Chik's Crib

16 May 2026

Zhangjiajie, Hunan, China

Travel May 16, 2026 0

It’s foggy up in the mountains of Zhangjiajie. It’s midday, but the sun remains obscured and faint, glowing mildly in the cold air looking to the world no brighter than the moon.

I was pretty stoked to be finally here - Zhangjiajie is one of China’s greatest landscapes. The forests of sandstone pillars: tall slender columns that rose from the earth into the clouds. There’s nothing else quite like it in the world.

The days that we spent in Zhangjiajie National Forest weren’t quite the nature retreat that I was envisioning. The views are splendid, but we were walking on pavements and concrete. There are clean toilets along the way, and shops selling food and knick-knacks could be found at regular intervals. A variety of lifts, cable cars and even buses run throughout the mountains. We did nothing more exertional than clambering into and out of the shutter buses during our time here.

If there’s any fault in the trip, it’s only because everything seemed a little too curated. This is the spot where you get off and see these three things, and you can board back onto the shutter bus for the next stop to see these two things… No matter how beautiful the sights, or how well-organised the trip is, perhaps we all need a bit of surprise and spontaneity in our lives.

Still, it’s hard not to be impressed by the clear glass bridges extending across the mountain ranges, or the miles of winding roads laid up and down the mountain ranges. You can see the tip of the trees many miles below you as you walk, and rivers winding through the rocks and the trees.

It’s not just scenery to be enjoyed here. It wasn’t on my bingo card to descend the mountaintop via kilometers of metal slides (fun!) and ziplining through the treetops of Zhangjiajie, but that was quite a joyful hour or two. And of course, there are glass elevators to take you back up to the top again, if you like.

天门山 (Tianmen Cave, translating to "Heaven's Gate”), is another attraction in the area. It’s a rock arch that faces the open sky, and visitors can climb the steps in order to walk through the arch. It’s perhaps about 30 minutes climb, and it was tolerable in the cold air. For non-masochists, you can probably skip the steps and take the escalator up.

And for that bit of spontaneity that I'd been searching for: we found families of monkeys at the top of the mountains.

Another area is Baofeng Lake Scenic Area, where we took a boat around the reservoir. Performers in folksy costumes sing verses of their traditional songs as our boat passed by their lake houses. A fisherman on his bamboo boat showed us how his flock of trained cormorants - dark-feathered diving birds - hunt for fishes underwater. (The fishes that the birds brought up from the waters were suspiciously limp, but I appreciate the effort).

The Tujia people are the ethnic minority of the region, and the Zhangjiajie Tusi Imperial City was a palace built by the tribe in the 18th century.

Zhangjiajie is located in Hunan province, and the local fiery cuisine paired well with the cold weather. Mao Zedong, a Hunan native, famously sprinkles chili powder over his watermelon slices. As a pithy saying goes: 四川人辣不怕，湖南人怕不辣。(Sichuan natives are unafraid of spicy food, but Hunan natives are afraid of non-spicy food.) As we approached each mealtime, the restaurants that our group patronised had to be warned ahead of time that we are non-locals, and to tame down the spices. The food that we were given were humorously termed “Guangzhou spicy 广州辣”, a nod to that region’s famous intolerance of spiciness.

We see their version of stinky tofu on food carts and stalls almost everywhere we go - it’s black, and surprisingly mild in taste.

Local air-dried preserved meats, and noodles

Just LOOK at this baby carrier. 10/10 for style.

We also stopped by the regional attractions of Fenghuang Ancient Town and Furong Village, which features waterside stilted buildings. Furong Village in particular, was built over a waterfall. They were lovely in the daytime, and gorgeous when illuminated in the night.

One night, we went to the 湖南省歌舞剧院 (Hunan Opera and Dance Theatre) in the city. They were genuinely terrific with their acrobatic feats and stunts with fire shows, balancing acts and throwing knives.

Chinese humour is quite an acquired taste. It was six years ago and in another part of China when I heard one of the funniest thing that I’d heard of in my life, as an off-the-cuff comment to bargain an item down. There were a few bangers throughout our trip, many from our tour guide who spoke for hours in a monologue not unalike a standup comedy routine. (In one part of her monologue, she summarised the war between two titans in China’s historical Three Warring States as “刘备和曹操要PK。”) On another occasion, as we were walking by a roadside flea market, she commented that the antiques that we were passing by were from the Zhou Dynasty. Which 'Zhou', you ask? “上周（last week)”.

