After Crazying

Italy, one of the most beautiful country to visit,
It is a MUST to come and visit to at least 1 Italian cities if you have a chance to travel in Europe.
Italy is a country with rich culture, history, art and food.
There are so many attractions you can stop by in Italy.
Some readers asked me about the itinerary guide for Italy.
Hmm, I took sometime to think about the best route for Italy travel.
I come out with this guide, with some of my suggested duration of stay in each place.
Of course, in this post I will only write about the Italian cities that I have visited.
However, there are still a lot of other Italy cities that worth to visit.
If you have budget and time, it's definitely worth to stay in Italy for longer time.

(A) 1st stop : Milan. (Recommend duration of stay: 2 day 1 night)
Milan, located north of Italy, a city with Fashion and modern.
Milan is well known for it's Duomo(Milan Cathedral).
For shopping queen and luxury brand lover, you can arrange 1 more day in Milan.
For me, I think 2 day 1 night is quite sufficient.
Personally, I expected this city a lot before go, but it's end up not that nice compared to other Italian cities I had visited.

Tips:
-To enter Duomo(Milan Cathedral),you don't need to pay for the entrance fee , but you can only enter with appropriate attire (no singlet, no short, no sexy).
- If you arrive Italy from Milan, you can follow my following route from (A) to (I). This is the best, direct way according to Italian train route.
- The best way to travel Italy from one city to another city is by train. You can book the train ticket online 2 weeks earlier to get the cheaper price. Here is the website:
http://www.trenitalia.com/

In front of Sforza Castle, Milan with my friend

(B) 2nd stop : Verona ( Recommend duration of stay: 2 day 1 night)
I would recommend a stop between Milan and Venice, with Verona, home of Juliet.
The city is famous as it is the place where William Shakespeare set his play Romeo and Juliet.
Verona is not as famous as Venice and Milan. However, you can discover the surprise beauty of Verona.
If you would like to watch an opera( Most famous show: Romeo & Juliet) in Arena, you can stay for 1 more night.

Tips:
The Opera will be performed in Italian, therefore you might find boring if you don't understand the language. However, you still can amaze with the music, costume and the ways the performers sing & act.

Juliet's Home

Verona, Italy

(C) 3rd stop: Venice ( Recommend duration of stay: 4 day 3 night)
Venice is my most favorite city in Italy. I love it so much~~~ I think almost all ladies love Venice.
For more detail about Venice , you may refer my previous blog post
http://mush4crazy.blogspot.com/2013/11/my-story-in-italy-3-beauty-of-venice.html

Tips:
The maximum amount of passengers allowed in 1 Gondola is 6 person. However, not all the gondolier( the person who row the gondola) allow 6 person in the same time. Therefore, you need to be smart on finding the good gondolier. Some gondoliers are funny , some even sing the Italian song on the gondola.

Venice, Italy

(D) 4th stop: Florence ( Recommend duration of stay: 3 day 2 night)
After Venice, you can choose a direct train toward next stop, Florence.
The most well known bridge, Ponte Vecchio, which span over the Arno river.
It's a must to go to Piazzale Michelangelo to get a scenic view of Florence.
If you are Prada fans, you definitely need a half day trip to Prada factory outlet( Space Outlet), which you need to take a short train from Florence to Montevarchi, a small town near Florence.
This outlet is known as selling the cheapest Prada in the world. ( I heard from my friends, not sure how cheap it can be...)
Anyway, beside shopping, Florence is a city with rich culture and arts, beauty plus heritage site from UNESCO.

Tips:
You can spend another half day to Pisa, which is also near to Florence. There is frequent train from Florence to Pisa and vice versa.

Florence, Italy

(E) 5th stop: Rome ( Recommend duration of stay: 3 day 2 night)
Rome, capital of Italy, with the most well known Colosseum, and the wishing fountain, the Trevi Fountain.
Besides the above mention attractions, there are many other place you can discover in Rome.
There is also a river in Rome, but not as famous like Arno river in Florence.
Inside the Rome, there is a famous, the smallest country in the world- Vatican city.
Therefore, you should expect to spend more day in Rome, and also more walking in this city.

