this year Sept. 5 -- highlighting the way it has become a major event on the end-of-summer cultural calendar in Italy. There are 25,000 affiliated Jews in Italy, but Culture Day activities take place this year in 62 towns and cities around the country. And last year's events in Italy drew 62,000 visitors, the overwhelming majority non-Jewish. Culture Day gets lots of media attention and has the support of civic bodies and is under the patronage of Italy's president.

Tourists shop in a store in the former Jewish district that sells kosher wine, matzah, Jewish pastries and souvenirs. (Ruth Ellen Gruber)

Introducing non-Jewish Europeans to Jewish life

By Ruth Ellen Gruber · August 31, 2010

PITIGLIANO, Italy (JTA) -- In Italy, where there are only about 25,000 affiliated Jews in a population of 60 million, most Italians have never knowingly met a Jew. "It's unfortunate," said the Italian Jewish activist Sira Fatucci, "but in Italy Jews and the Jewish experience are often mostly known through the Holocaust."

Fatucci is the national coordinator in Italy for the annual European Day of Jewish Culture, an annual transborder celebration of Jewish traditions and creativity that takes place in more than 20 countries on the continent on the first Sunday of September -- this year, Sept. 5.

Synagogues, Jewish museums and even ritual baths and cemeteries are open to the public, and hundreds of seminars, exhibits, lectures, book fairs, art installations, concerts, performances and guided tours are offered.

The main goal is to educate the non-Jewish public about Jews and Judaism in order to demystify the Jewish world and combat anti-Jewish prejudice.

“What we are trying to do is to show the living part of Judaism -- to show life," Fatucci said. "What we want to do is to use culture as an antidote to ignorance and anti-Semitism.”

Some 700 people flock to Culture Day events each year in Pitigliano, a rust-colored hilltown in southern Tuscany that once had such a flourishing Jewish community that it was known as Little Jerusalem.

Click to read full story at jta

Book Event semi-washed out....

Heavy rain, alas, washed out my book event today in Budapest promoting Zsido Emlekhelyek, the Hungarian edition of Jewish Heritage Travel .... it was supposed to have taken place in an open-air courtyard of Gozsdu udvar, a long series of connected courtyards that leads from Kiraly street through to Dob street.

For the past few days, Gozsdu udvar was the scene of a book and crafts fair that was part of Budapest's annual summer Jewish festival.

With the weather threatening, the publisher, Geographia kiado, organized another venue for the event -- a slide-illustrated talk by me -- in the upstairs cafe of one of the main branches of the Alexandra book shop, just around the corner from the Dohany St. synagogue.

About a dozen intrepid souls found their way to the new venue, and the presentation was a much more intimate experience than anticipated....

Still, people were very interested -- and the publisher says the books has been selling well, comparable to sales of a paperback novel!

Budapest Jewish summer festival celebrates its Bar Mitzvah

 Part of the festival in 2009. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

Adam Lebor in Budapest writes a nice piece in the Economist online about the annual Budapest summer Jewish culture festival celebrating its 13th edition -- its bar mitzvah, so to speak.

The festival opened last night with a magnificent concert by the Boban Markovic Orchestra, the world's best known Serbian gypsy brass band ensemble, in the Great Synagogue on Dohany Street in downtown Pest. The synagogue, which holds 3,000 people, is the centre of Jewish life in Hungary. The synagogue was built in the mid-19th century in a neo-Moorish style and has been beautifully restored to its former glory. Playing to a packed house the orchestra kicked off with a rousing rendition of "Hava Nagila", probably the best known traditional Jewish song. The thumping Balkan beat soon had even dowager grandmas clapping along. The Boban Markovic Orchestra is the latest in a long line of renowned musicians to perform here: a century ago both Franz Liszt and Camille Saint-Saëns played the synagogue's organ.It was an interesting choice to open a Jewish cultural festival with a Serbian gypsy band. Partly because of their shared history of persecution, Jews and Roma often feel a kind of kinship. But despite the glorious life-affirming emotion of hearing "Hava Nagila" inside the synagogue, there was a poignant aspect to the concert, for this corner of Dohany street is a haunted place. The small Jewish cemetery behind the main hall houses the remains of perhaps 2,000 people who died of sickness and starvation during the winter of 1944-45 as the Hungarian Nazi Arrow Cross ran wild and the Red army steadily advanced, until the ghetto was finally liberated in January 1945.

On Monday, the festival features a presentation of Zsido Emlekhelyek, the Hungarian edition of my book Jewish Heritage Travel. I'm due to give an illustrated talk about Jewish heritage in Europe.

