Count Dracula’s Castle

Grounds at entrance to Bran Castle 


Wow .. the forbidding facade of the awesome Dracula Castle

Its real name is Bran Castle 

Going up is arduous but made bearable with paved cobblestones 

Everybody took photos on the steps leading up to the castle and we had to share pic space with others! 

Lots of nice views of the turrets from the many windows 

Bran Castle looking eerie in this pic from Pokemon go! 

Secret steps leading to 3rd floor 

More Instagrammable views from lookout windows

Lots of nooks and niches too 

Some rooms are furnished to give you a glimpse of how people live their life in a castle ... without electricity and running water! 

Leading back to medieval times! 

Even had torture chambers! 

And spiral staircases 

And an elevated courtyard

 View of the outside 

After exploring every room, we are out

So lucky we are able to enter every floor and every room to discover  the castle’s mysterious and spooky past 


Architectural wonder and feat... and no, I did not run into any vampire nor did I meet Count Dracula. 

Caru’ cu bere Lunch in Bucharest, Romania

In Bucharest today 11 April 2018 (second day of our tour..first day was spent traveling for 10 hours) we were brought to the heritage restaurant Caru’ Cu bere!! 

This restaurant is more than a hundred years old and I was excited to see diners dining al fresco and hoped that we would get to be seated outside too to enjoy the cool weather. 





Wow!! A good lunch crowd and it was to get even busier soon 


Mr and my tour mate at the road leading to Caru’ ca bere. I do so loved the paved road, so antiquated !! 




Waiters and waitresses outside. 


This is what Vanessa the tour guide had for us : chicken soup with chives.


Main course was chicken breast with rice 

Dessert : rum infused cake 

Was thoroughly fascinated by the gothic interior, adding to the heritage feel of the place. 

Malaysians loved their smart phones while Romanians do not use phones while eating. 


Entering and exiting through revolving doors brings you back to nostalgic inducing past!! 

Do visit Caru’ cu bere when you are in Bucharest for a unique dining experience !!! 

From wiki: 

“The Caru' cu Bere (aka Carul cu Bere; "the beer wagon") is a bar and restaurant on Stavropoleos Street in the Lipscani district of Bucharest, Romania, opened in 1879^[1] and moved to the current location, a gothic revival building designed by Austrian architect Siegfrid Kofczinsky, in 1899. It is noted for its distinctive art nouveau interior decoration.”

Meeting the 8th reincarnation of Rinpoche

After volunteering at ULC I was in the Bukit Bintang area so I went to Ritz Carlton to attend a luncheon meeting .

I was interested to meet the "8th reincarnation of Khangser Rinpoche"!!!

My second time here, the previous one had a local prince as a speaker.

Wow! I was so excited to get a selfie with Rinpoche I did not manage to get his whole face!

When asked what it entails to be the 8th reincarntion, his reply was: "Its just lottery"

His assistant .

His full name ! He has in an impressive resume too! But his talk was succinct and short, he's so unpretentious and down to earth, and I think he does not want to overwhelm listeners with his lengthy projects. In fact I saw him enjoying his dessert and was afraid he did not get to finish it, but no matter, his achievements were so long as the introducer read it, he got to polish plate. In fact, he said in his speech, that the food was good!

I too, enjoyed my lunch!! See the menu below:

I grabbed 2 buns for my soup!

Opted for the pan fried red snapper.

My dessert!

He admired his certificate, surely he had so many!

Thank you for the invitation!

You can read his full list of his wonderful work here:
http://nibs.com.np/khangser-tulku-rinpoche/

The highly venerated Tenzin Tsultrim Palden also known as Khangser Rinpoche (which means yellow house) was born in 1975.
 In 1980, he was recognized as the 8th reincarnation of Khangser Rinpoche.
 It is known that the 7th incarnation of Khangser Rinpoche was one of the three highly respected lamas who were responsible for locating the 14th reincarnation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
 In 1992, Khangser Rinpoche obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Buddhist philosophy upon completing Pharchin Ramjampa from the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics.
 The institute is nestled in the Himalayan mountain range, in the same region where His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama now resides, the state of Himachal Pradesh, North India.
 In 1998, Rinpoche obtained a Master’s Degree in Buddhist philosophy upon completing Lobpon from Sera Jey Monastic University in South India.
 In 2000, Rinpoche was invited as a visiting Professor at Tribhuwan University in Kathmandu, Nepal. In 2002, Rinpoche obtained a Geshe Lharam Degree (equivalent to a Ph.D) in Buddhism and was conferred the highest dignification amongst the top division. In the same year, Rinpoche composed a text entitled “Commentary on Abhidharma” which is over three hundred pages in length

Pork noodle Yee meen at Kedai Makan dan Minuman Kinrara, BK1

My friend has a noodle stall and I promised to look her up....

many years ago ....hehehe

I stopped line dancing and seldom come into contact with her again... 

until today when I checked her out!!

Look at my plate of pork noodle Yee meen...!!

Wow!! So delicious!!

It’s made by my friend Fong !!

Look at her so busy making the noodle soup for me! She keeps 

her minced meat in batches to prevent cross contamination

Yee meen with egg, minced pork,  pork slices, pork balls and veggie.

So yummy! She kept topping up my soup ..2 times! ! 

as I am a soup person

 and finished the soup before the noodles!! 

Her stall..rm30 rental per day ...below is the coffee shop ..

Its situated along JALAN BK1....to get there you turn into

 Jalan BK2 

and within minutes you reach BK 1 and see this shop called 

Kedai Makan dan Minum Kinrara....

 (Dont set Wazeto this shop name, just set it to BK1 and look for this shop facade)

I was looking for her and someone asked... 

“Oi Sek mik yeh, siu cheh?”

 I turned around and it’s her!!! Hahaha!!!!!

Looks like any typical Malaysian coffee shop...(that's her)

Don’t be put off by her stall as she keeps the kway teow etc

 in plastic bags and her pork balls and mince meat in cooler boxes 

instead of out in the open, exposed. It's a better option that way.

So... I left her to wash and pack up her stall 

as it was near closing time

or her! (Operating hours 7 am to 2 pm)