Tips:
The summer in Rome is relatively hot compare to the cities in north of Italy. If possible, come to Rome in other seasons, even during winter, the weather is comfortable and not extremely cold like other European city.

Rome, Italy.

(F) 6th stop : Naples ( Recommend duration of stay: 2 day 1 night)
Before going to Naples, my impression toward this city is that it is the home of pizza.
With 1 hour plus of train from Rome, this city is not so big, hanging around 1 whole day should be enough.
I did some homework before going to Naples, and I found out this city is not as clean like other typical tourist city.
The price and living cost in Naples are also lower than other Italian city.
Therefore, it's another city for budget shopping.
You have to try the so called "authentic" pizza in Naples. It's cheap.

Naples, Italy

(G) 7th stop: Pisa ( Recommend duration of stay: Half day )
This city is famous because of this "non-straight" tower.
Not much thing to see in this city. I believed most of the tourists and travelers spend less than 1 days in this city.
For more detail about Pisa , you may refer my previous blog post
http://mush4crazy.blogspot.com/2013/12/my-story-in-italy-7-visit-of-leaning.html

Tips:
-Sometime Pisa Tower looked "straight" in some point of view. Therefore, if you really want to take photo with "non-straight" tower, you may need to turn around and find the best place.
-There is always a lot of visitors all year around in Pisa , and most of us will take a series of candid with the Pisa tower. Therefore, you should expect spending more time if you want a very good photo with the tower.

Pisa Tower.

(H) 8th stop: Cinque terre ( Recommend duration of stay: 2 day 1 night)
Cinque terre in Italian means "Five land" , which comprises five villages: Monterosso ,Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. It's portion of coast on the Italian Riviera.

The Italian have carefully built terraces on the rugged, steep landscape right up to the cliffs that overlook the sea. The amazing, colourful terraces building and the beach have become the tourist attraction especially during the summer.

Tips:
If you don't have enough time to visit every villages of Cinque Terre, you can skip some villages. Among all 5, I like Manarola and Monterosso ( just my opinion).

(I) 9th stop: Genoa ( Recommend duration of stay: 2 day 1 night)

Last but not least, I would recommend this city--Genoa, which is 1.5 hours train from Milan.
I live in this city during my stay in Italy for 5 month (September 2013 - January 2014)
It's not a very popular city among the tourists.
Therefore, if you want to feel more about Italian culture and avoid the crowd, this is the best city for you.

Basically this is my suggested itineraries in Italy:

~~My suggested route~~

* If you arrive Italy from Rome, you may follow this route
Rome-Florence-Venice- Verona- Milan- Genoa- Cinque Terre-Pisa-Rome

Hope that this itinerary is useful for anyone who plan to have the holiday in Italy.

Enjoy~~

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I wrote about the drinks in B.E Coffee in my previous blog post. You may refer to here

http://mush4crazy.blogspot.com/2014/12/be-coffee-review-1-bevarage.html

Besides the artistic coffee and drinks in BE, there are delicious food for your meal all day from breakfast, lunch to tea time.

1. The Breakfast Essentials - RM 23.50

Breakfast is the most important meal of a day. A good breakfast in the morning give you a good beginning of a day. BE Coffee serving the English style breakfast, with sausage,scrambled egg, hashbrown, tomato beans and the salad.

The salad is mixed with vinegar, which is the preferable way to start this meal.

The portion of this set is big, with very large size of sausages. I would recommend to share with your friends.

This breakfast is available not only in the morning. You can order it anytime if you come to BE Coffee.

2. Grilled Chicken Chop with Mushroom Sauce & Rice - RM15.50

Chicken chop is the most common main dish in western meal.

The texture of the chicken, the way to grill and the sauce used to eat with chicken chop are very important to give a perfect chicken chop set.

3. Classic Hawaiian - RM12.90
The most common pizza we see in Malaysia is with thick dough.
Classic Hawaiian is focusing the ingredients topping with finest cheese choice ,tomoto sauce and pineapple, which is very similar to the Pizza we can find in Western countries.
The size of this pizza is not big, suit for a personal portion.

4. Mushroom Spaghetti Aglio Olio- RM16.50
The uniqueness of this spaghetti is the use of olive oil plus some chili flake, which make this dish a bit spicy. Personally I like this dish.
Portion is not big.
The spaghetti look oily, but no worry, it's olive oil and it's good for health.