Majlis Bandaraya Melaka Bersejarah at Ayer Keroh, Malacca

The photo taken when I was at Ayer Keroh, Malacca sometime ago. The landmark was stated 'Graha Makmur' and 'Majlis Bandaraya Melaka Bersejarah' (N2 13.952 E102 16.864) in the map and I'm not sure which is which? Please enlighten if possible...

I like the environment during the night time especially the lighting and accompany with the water feature. My daughter and her friend were having fun around the area that night, and they were really happy running and the place was really wide! :)

Map location of the Landmark in Ayer Keroh, Malacca

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2nd visit to Riverside Seafood Restaurant at Kota Tinggi, Johor.

After let the kids having their fun at the resort on the next day morning and some 'jungle monkey disguise' around the area...we say bye-bye to Pulai Desaru Resort and follow by our lunch at this Riverside Seafood Restaurant (N01 43.547 E103 54.733) along Kota Tinggi road. (The restaurant was moved to the opposite since my last visit)
It's a very simple setup for this seafood restaurant.

The Riverside Seafood Restaurant of Kota Tinggi

There were only 2 tables occupied that time maybe because lunch time was over...so we placed our order immediately.

The order :-

1)  Fish Head steamboat (Signature dish)

2)  Claypot chicken

3)  Sambal Squid (sotong) (my favorite)

4)  Ginger duck

5)  Vegetables

Fish Head steamboat (Signature dish)

Claypot chicken

Sambal Squid (sotong)

Ginger duck

Vegetables

Our purpose here was to taste the Fish Head Steamboat. It might not the Best in Johor, but I like the herbal soup with chili. The soup was yummy and spicy mixed with the fish head! The Ginger duck was really special, it cooked well and the taste quite similar with the wild boar. The chickens and the sambal squids were delicious too! We had a great lunch in the restaurant!

The Damage was MYR120.00 included drinks for 8 adults and 2 children. It was really reasonable!

You can enjoy the Firefly tour package after having dinner in the restaurant at night, wasn't it sound good? Drop by if you pass by.

Related post :-
*  Riverside Restaurant, Kota Tinggi, Johor (1st visit)

The location map of Riverside Seafood Restaurant at Kota Tinggi, Johor.

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A morning without Sunrise at Desaru Beach, Johor

Suddenly I had a urge to snap the Sunrise of Desaru beach on the next morning of our short vacation. So I woke up around 6am, and strolled around the Pulai Desaru Resort, breath in the morning fresh air...it was totally dark at the pool side...(around 6.15am)

When I walked to the beach area, surprised! There were few resort guests waiting for the Sunrise too! I found one of the comfort corner and started to get my tripod ready for it. (I was lucky enough by not attack from any sand fly that morning!)

It was a misty morning, and I started to have bad feeling...I might not see the Red Ball! Yes! I was right, when the sky started to bright up, I can't find the Red Ball! Even I'm facing the right direction (East)...OH! Not again...
End up, I have to snap the surrounding of the beach without a choice...

The Rocks in front of me...Desaru Beach (about 6.50am)

Couple ramble romantically at the beach...

I only be able to caught this around 7.15am...(below)

And the weather was still misty on my left...So I walked back with disappointment and had my breakfast at the Windows Cafe from the resort...

A Misty morning at Desaru Beach

I went back to the room for sleep again after the nice and simple breakfast provided from the resort...
Why the Red Ball is so shy to show it's face?!

Hungarian edition of Jewish Heritage Travel presentation

The new Hungarian-language version of my book "Jewish Heritage Travel" -- Zsido Emlekhelyek -- will be featured during the book bazaar of the annual summer Jewish festival in Budapest.

I am scheduled to give an illustrated talk about the book on August 30, at 4 p.m., in Gozsdu Udvar.

Come one, come all!

Bucharest -- World of Yiddish Festival

 Entering Bucharest's Choral synagogue. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

Bucharest will be the scene of a World of Yiddish Festival next week. It starts Sept. 2 and culminates on Sept. 5, the European Day of Jewish Culture.

