Nasi Minyak - Kuantan

I was travelling from Kuantan to Gambang, one early morning . Hungry and lack of sleep I was determined to begin the day with something nice to taste. After leaving Kuantan town and drove on for about 10 minutes, just before we reached the East Coast Highway.... I turned off. Saw this little shop here with lots of people eating. Many people means good food. So we decided to pull over and investigate.


So we went into the shop, and it sold only Nasi Minyak. According to Gretchen's Cookbook , Nasi Minyak is Malaysia's Festive Rice... never knew that, neither have I tasted Nasi Minyak before. Oh well, been to a few Kenduris, but I don't believe I have tried Nasi Minyak in a shop before. The stall was clean, no flies around the food, I signalled my colleague, lets try this.



So when we ordered I had curry chicken to put on my Nasi Minyak. Obviously the other choices are Beef Rendang, Fried Chicken and also Mutton if I remembered correctly. The rice was abit unsual , as it had acar timun like briyani gam, but the rice was different. Instead of the usual heavily spiced rice , you have plain rice with red colored rice ( sweetened abit ). And to top it up, it had Mata Kerbau.

Cheap, RM3.50 for that plate and I also ordered my Kopi Campuran Radix for Rm2. I definitely hope to come back here again to try out some of the other dishes they serve there. Its nice, and I wonder why Nasi Minyak has gotten the stigma that it is specially done only for festivities, weddings, etc.

That restaurant has something going for them, and I hope they decide to open a branch here in KL, I am sure they will become a big hit over here.

Pakej Gerenti Lulus

Following the previous post regarding super driving schools that offer Pakej Gerenti Lulus, here is a story i found on the internet.

Edisi KL: Lulus asal beri JPJ duit kopi


KUALA LUMPUR: “Biasanya kalau kita bagi ‘duit kopi’ kepada pegawai Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan (JPJ), semua calon yang menduduki ujian (memandu) akan lulus,” kata seorang petugas wanita sebuah sekolah memandu di sini, semalam.

Petugas terbabit yang berumur lingkungan 30-an mengulas pemberian ‘lesen gerenti lulus’ L (latihan) kepada calon sekolah memandu walaupun gagal dalam ujian dijalankan JPJ.

Bagaimanapun, menurutnya, lesen gerenti lulus L kebanyakannya hanya diberikan kepada sekolah memandu besar yang sudah punya nama dan mempunyai hubungan lebih akrab dengan segelintir pegawai JPJ.

“Kegiatan menawarkan lesen L ekspres ini bertujuan menarik minat orang ramai untuk belajar memandu di sekolah yang menawarkan khidmat itu berikutan persaingan yang tinggi di kalangan pengusaha sekolah memandu.

“Bagaimanapun, lesen L ekspres itu hanya ditawarkan kepada pemegang lesen ‘P’ atau lesen penuh yang pernah memiliki lesen L sebelum membuat permohonan bagi lesen tambahan,” katanya.

Persaingan merebut pelanggan antara sekolah memandu itu juga menyebabkan ada pengusaha mendakwa sekolah memandu tertentu turut menawarkan lesen gerenti lulus iaitu calon yang dijamin mendapat lesen walaupun gagal ketika ujian dikendalikan JPJ.

Untuk mendapat kepastian berkaitan kewujudan penyelewengan lesen lesen gerenti lulus L dan lesen penuh, wartawan Harian Metro membuat pembongkaran selepas menyamar sebagai calon memandu yang terdesak mendapatkan lesen.

Dua daripada kawasan yang menjadi tumpuan pembongkaran aktiviti sekolah memandu itu di sekitar Brickfields dan Ampang yang juga cawangan kepada sekolah memandu popular.

Driving Academy - Learn to Drive in the Real World !!

It was one Friday night, after BC class in Uptown, we crossed the road to our cars before we decided what we wanted to eat. Then as we crossed the road, something caught our eye !! One Red SLK (small little kancil) was parked in the middle of the road, blocking traffic and all.