I’m enamoured with sake, and I didn’t have much hope when we got this bottle of Chinese rice wine (土家原味米酒) with our dinner, but we were surprised: it was smooth and enjoyable. I spent the next three days looking for more in every liquor store that we passed by, but to no avail.

Being in China, we also drank plenty of bubble tea. 茶顔悦色 (Modern China Tea Shop) is the most popular chain. We also really enjoyed 茶理宜世（Charlie's Tea), which stores we came across in the train stations when we took the high-speed trains. Just like the Shinkansen in Japan, these ones were just as fast and as comfortable. We sped through vast distances over just a couple of hours, a journey that would have taken even longer by flight. Within the city, a variety of electric cars ply the roads. Petrol vehicles are by far the minority, and you can identify them by a blue license plate (in contrast to the green license plates held by EVs and hybrids).

Even as we visited the rural areas in China, it already felt like we're stepping into the future.

08 May 2026

Yuzu Limoncello Cocktails (Recipe)

Recipe May 08, 2026 0

There are two core steps for making limoncello:

Step One: Zest eight lemons into a bottle of vodka, and let steep for at least 45 days.

Step Two: Strain the zest away, add simple syrup, and let rest for another 45 days.

If a two-step recipe to make a proper limoncello seems daunting, I’ll let you in on a secret: you can already enjoy the liquor after Step One.

Step Two is not a hard step. But personally, it’s been 5 months in for me and I hadn’t gotten around to it. It’s been a busy few months. That hadn’t stopped me from sampling from the jar, though. I‘d been using the unfiltered limoncello concentrate to make the most refreshing highballs.

I siphoned off the top of the limoncello concentrate and ladled them into glasses together with spoonfuls of yuzu marmalade, then filled them up with ice and soda water. Bits of lemon zest that come along with each ladle is no great deal: they blend into the yuzu peels of the marmalade anyway.

This cocktail is floral and deceptively light to drink.

Yuzu Limoncello Recipe
Yuzu marmalade is commonly found in Asian/Japanese/Korean marts, and acts as the sweetening component in this cocktail.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons of yuzu marmalade
A dash of angostura bitters
1 shot (25ml) plain water
1 shot (25ml) of limoncello concentrate (unsugared)
Ice
~120ml Soda water, to top the drink.

Steps
1. Combine the yuzu marmalade with angostura bitters and plain water, stirring well to thin out the marmalade.

2. Add in the limoncello concentrate and a generous amount of ice. Stir to combine, then top the drink off with soda water.

01 May 2026

Limoncello Recipe

Recipe May 01, 2026 0

I had a problem. A problem shaped in a bottle. More specifically, a Smirnoff-shaped bottle.

To be precise, I couldn’t get rid of it.

It’s not the fancy kind of Smirnoff. It’s the red one, perhaps sub $30 for a bottle. And it’s been plaguing me ever since my brief infatuation with penne alla vodka from a few years ago.

I’d retrieved it from my liquor cabinet during house parties, hoping that a pour for each guest would clear out the bottle (it hadn’t, for everybody declined). I’d introduced the bottle into the freezer, hoping that a well-chilled bottle would improve its disposition (it hadn’t, for the cheap vodka inside remained… well, cheap vodka.) I’d brought it down a step from the freezer to the fridge when I needed freezer space, then after all that, it somehow wound up back into the cabinet where it came from.

It’s only when I heard of homemade limoncello that I realised I’d found a wonderful use for this vodka. And a few months later, upon opening the jar, confirmed the vodka’s delightful transformation into limoncello.

It’s a simple two-step process. Step One involves zesting eight lemons and steeping the zest in a bottle of vodka for at least 45 days. Step Two, to strain the zest away and add simple syrup. There’s a great deal of flexibility that you can have, and I left mine on Step One for about 5 months before I got around to opening the jar. (Life gets in the way.)