5. Waffle- Turkey Bacon & Ham - RM 15.90

The waffle is commonly eat with sweet sauce or topping.

In BE Coffee, they served waffle with eggs benedict,bacon and ham.

If you like to try new thing, then you have to try this waffle.

6. Smoked Duck Panini - RM17.90

Panini is a grilled sandwich made from bread other than sliced bread.

It is very common to find in western countries as healthy fast food and most of them will have it during their lunch break of work/school.

In BE Coffee, they served Panini with smoked duck, which have the bolder flavor than other poultry like chicken.

It's my 1st time eating smoked duck. The taste considered good. It would be better if the Panini bread can grill on hot pan before served.

7. Fried Lotus Chip - RM8.90
Lastly, it's come to small snack in BE Coffee.
They sliced the lotus to very thin pieces and fried.
It is just look and taste like potato chip, which I think it's another alternative choice for those who don't love potato. You can try Lotus Chip now in BE Coffee.

Besides the good drink and food you can find in BE Coffee, It's also good place for you to have gathering, chilling or discussion with your friends and family. There is not much decorations or fancy stuffs for photography, but it's comfortable with friendly staffs serving to every customer in the cafe.
There is selection of magazines and books, you may spend your good afternoon with a cup of coffee and some reading for inspiration .

BE Coffee New Branch Address:
46, Jln Molek 1/28,Tmn Molek

81100 JB. (behind Molek OCBC bank )
Tel: 07 3643 128
Opening time: Monday - Sunday; 9am-7pm

For more information and the latest promotion:

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/becoffeetmnmolek?fref=ts
Instagram : b.e.cafe

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A cup of coffee these days isn’t just a cup of coffee.

Currently, it's a trend in Malaysia to have independent,theme-based cafes,
with perfectionism in the making of a cup of coffee.
These kind of cafes take seriously on the selection of coffee beans, coffee brewing, the portion of
sugar and milk used and the art design on the top of the coffee cup.

Making coffee is now just like creating an art pieces. Of course this kind of coffee will be slightly higher price if compared to normal cup of coffee we can get in hawker stall or restaurant.

The cafe has become the popular spot for youngster to have gathering, chilling , or even have a discussion.

There are getting more selections of cafe in Johor Bahru, with one newly open branch in Tmn Molek- B.E. Coffee.

BE Coffee New Branch Address:

46, Jln Molek 1/28,Tmn Molek

81100 JB
(behind Molek OCBC bank )

Tel: 07 3643 128

Opening time: Monday - Sunday; 9am-7pm

I was having a nice afternoon tea session at B.E Coffee with some bloggers last weekend.

I will start with the home blend coffee, which have the blend of the coffee beans from Columbia and Sumatra.

(1) Ice Latte (RM11.50)
Cafe's signature beverage. It is the best choice to drink a cold latte in the relatively warm weather in Malaysia.

(2)Rose Latte ( RM10.50)

The uniqueness of this cup of latte is with addition of rose flavor, blend into the coffee. You might feel weird if you can't adapt the slight rose taste in coffee. From the shop assistant, this rose latte is the most favourite choice for female customer.

(3)Caramel Macchiato ( RM 10.90)

This coffee is sweeter if compare to the other coffee served, as caramel has added into mixture, which contribute the sweetness of the drink. Personally, I can feel the caramel sweetness in right portion.Caramel taste is not that much in whole coffee.This is well suit for those who don't like bitter coffee.

(4) B.E Cappucino (RM8.50)

Cappucino is always my favourite among the coffee variety. In tradition, cappucino is the mixture of expresso, hot milk and steam milk foam.
The cappucino in B.E. is good, smooth, not much foam.

(5) Vanilla Affogato (RM9.90)

This is coffee-based dessert, with a scope of ice cream on the top of thick espresso.

Personally I would recommend to share this dessert with few of your friends. The thick,creamy taste might let you have a feeling of full after few spoons.

(6) Handbrew Kenya Coffee by Syphon style ( RM15.00)

The main difference of this coffee from the above mentioned coffee is that this is the handbrew coffee, with using single coffee bean from Kenya. There is no addition of milk, creamer or sugar.