One can only assume that this car belonged to a driving instructor, who teaches people how to drive, and of course they also teach undang undang jalan raya, and to teach their students to abide by traffic laws, right ?

So, that car belonged to Metro Driving Academy !!!! I hope none of my friends learnt how to drive from this school. Even if so, I am sure your lesen is Kopi O punya...

Sick Bear Bear

I have fallen sick, I lost the battle. One week away from CNY and I am feeling like this already.


It was a rather busy weekend, which just went by without much recollection of doing anything, except for a special dinner with Sayang's family, the part where we were able to monitor the nocturnal activities of Kepong residents (mostly from Kepong), throwing stuff out of my room, falling sick, vommitting all that shit I put in my tummy and sleeping the whole day Monday .

My body today decided to develop a slight fever, which I am not too amused with. Looks like I have to swallow those panadols after all. Lazy and no mood to work. Feel like sleeping in again today but there is work to be done, people to see and all. So I am back in the office, blogging .

Asam Laksa in MidValley - Halal wan

Famous Asam Laksa can be found in many places in Penang. But we stumbled upon this place, Garden Cafe, in 2nd floor of Jusco MidValley. It is unusual to find a cafe situated in the middle of a Electronics Floor. While walking pass this cafe, you cant help but notice, bustling with activity and a long queue waiting to order. Usually it doesn't take long for the Asam Laksa aroma to hit your nostrils.

(Ting ! ) Light bulb glows, hmm looks like a nice place to eat.

Two months after that, we finally came by to eat.

Asam laksa smelt very nice. Serving was small, but it does taste different compared to the Penang ones. Penang Asam Laksa , tastes sweetish, got more of that Prawn paste while this place I think they stinge on that abit, instead, they hentam more MSG into the bowl of noodles. Garden Cafe's Asam Laksa is a bit more salty compared to the Penang Variant. Here they stinge on the fish, noodles serving is quite large.

Overall, it tastes quite okay, just that they stinge on some of the ingredients. Penang flers go try la !!! Not bad wan.

Gym Fashion

Before you jump to conclusion that I had travelled back in time with my Nokia 6210 , snapped a few pics and came back to present time to blog about it, I did not.

I was perhaps the case where the fella was caught with nothing else to wear to gym. All his clothes were in the laundry so he just grabbed whatever he could from his kid sister's closet and came for a workout. When I first saw the fler, I asked myself, Guy or Girl lai de ?

Ok confirmed guy, because the fler was balding. Then I asked myself , Is that a pair of panties ? And looks like he is wearing a Fifi Top also, yer.. why so kem wan... :rofl:

So it looks like we got a contender for best dressed in Gym... sorry la Fifi, year 2007 you got competition, no more walkovers for you. :grin:

Sup Adabi - Anika Sajian Warisan

Picture from Kuali

Sup Adabi, hmm, definitely not something I was brought up eating or drinking. Mom, never encouraged us to cook soup using soup cubes. Soups are supposed to be done slowly, using herbs, free range chicken, and double boiled for many hours. So the first impression I got when I saw this restaurant at Tmn Melati , was just that.. Instant Soup and Rice. What so nice ?

Firstly, the restaurant does justice to itself. Decoration wise, quite decently done. It gives you a spacious feeling, not cramped up like most chinese Restaurants like Six Happiness, Overseas where they like to put in the most number of tables possible for the space they rented. No flies bugging you like most Malay eateries. Its not stuff , humid and hot like most stalls you find by the roadside, but neither is it air conditioned. Nevertheless, we did not feel very hot when in the restaurant.

Sup Ayam Kampung Warisan

The menu was quite extensive. Usually a malay eatery will give you a piece of paper, printed on both sides and thats it. Their menu takes time to explain what is in a dish. I ordered a Sup Ayam Kampung Warisan Set, which comes with Kangkung Belacan, White Rice and Telur Dadar. To top it up, I also ordered Epal, Asam Boi and Limau Kasturi Mix Drink (KatChai Shin Mui with Apple Juice - confirm no lao sai and tastes very very nice).