The program includes performances, lectures, exhibits, concerts, guided tours, conferences and more:

Thursday, September 2 

10.30 - The State Jewish Theater

Official opening of the Festival - Press conference

12.00 - The State Jewish Theater

From the ”Green Tree” to Broadway - Conference – Moderator: Director Harry Eliad
The Yiddish Theater in Romania (Director Harry Eliad)  Jewish Music in Theater productions (Eng. Adrian Cuperman)  Why do we need a Yiddish theater? Director Andrei Munteanu)  From Iași to New York (Director Radu Gabrea)

16.30 - The “Union” Cinema

“And they faded out like the wind…” – the story of the Barasheum Theater
Documentary - Presented by Director Radu Gabrea

19.30 - The State Jewish Theater

The Fools of Helem by Moishe Gershenzon
The State Jewish Theater

Friday, September 3

10.00 – Jewish Community Center

The Shtetl and its world - Conference – Moderator: Director Erwin Șimșensohn
The Shtetl culture in Romania (Prof. Dr. Liviu Rotman)  The Jewish Bukovina (Dr. Emil Rennert – Austria  Rediscovering Yiddishland in Romania (Dr. Simon Geissbühler, Switzerland) Chassidism and Hesychasm: landmarks, origins, connections (Dr. Madeea Axinciuc) The mural painting of Moldavian synagogues (Dr. Măriuca Stanciu)

16.30 - The “Union” Cinema

Itzic Manger
Documentary – Presented by Director Radu Gabrea

19.00 - The Great Synagogue

Kabbalat Shabbat

Saturday, September 4

10.00 – Jewish Community Center
Yiddishland - Conference – Moderator: Dr. Aurel Vainer
Yiddish language – past and present – from mammelushn to art (Dr. Harry Kuller)  Yiddishland: culture and political identity in the Yiddish media at the end of the 19th century in Romania (Drd. Augusta Radosav – Cluj) The Yiddish language – a source of moral support during the Holocaust (Dr. Lya Benjamin)  Memories about Yiddish, from a Shtetl (Dr. Aurel Vainer)

16.00 – Jewish Community Center

Mammelushn - Conference – Moderator: Dr. Jose Blum
Translations into Romanian from the Yiddish classic literature (Dr. Camelia Crăciun)  Peretz- a great Yiddish writer (Ghidu Brukmaier )  From La Fontaine to Eliezer Shteinberg (Writer Carol Feldman)

19.00 - The State Jewish Theater

One Man Show "Alein ist die Neshume rein" - “Alone, the heart is pure”
Yaakov Bodo & Misha Blecharovitz - Yiddishpiel Theater - Israel

21.00 - Green Hours 22 Club Jazz Café

Vienna Klezmer Band (Austria)

Sunday, September 5 – ““The European Day of Jewish Culture” 

11.00 - The Romanian Peasant Museum

Hakeshet Klezmer Band (Romania)  The Hora dance group (Romania)  Mames Babegenush Klezmer Band (Denmark)

17.30 - The Romanian Peasant Museum

Mazel Tov Klezmer Band (Romania)  Preβburger Klezmer Band (Slovakia)

20.30 - Jewish Community Center

One Woman Show
Yiddish Experience
Maia Morgenstern & Radu Captari

Visiting the Great Synagogue from Bucharest – September 2,3,5, from 10.00 to 17.00 h.
Visiting the History Museum of the Jews from Romania – September 2-5, from 10.00 to 18.00 h
Contact: www.festival-idis.ro * contact@festival-idis.ro

European Day of Jewish Culture -- Sept. 5

 Synagogue, Radauti, Romania. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

The annual European Day of Jewish Culture is coming up -- this year, it's Sept. 5. This is the 11th edition of the "Day" -- I was present at the meeting in Paris in 1999 when it was decided to sponsor an international, cross-border Culture Day, broadening the effort that had already been under way in the Alsace region of France since 1996.

Organization is at the local level, but each year a different general theme is chosen to more or less link events, which this year are said to be taking place in nearly 30 countries -- though programs for only 16 countries are listed on the web site.

Italy remains perhaps the most enthusiastic participant, with events in some 62 locales, including many places where no Jews live.

The theme chosen this year is "Art and Judaism." Events focus on:

  - Different kinds of art: paintings, sculptures, decorative arts, literature, music, films, theatre
  - Different artists: painters, sculptors, writers, actors, composers and performers, directors
  - Different periods: ancient, medieval, modern, contemporary
  - Others: patrons of art, collections
  - Art applied in religious ceremony or in everyday life

You can see the program by clicking THIS LINK

2nd Visit to Jade Garden Corner Seafood Restaurant at Sungai Rengit, Johor.