You can taste the pure,bitter-sour bean taste from this cup of coffee, and the after taste lasts long.

The syphon is the ideal brewing method to complete control of brewing parameters.

The syphon style of brewing brings out the essence of Kenya bean.

(7) Citrus Chocolate ( RM12.50)

If you are not the coffee lover, you can choose the chocolate drink in B.E

I'm amaze with their idea to design on the top of the chocolate drink.

This chocolate drink is not just rich with chocolate taste, while this drink has mixed with citrus flavor, which enhanced the taste as a chocolate drink.

(8) Baby Chino ( RM 7.50)

A vanilla-based hot milk with the cutest design I ever seen as a cup of drink.
Vanilla makes the drink taste sweet, well suit to the small kid. They will feel happy with this cutest design of drink.

The barista in B.E Coffee, who brewing the coffee professionally in the bar.

To be continue
B.E. Coffee Review 2 - Food

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/becoffeetmnmolek?fref=ts
Instagram : b.e.cafe

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I'm always thinking that I'm the lucky one,
to have the chance to further study in Europe with full scholarship.
There are a lot of my friends and readers wondering and curious about the scholarship
My mind come with "It's time to give back!!"
I would say Erasmus Mundus (EM) Scholarship is a wonderful scholarship which fulfill my Europe study dream.
I'm very glad that I'm being selected as a scholar.
Therefore, I always willing to share my experience about this scholarship and the EM program if anyone asking me about it.
I would love to see more Malaysian students having the chance to pursue their study in Europe.

I never ever thought that I will come back to my University as an organizer of this scholarship talk.
With very limited time of publicity, there were still 80-90 attendees coming for the talk.
I'm quite surprise and happy, in fact before the talk I'm so scare that nobody will come for the talk, then it will be embarrassing.

One of the Malaysian EM alumni,Hazariah Mohd Noh

Malaysian EM alumni, Shamsul Ridzuan bin Idris

Photo with Malaysian EM alumni.

Thanks you to IPS, UM for supporting and helping for the event.
Thanks you to all attendees who come to the talk, hopefully they learn something after the talk.

Thanks you for my friend and family who support me always.

Even I don't get any benefits on organizing this talk, I'm happy that the event went on successfully.

Because it's time to give back...

I'm happy to have the chance to give back.

If you want to read detailed report about this scholarship talk, you may go to this link
http://www.em-a.eu/en/home/newsdetail-ema-members-report/erasmus-mundus-ambassador-program-scholarship-talk-3rd-december-2014-malaysia-1694.html

p/s: You are welcome to email me with your inquiry/doubt about the EM Scholarship and EM Master & Doctorate program.
Email : jiaying-smc@hotmail.com / malaysia@em-a.eu

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It still memorable when I look back all the photo I took during my Taiwan trip,

Continue with my previous post about

>>> Night Market Food in Taiwan <<<< (click in if you're interested)

Beside the Night Market, you can find many other delicious food in Taiwan.

I would say Taiwan is really a food heaven. Haha!!!! I really want to go to Taiwan again.

Ok, Let's introduce some significant foods in Taiwan that you must try if you go Taiwan.

=======================================

I come out with a list of 10 foods I tried during my trip to Taiwan.

1. Ah Chung Mee Sua (阿宗面线)-- Ximending (西門町) , Taipei

For sure, you shouldn't miss this food if you come to Taiwan.

Basically it's a vermicelli soup with some small oysters.

The soup is thick due to the vermicelli, and it's always served hot.

The interesting thing about this dish is that in their store, they don't put any table.

People just buy it and eat immediately, standing in front of store.

Therefore, you will always see people surrounding nearby the store, taking a small bowl and eat their mee sua.

The taste is good, unique...Not too salty; Personally I like it very much.

Although there are some franchise outlets in Malaysia & Singapore that imitate this mee sua , I would say you must try this origin, authentic mee sua in Taiwan.

2. Ah Gei--- Tamshui.

Tamshui (淡水 ) is smaller city to the north of Taipei city, about 40 mins ride from Taipei central. This stall is said serving the most authentic Ah Gei in Tamshui.