Four of us, ordered four sets. Two of them ordered Sup Tulang Nusantara Set. It was a clear soup with tulang and daging in it. Soup ayam warisan is the standard spicy soup , which we normally get when we order Mee Soto Ayam. Nice !!

To cap it off, we had Ice Kacang which I thought could improve abit. It was too sweet for one, and the ingredients were red jelly, green jelly, Canned Red Beans, Chendol ( not so fresh), Watered Down Gula Melaka, Too much Sirap Ros and not enough Milk for my liking. Oh ya not forgeting Roti Arab... It was a weird crepe of somekind, I suppose of Middle East origin, didn't like it, but it came with Sambar and Sambal ikan Bilis.

To summise, this place is quite pricey, but then, the food seems clean and the environment quite nice. Food , ok la only.

Picture from my Nokia 6210

Restoran Yap Chong - Jln Pudu Ulu

Its FT Day and Thaipusam combined today. This means nobody works which means traffic congestion every where in Kuala Lumpur. So what do we eat for lunch if we were too lazy to cook ourselves or we have been eating the same old stuffs everyday ?

Yong Tao Foo ??? The Jalan Pudu Ulu Yong Tao Foo restaurant has been a favorite for Cheras and Kl people, for many years now. I am not sure how I came to know about this restaurant, but I remembered many many years ago, mu uncle brought me to this place to eat Yong Tao Foo.

It is the little lane next to PGRM HQ at Jalan Pudu Ulu. It used to be a squatter area, but since the PGRM HQ building was completed, the government systematically cleaned up the squatter area, relocating the Squatters into little pigeon hole low cost flats in the area.

Okay so we ordered, Curry Fish Head, Yong Tao Foo and a serving of Fried Vegetables. It was really cheap, the place is air conditioned and the food is quite tasty. Really have to point this out though, Yong Tao Foo comes with soup right ? Their soup does not seem to contain MSG. But then the rest of the dishes were too oily for my liking. Especially the curry fish head. If I were to eat there everyday, surely my arteries will be clogged up within a year.

Kekeke... nice food , cheap and tasty

How to get there :

Sorry address I tarak, but can show you on the map...






Other posts on Restoran Yap Chong

Everything Asian

Note: Updated Aug 4th 2007

Mum's Place - Damansara Perdana

I arrived late for Combat class on Monday night. I was just recovering from a back ache due to bad ergonomics design of the Proton Waja which I been driving up and down to Lipis and back. It was a terrible ache, so I decided to skip Combat. Got to the curve, ngam ngam 830 saw Calvin after class chatting with his girl friends... Said hi and off to shower.

After that, Wookie said he wanted to makan some stuff, then only I realised he was actually going off to USA for a fortnight on a business trip. He suggested Mum's Place, Peranakan/Nyonya Food. Hmm.. ok la since long time no eat nice nyonya stuff jo.

It looked like a normal restaurant from the outside. The motive is very retro, all furniture is made of carved wood, Marble tables ( just like granpa dining table ), hand carved wooden dividers, a little indoor fountain and slow nice music. The restaurant also sells these furnitures and some paintings. Anyway we were there for food so we sampled some good stuff.

Cencaru Petai

Four Angled Beans Fried with Sambal Paste


Sotong Honey Stars


Chendol with Red Beans

The overall cooking was good, I liked it, not sure about Sayang.. keekke.. The food was hot and spicy for most of the dishes we ordered. Oh ya we also ordered Kangkung Belacan , which I thought was done pretty well. The price here is so so, quite reasonable considering the fact that, it was clean, very nicely decorated, and the food was good also.

Location wise, a bit far for a Cheras fler like me la. But this place really is nice. Unique so to speak and is definitely worth a drive to sample the food here. Will come back to try more dishes here.