We had our dinner at Jade Garden Corner Seafood Restaurant again at Sungai Rengit, Johor (This was our second visit, you can read our first visit here). The distance from The Pulai Desaru Resort to this seafood restaurant is about 32KM, the journey took about 30 minutes relax drive from the resort. (I would like to correct the restaurant is actually located at Jalan Kerisi of Sungai Rengit. Not Jalan Hee Seng in my first post, apologies.)

There was only 2 tables occupied when we arrived, the time was around 6.30pm. This restaurant will be really crowded when dinner time around 8pm during weekend, so if you wanna visit it, it's advise to come early.

The Jade Garden Corner Seafood Restaurant at Sungai Rengit, Johor.

I snapped some photos of the Lobsters in the tanks...before they....

This one wanna Escape! It asked me to help, but I said...'It's too late!' :)

Lobsters is the dish you Must try if you happen to be here, it's also because of this small village nickname - Lobster Village.

Our foods ordered :-

1)  Mixed vegetables

2)  Omelette

3)  Butter Prawns

4)  Jade Special Lobster (Signature dish)

Mixed vegetables

Omelette

Butter Prawns

The Jade Special Lobster

There were total of 3 baby lobsters and each of them cut it became 2. All foods were satisfied! Seems like better than our previous visit! The lobsters still as Delicious as we had it before, the omelette was nice, the vegetable was tasty and the prawns were really fresh! We had a memorable dinner at this restaurant!

The Damage was MYR217.00 include 4 bottles of Tiger Beer and others drinks. (For 4 adults and 1 child)

BUT...we might not visit next time because of :
1)  We wanna try out others Seafood Restaurant at Sungai Rengit.
2)  I noticed the Lobsters was charges extra after I saw the bill while back to resort.

Anyway, it's worth if you haven't taste the Lobster of Jade Garden Seafood Restaurant.

Related post :
*  Jade Garden Seafood Corner at Sungai Rengit, Johor

Location map of Jade Garden Corner Seafood Restaurant at Sungai Rengit, Johor.

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Experience The Pulai Desaru Resort, Desaru - Johor

Desaru is a nice getaway for those peoples who like to escape from city life for a 2 days 1 night short vacation. There are few resort along the beach, and we selected the Pulai Desaru Resort (N1 33.636 E104 15.202). This was our second visit to the resort, we didn't stay in the resort during our first visit.
Most of the guests of the Resort were foreigner, and some of group came by the express bus.

The Lobby of the resort is well ventilated because of the high roof design. I took some photos of the lobby...

The lobby of The Pulai Desaru Resort (from 3rd floor)

Clean and well maintain

We took a room for three person which cost us MYR268.00 (weekend rate). But we lucky enough to have some discount. :)

The room was Spacious!

One double bed and one single bed

The pantry

The washroom

The room equipped with bathtub and separate shower area.

Nice Tree View from the room balcony. They called it garden view, but what I saw was trees...:)

View from the room balcony

I walked around the resort after the check-in. Saw some painting work progress on the next blocks...well, seems like business is getting better! Does this gonna with the new highway from Tanjung Langsat to Desaru?! I believe somehow is related. It's a good sign for Desaru.

This is the way towards the swimming pool and the beach from the resort.

The swimming pool of Pulai Desaru Resort

It was cloudy that day and the photos I took were not as attractive as the real scene.

Slide and nice mini waterfall beside...

Don't mind to visit Flinstone's home?! :)

The cave at the pool side

After the pool, we reached the Desaru Beach. Most of the activities were happen at the beach area!

Beach activities

The Desaru Beach

When the night fall, I took some photos of the Windows Cafe. But we were not gonna have our dinner here...

The Windows Cafe - indoor session

The Windows Cafe - outdoor session

And the Ramadan Buffet Dinner was serve to the guests

The lighting of the lobby was nice and I can't resist to snapped some photos of it! :)

The Lobby at night

The staircase to the guest room

And the buffet breakfast was included for all the guest. Simple and nice!

The breakfast from the Pulai Desaru Resort

The Resort environment was clean and staffs were friendly. And the room rate was reasonable, I might stay here again on our next visit to Desaru!
Rated : 4/5.

You will enjoy a good internet rate from online by click on the www.Holidaycity.com or call the number below for reservation.

Related post :-
*  The Pulai Desaru Beach Resort, Johor

The Pulai Desaru Beach Resort
PO Box 29, Bandar Penawar, 81900 Kota Tinggi, Johor, Malaysia.
Tel: +60-7-822-2222 • Fax: +60-7-822-2223
Email: reservation@thepulai.com.my

The location map of Pulai Desaru Resort

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