I love how instant cooked meals are evolving from instant cup noodles to microwaveable meals and now to this. The innovations from people today are astounding and most of all, inspiring. 

I've been one of the few who was amused by the recent craze on the internet over this instant mala hotpot, originated from Si Chuan and Chong Qing. The brand "lazy people" illustrated the food trend today for people who are mostly on the go, with little or no time to prepare pipping hot home cooked meals. 

This instant mala hotpot is sold on Qoo10, Carousell, Shoppee (and many more) if you wanna get it in Singapore as it has yet to hit the local stores. Priced between $10- $12, it is slightly more on the expensive range for instant foods. I got mine in Malacca when I was there on a short family vacation, sold at 29RM. 

How the packaging looks like. Filled with chinese words but they are basically descriptions of the ingredients, nutritional values, shelf life, manufacturing etc etc.  

Ingredients consist of 1) soup base, 2) potato starch noodles, 3) assorted vegetables including lotus, black fungus, potatoes and bamboo shoots, 4) quail eggs, 5) beef sausage, 6) sesame oil 

The instructions manual given was easy to follow, you just have to dump all the ingredients into the bowl, add 1/3 cup of water, open the heating pack and place it onto the bigger bowl, pour about 1/5 water, cover it with the pot of ingredients, and close the lid for 15 minutes. 

And... you're done. :) 

Taste Review: 3/5 

I considered the taste to be slightly overwhelming, which would probably take sometime for Singaporeans to be used to it. The hotpot was spicy, numbing and best of all, oily...... 

However, I've been to China quite a few times and I'm convinced that this is how it should taste like, considering the fact that the chinese eat really really spicy and numbing mala hotpot, especially during winter. 

Hence, it is worth a try (at least just for once). 

Ps: I bought the instant cook beef mala with rice too! Can't wait to try it. :D 

So one of the days when we cross over to JB for a friend's wedding, Y wanted to do something different apart from the usual shopping and cafe hopping, as he came across this zoo as one of the listed JB attraction. Though the sky was gloomy, Y and I took a trip down to the zoo for a little peek. 

JB Zoo is located just behind the streets of cafe that we usually patronize. We took a bus down from where our friend's wedding was and alight in the middle of the streets where we walked a fair bit into the entrance of the zoo. 

Although reviews in the various websites scored this zoo as 1 out of 5, we were greeted by so many local families queuing up to pay for the entrance fee. And guess what, 

The entrance fee was only 2RM!! 

Johor zoo is perhaps one of the oldest zoo in Malaysia, opened in 1928 by Sultan Ibrahim.  There were more than 100 species of animals living in this 12.5 ha sized zoo. Although this zoo was not highly marketed for tourists, it was highly catered for the locals there. 

More than just speculating, there are also simple activities spread out for the patrons, ranging from photo taking to animal feeding, and also pony riding for the children. 

The children were filled with excitement as they dash across the pavement, pulling the hands of their parents towards the direction where they wanted to go to. 

But because safety was highly compromised in this place, we get have a really close up contact with the animals. As we stroll past enclosures after enclosures, the animals were all mingling in close views of the patrons. This experience was totally different from my experience in the Singapore Zoological Gardens as we could only catch a glimpse of the animals there in a bird's eye view. 

Here are some of the animals in a really close up view: 

Enclosures for the lions, tigers and bears. 

As run down as it seems, this was perhaps one of the reason why it was only rated 1/5. The living conditions of the animals were really sad as they were poorly maintained. Rusty gates, wilted grass and muddy grounds were homes to these animals. It looked more like an animal shelter, a place where the animals sought refuge. I went to do a research about this zoo and found out that it was even being labelled as the "most dangerous zoo in Malaysia"! But I guess it will not be so bad if you protect your kids well and don't tryna act to some weird stunt for your social media, it is still in a safe proximity. 

However, if you want to catch this rare opportunity to have close contact with the animals, yet with a safe proximity, do drop by Johor Zoo after your cafe hopping and do something different with your friends and family! 

Address: Jalan Gertak Merah, Taman Istana, 80000 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia

Things to bring: umbrella, shades and lots of insect repellent