Batu Talam Results

Victorious: Abdul Aziz and Najib being hoisted while (from left) Umno Youth chief Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein (partly hidden), Adnan, Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin and Wanita Umno deputy chief Datuk Shahrizat Abdul Jalil celebrate in Raub on Sunday. Pic from TheStar

Results:

Abdul Aziz Kiram (BN) - 6,276 votes
Ng Chee Pang (Ind) - 419 votes

Abdul Aziz Kiram wins by a majorityof 5,857 votes.

So as expected the BN candidate won this election without much problems. However so, as we could see from the media coverage, noticeably, everyone else, DPM, Datuk Sharizat, Khairy, and Hishamudin who gets most of the limelight of Abdul Aziz's victory.

Well good luck to En Abdul Aziz , and I hope you serve your friends in Raub well. And Ng Chee Pang, maybe now you should have spent the 5,000 bucks elsewhere, like opening a few crates of Hennessy or something like that, lol.

Now I get to drive up to Kuala Lipis without too much fanfare around this Kampung area.

Ikan Kenerak; Kuih Kodok

Its been quite a challenge nowadays to find more good food in Kuala Lipis. The town is a dead town . I had the honour of having to have to wait 1hour 15 minutes for my food to come. The 3 of us ordered single serving meals, mine was Tom Yam Bee Hoon, and yet we had to wait so long for our food to come. I think this has something got to do with the Batu Talam Elections. You suddenly have an influx of visitors, and these restaurants are just not ready for the volume. Sigh !!

So during my trip down, I heard something very disturbing . One orang asli fisherman, approached my contractor and wanted to sell him Ikan Kelah for Rm25/kg. Contractor asked, boleh murah lagi ka ? He got cursed , org asli probably spit at him and went off. In my mind, alamak, wasted opportunity to try this fish. This fish can fetch about RM100 / kg in the market. The other fish is Ikan Jelawat, rated at RM 300 /kg grade. My friends said, if you manage to catch a Jelawat, you normally don't eat it, you bring it to a market and sell it. So I told my contractor, you must have peas for brains, 25 bucks you should buy all the fish he has. Open shop and sell ikan kelah la...

So I managed to eat Ikan Kenerak. Ikan Sungai Ori.

Kenerak Cooked in a Spicy Broth ( extra hot and spicy)

It was one huge fish, and it sat in the serving tray. I was unfamilliar in the broth/gravy it was cooked in.

So I asked, Ikan Sungai KA ?
Lady boss, nods. Then said, pedas ni.
I gleefully took the fish, then replied, aku tak takut pedas punya !!!

So I asked Ikan apa ? Besarnya...
Ladyboss said, besar lagi pun ada , ini kecil punya. Nak Tengok ?
Ok.

Definitely not a very handsome fish, and it was huge. I suspect they eat baby monkeys for breakfast. The meat is thick and tough. Skin too hard, so I threw most it away. But the style of cooking is so hot, you quickly forget about the mud smell you get from River fish over here.

Kuih Kodok was the other interesting food I had. But it was for breakfast. This trip, we couldn't get any of our nasi kerabus from our favorite TNB station stall. My guess is they were unable to get their ingredients due to the floods. I noticed a few vegetable farms by the side of Sungai Lipis, flooded last week. Its just normal crepe with udang kering in it. Simple but very very tasty.

Good Boy

Ikan Kenerak from the River

Kuih Kodok

Move aside Coca Cola !!

Who needs F&N Oren Crush, or Coke Cola when you can have Felda Cola. Been working around in Felda Sg Koyan the past few days and as usual we were on our business as usual demeanor. Which one ? - Jalan Jalan Cari Makan one.

Took the wrong turn and went into the estate's Post Office which had a row of shops ( wooden and single story). I was looking for a Malay stall that serves good Malay mixed rice ( authentic masakan Kampung estet ). Then I saw a shop equipped with one huge water filter and lots of bottles filled with orange color liquids !!! Did I discover a Kampung Cola bottling plant ?

So we got off the car and decided that we could do with some carbonated drinks. Apparently they entertain refills, which are cheaper as compared with buying a whole new bottle from them. They had Durian Belanda flavour, the lady was nice enough to let us try, YUCKS !!