To be honost, I don't really know what is Ah Gei before the food come to me. If you have the chance to visit this stall, you will see almost all customers will order Ah Gei once they step into the shop. Ah Gei is a piece of deep fried tofu with ingredient inside such as bean tread noodles, cover with some fish paste. It can also served with a spicy sauce beside the common sweet sauce.

Taste, Hmm, not bad. Personally I feel very unique about this food, and how the bean tread noodles put inside fish paste.

3. Brown Sugar Milk Bubble Tea- Nearby National Taiwan University(NTU).

Bubble tea is commonly known as a must-try drink once you come to Taiwan.

There are many type of bubble tea served. I tried a lot of bubble tea in either night market or branded stall in Taiwan.

The quality of this stall bubble tea is definitely good, as you can see the popularity from the long queue.

The price of the bubble tea is cheap too, just NTD30.

Brown sugar is added into milk bubble tea, which I think is the key factor that made their bubble tea so popular. The sweetness of bubble tea is just in the right portion.

If your Taiwan trip including the visit of the top No.1 university in Taiwan- National Taiwan University, don't forget to join the queue and have a nice milk bubble tea in this shop.

The owner of this bubble tea shop make their bubble tea quite fast, but still you need to wait around 15 mins queue.

4. Steamboat

I'm not purposely go to Taichung for a steamboat feast. In fact, due to my exchange programme mainly stay in Taichung, I have tried most of the delicious Taiwan food in Taichung.

I just wanna try steamboat in Taiwan. It was a pleasant experience...

I can't recommend any good restaurant for steamboat in Taiwan. Personally I feel it's nice to have a steamboat with your friends, especially if you visit Taiwan during winter season.
Just be brave to try some special soup base in Taiwan. Hahaha~~~

5. Chinese Egg Wrap

A very famous Taiwanese breakfast, which you find almost anywhere in Taiwan.

There are variety choice for ingredients & sauce inside the egg wrap. It's just a perfect portion for breakfast suitable for most of the Chinese people.

6. Fried Fish --- Qijin(旗津), KaoShuing
Before I go to Qijin, which is a small island not far away from Kaoshuing, the only thing that I know before going to Qijin is to try and buy seafood.
So, accidentally I tried this fried fish in Qijin, it's taste good.

This fried fish is fresh, and there is egg wrap inside the fish paste.
Good to eat while still warm.
There are a lot of seafood you can try in Qijin. I didn't spend much time in Qijin, therefore I didn't try so much. However, I believe Qijin must have a lot of good seafood-based dish.

7. 7-eleven food - everywhere in Taiwan
There are wide variety of food you can choose with very affordable price.
You will visit 7-eleven if you are in Taiwan for sure, because 7-eleven just located anywhere and very frequent.
Personally I suggest to try 2 food in 7-11------Guan Dong Zhu (關東煮) and tea boiled egg.
Taste might vary according to each outlet.
1 useful tip for anyone going to 7-11 for food hunting especially guan dong zhu, don't go at night. Most of the food is not so fresh at night.

8.Oyster Omelette ( 蚵仔煎)
This dish is very famous in Taiwan. I just mentally told myself I have to try, even I don't really favor this dish.
Basically oyster omelette is easy to make. Potato starch is mixed with egg batter for the wrap,and fill with small oyster, and usually eat with savory sauce.
You can find oyster omelette very frequently in most of the night market and some restaurants.

9. Yam ball doufuhua ( 芋圆豆腐花）
One of the popular Taiwanese dessert.
The unique thing about this dessert is chewy yam ball eat with doufuhua. It's just a perfect match.
I ate this dessert in Jiufen ( 九份）.

10. Minced pork rice.
A very very common, affordable packed dish in Taiwan.
The basic ingredient include ground pork marinated and boiled in soy sauce served on top of steamed rice.

More food recommendation, travel related posts are coming soon.
~~That all~~

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After Crazying

My Story in Italy #9 - My suggested itineraries in Italy

B.E. Coffee Review 2 - Food

B.E. Coffee Review 1 - Beverage

Erasmus Mundus Scholarship talk in Malaysia --- About Giving Back

Food Hunting Guide in Taiwan

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