The sum, as they say, is far greater than the component of its parts. The simple ingredients and steps didn’t prepare me for the fragrance as I filtered the zest away: the sunny liquor that laid within was bright and intoxicating, like kisses, flowers, and the smell of summer.

Recipe

Get the Limoncello Recipe here from Limoncello Quest: there is an abridged version, and the long-form. (The long form is worth a read.)

Serving

Limoncello can kept in the freezer. From the freezer, they can be drunk neat, or more commonly on the rocks. I like mine iced, with a dash of angostura bitters and topped with soda water.

18 April 2026

Langkawi - A 3-Day Trip

Travel April 18, 2026 0

We recently spent the Easter holidays in Langkawi. It was a great experience! For people looking for a beach resort to relax and decompress, it’s not as popular a location as other regions that are more easily accessible (Desaru, Bintan and Batam are just an hour’s ferry ride away from Singapore, and Desaru is also reachable via car). But those who enjoy a good mix of beaches, islands, waterfalls, mangroves and rainforests all conveniently close to one another would find Langkawi a nice place to visit.

Has anyone experienced this sort of plane before? The doors are located both at the front AND at the back. It was delightful to be seated at the back and be able to depart from there instead of having to file forward to the front exit.

By far and away, the single best thing that we did in Langkawi was to sign up for a 4-hour jet ski tour around the islands. I’d never been on a jet ski before, much less piloted one. But no worries. As the operator promised, you too, will be competent after 10 to 15 minutes*.

*In fact, his exact words to us were: “This is the accelerator. This… (wriggling the handlebar) to steer. Oh, the brakes are broken. No matter. Have fun!”

** At one point when docking at an island, I may have bumped a tourist boat. Lightly. But hard enough for everybody on the boat looked up. Perhaps this wouldn’t have happened if the brakes are working?

*** At this point, I feel obliged to point out that operating a jet ski legally in Malaysia requires a boating license, typically the Power Craft Driving Course (PCDC) or an IYT Personal Watercraft Operator (PWC) certification. There’s an age requirement, an eyesight test, and both theory and practical assessments to be conducted at approved licensing centres.

But anyway. Jet ski’s the best way to not just to reach many of the islands surrounding Langkawi, but also to go to some sites of Langkawi itself. We went to the Eagle Square. Why take a car to these attractions if you can reach them by jet ski? Also, clearly, the best vantage view of the statue is right there on the waters with the eagle facing you.

Langkawi translates to eagle-red stone, which is linked to Brahminy Kite, the brown local sea-faring eagles of the area. There's a second eagle variety: White-bellied Sea Eagle, which is grey-feathered and found inland.

We coasted around the limestone cliffs, stopped by the Marble Geoforest Park and Pregnant Maiden Lake at Pulau Dayang Bunting, and then accompanied a cruise boat at Pulau Singa Besar’s Eagle Feeding Point. We visited the mangroves of Tuba Island and walked on the beaches of Sea-Doo Island. Out along a quiet part along the fjords, we stopped for a quick swim in the waters.

Every minute on the jet ski was a blast. Beyond 40mph, each gentle wave becomes a ramp - each peak that we crested kept us airborne for a split second before we thudded down back onto the waters. The fastest we’ve reached was 51mph!

The 4-hour tour was RM700 for both of us with a 2-pax jet ski, which seemed to be a great price especially it included pick-up services from our hotel. I’m not sure how the math works, considering the same providers charge RM200-300 for a 15 minutes joy ride around the coast. But it’s the holidays, so I left the math to the business owners.

A tip from my friend who recommended the jet ski tour to me: prices are lower in-person than what you would find online. You can just come by Cenang beach (Pantai Cenang) the day before to compare prices amongst the providers and book your tour for the next morning. For what it’s worth, we came by in the afternoon to book our jet ski. At the end of the day, it seems like most of the providers collaborate to run the tours together anyway. The water-sports company that we signed with brought us from the hotel to the beach as promised, but our actual tour was ran by another company. The only difference between the companies is perhaps just down to the price you pay at the booths. Any booth with a decent reputation on Google would do, since it looks like most are collaborating.