Orange Crush - Ok la so so only. It is really not that sweet.


Homemade Cola 1 - Preparing the Syrup

Homemade Cola 2 - Making sure its not too sweet


Homemade Cola 3 - The finishing move

The plant with the water filter on the right

Making sure not too much or too little Syrup is poured in

The Black Juice is now ready to be carbonated

Carbonating the Juice under the watchful eyes of the young padwan

The Chinese Founded America !!!

What would have happened if the Chinese decided to colonize the Americas ? To me it would be simple, just many sleepless nights trying to live with or without the Native Americans. That has just been what I been doing while everyone has been sleeping at night recently.

I have downloaded FreeCol, an opensource developed Game which is a Free version of Sid Meir's Civilization Series. With that I immersed myself into a world back in time, imagining short Chinese warriors (ala Gay Chou) fighting against Tall, Skinny Long Haired Native American warriors ( starring Lou Diamond Phillips). LMAO !!

It took me a while to get used to the interface, because it is less intuitive and is less informative as compared to the Pirated Sid Meir's Civilization II ( I think the last one I played was Civi2). The current Civi4 has got video requirements too high for my PC to play. So, while I was browsing for free software I could use on my office notebook, I delightedly found this title, FreeCol.

Instead of putting in English names like, Georgetown, or Ducth names like New York, I decided to name the New World, China. And to use names like Shanghai , Xian , and so forth. Its pretty fun and very very addictive.

At the end of the day, this is free software, the developers, hmm I do not believe they wrote this during their collective freetime I believe. So I won't complain so much, but its a warning, it will take many hours of your life away from gym, and sleep.

Summary: Graphics not so nice, abit like Civi1 , Gameplay very very similar. Of course if you buy Sid Meir's latest Civi Title , you probably have to buy a new PC to come with it.

Batu Talam By Elections

I have decided to analyze, because Ng Chee Pang the latest election candidate for he is only 22, decided he wants to contest. After analysis I will come up with a quick forecast of the election results.

DAP, Keadilan and PAS has all chickened out from this election as the Opposition Coaliton accused the EC of mal running our elections. Meanwhile the PM says they are cowards for running away from this election. Instead, one Ng Chee Pang, 22, decided he wants to contest as an independent candidate. Read more, I like to contest (BERNAMA) .

In the text, he said I felt lije contesting. Loose jo also nevermind, as long as I competed. Then who is funding your electoral campaigning ? My dad. Who happens to be Pahang DAP, Treasurer. Ironic eh ?

Who is the BN candidate ? He is Special Affairs Department field assistant Abdul Aziz Mat Kiram, 47 years old. I think this fellas son could be as old as Ng. Not much coverage could be found about En Abdul Aziz except that his face was on RTM1, RTM2 , TV3 , TV8 and TV9 , Astro Ria News, when DPM Najib accompanied by 10,000 BN supporters accompanied him for the nomimations.



The above are pics from the Electoral GroundZero. Its filled with UMNO and BN Flags. Big billboards stating, Thank you for voting for BN are aplenty and is clouting the roadside. I hope after the election those jokers still have the budget to clean the rubbish up.

BERNAMA has got a website up for this Batu Talam Elections

FORECAST

So after jalan jalan around ground zero and reading some news, as a substitute Political Analyst, I think the BN fella will win, by more than 3,000 majority, as DPM Najib wants it. Other wise, sia sueh la this BN fella. If BN don't get their 3000 majority of votes, it would signal a victory for young Mr Ng Chee Pang.

Good luck to both candidates.

QUESTIONS in my mind now :-

When applying for a job, they are always a minimum requirement for Education level; ie:
Must have minimum relevant University Education; Must be under 35 years of age; Must have 3-5 years of relevant experience. Even to apply for a job as a Mat Despatch alla professional Mat Rempit also you need SPM qualifications.

So these two candidates got what kind of Education ?