We spent a fair portion of our vacation soaking in the atmosphere at Ambong Rainforest Villa, which provided a calming vibe in contrast to the touristy areas of Langkawi. Plenty of wildlife surrounded us. Our apartment-length window looked out into the canopy, as did the open-air bathtub and kitchen.

It was quite something to else to take a bath out in the open air like this. We were warned that monkeys may come by our room, and not to leave anything valuable in the open air section of our villa. Turndown service was twice a day, with incense being lit in the evening to keep bugs away. It worked - while there were insects and lizards (and even a frog visitor one night to the bathtub!), we didn’t have any mosquitos bothering us.

If it sounded like staying here would be grimy, well, it wasn’t. I’m not sure how they achieved it, but the room remained scrupulously clean. Yes, despite our occasional nocturnal guests along the open-air part of the room. We walked around on our bare feet, and unlike most hotels that I’d been to, I would do so again here. (N wore a pair of white socks around, and it remained white throughout our stay.)

The wildlife that we encountered in the resort was as good as promised. We spotted the human-shy black giant squirrel from our living area one evening scampering up the trees. Right as we left the villa, a pair of hornbills rustled the trees above us.

Not too far away, we also found a pair of Dusky Leaf Monkey. They can be rather shy, but one particularly curious one joined us for breakfast.

We also spotted a small Long-Tailed Macaque swinging from the tree branches after breakfast.

Outside of the resort, acres of rice padi fields dotted the landscape. Brown steers and black water buffaloes roamed the padi fields. We visited Laman Padi, a museum celebrating the humble rice.

There were glowing recommendations online where visitors sign up for tours to harvest and thresh rice. But walking through the grounds and the museum in the afternoon, we couldn’t find anyone to speak to. The water buffalo was plodding along the fields, and the wild birds were pecking amidst the rice plants, and not a single employee to be found. (the lights were on, the air conditioning was strong and the doors were open. But the place was deserted, y’all).

There was also a baby alligator (?) swimming through the water-filled padi field. Is this normal, or does someone need to call animal control? I guess the staff wouldn’t be in danger... they ain't around.

There is a cotton tree by the courtyard. Wisps of cotton stir up with the breeze and coat the mango tree in a coat of white.

There isn’t much to shop around for in Langkawi. Despite its status as a duty-free region, basic necessities and other goods still have to be imported into the island and hence are pricier here than in the mainland. Still, we bought some products weaved from mengkuang at Embun Embun. Raw mengkuang are grown in muddy terrains in Pulau Tuba (one of the islands that we briefly stopped at on the jet ski tour). The plants are covered in thorn and have to be treated before being crafted into household objects by weavers.

And of course, we were down by the beach quite a lot. Pantai Cenang isn’t one of those beaches that you can take quiet romantic walks along the seaside. It’s one those beaches that’s packed with people throughout the day. Water sports booths can be found everywhere you look, calling out to passersby. In the evening time, seaside bars set up beanbags and light bonfires and fireworks and host fire shows.

In the afternoons when the sun-rays get pretty intense, we find ourselves down at Cenang Beach’s Kalut Bar. I actually am quite fond of this place. The tall rafters brings in plenty of breeze and light. The beers are cold and decently priced. It’s strangely charming. The food ain’t bad either - on the day that we were all tuckered out from the jet ski and came by for drinks and food, the satay and burgers that we had were all quite excellent.

The northern end of Pantai Cenang is a bit more peaceful, and the sand a bit softer. We picked up seashells along the surf. A live clam gave us a jump scare as we did, and stuck its tongue out at us before flipping itself back over in the sand.

On our last night in Langkawi, we chanced upon The Mobile Bar after dinner. It’s a beachside stall by the sand, where the bartender fixes you a drink. A couple of guys seated in the shadows by the side of the stall provide easy music. There’s a couple of tables around the stall, but most of the guests are seated on picnic mats on the sand.

The rustic little stall with a wooden awning, and its yellow lights lighting up the dark beach, felt - and looked - a little like something out of a children’s storybook.

Our last day in Langkawi was spent sleeping-in, then breakfast followed by a luxuriously long shower. We ticked a few more cafes off my checklist, packed our hand-carry luggage (there wasn't much to buy), and headed to the airport and back to reality.