Kacang Goreng Sempalit Raub

I was driving up to Kuala Lipis when I entered Raub town, then shortly after passing through the Raub town center, I drove past Sg Sempalit. Then it struck my mind, Raub was supposed to be famous for some kinda Nutz.... Sempalit Nuts or something like that.

Sure enough, 5 minutes of a slow drive away from Raub towards Benta, I saw this Kacang Goreng Factory. Its called Kebun Sea Loy, Kacang Goreng Sempalit.



Now , this is funny because the factory was closed, but right next to it, they have one stall, that sorta sells fruits. I have driven pass this factory numerous times, I just did not realize that it is a Kacang Sempalit Factory.

Okay what's so special about Kacang Sempalit ? First thing first, they do not have an agent in KL. So it is of limited availability to us people in KL at this moment.

What do you think off when I say Groundnutz ?

So when we talk about groundnutz, first brand we think of is Ngan Yin. What is wrong with Ngan Yin ? Firstly, too salty. The nutz are too small. It is so small, it slips out of your fingers, and sometime it gets lost in your mouth. You remember this logo ?



That brand/picture has always associated with nice tasty ground nuts. Can't remember any other peanutz brands leh ? After trying out the Kacang Goreng Sempalit, my impression of Ngan Yin groundnutz became like this.



Whats the big deal with Sempalit Roasted Groundnuts ?

Size. Its much bigger compared with Ngan Yin's nutz.
Taste. Much better not as salty as Ngan Yin.
FReshness. Much better, not as many nutz lao foong , like Ngan Yin.
Definitely much better quality control when it comes to cracked nutz in the packing.




There you go, some pictures to indicate the size of these nutz. And the packaging although is silvery , glittery stuff, I still think Ngan Yin looks better from outside. But then, once you have gone Sempalit, you wont go for Ngan Yin again...

One Noodles, Kepong

Shrimp Wanton Noodles
Szechuan Dry Noodles

Kepong is considered by most a food haven. Why ? This surburb has got the highest concentration of "good food" stalls. It is not like anyone has made a survey of some sort, but looking for good food in KL can be tricky. You find food stalls at every corner of every street in KL. Which one is good which one is not ?

One Noodle, as the name of the eatery suggests, it serves noodles. The pictures above shows two types of noodles. The shrimp wanton soup noodles and SzeChuan Dry Noodles. The noodles are so so only. Their SzeChuan is not sour and spicy enough for my liking. Perhaps they have to tone down on the powerness of its Szechuaness taste, to adapt to the Malaysian Chinese's tastebuds.

The favourite dish is still the Seafood NoodleSoup which comes in Dry/Soup/Curry and Tom Yam. This is a must try dish, their most expensive one in the menu. Of course if you like to try their starters (dim sum) do try some of the stuff they have.

Over the years, KTZ have grown in popularity, however so , the quality of their food has gone down. I remember those days when KTZ was a small little stall by the main road of Kepong.

Maggi Goreng Sardin @ Jinjang Selatan (closed Down Already)

THIS PLACE CLOSED DOWN LIAO... ANYONE KNOWS WHERE THE STALL HAS MOVED TO ?

Maggi Goreng

The Stall

This stall in Jinjang gets my vote for best Maggi Goreng in Malaysia. They serve really tasty maggi goreng. Their Maggi Goreng is not the normal type where the mamak goreng for you. This maggi goreng is made in a pot, similar to the maggi soup pot. They add their own sambil ikan bilis, their own Maggi Curry Bumbu, and Sardin.....

One more thing is special here, their Nasi Lemak Panas, but have not got the chance to try that yet. Very simple, just sit around the stall and watch what those people eat over there. Order the same thing most people are ordering, you can't go wrong...

Johor and Pahang areas visited, luckilly not flooded

I set off to Batu Pahat on Tuesday morning to do our first installation of the EMS, Environmental Monitoring System. Name only canggih, but thats how the client likes to refer to it. Before going down , everyone was worried about the flooding situation and so forth. As such my installation for the Pahang site will be slightly delayed. But nevertheless, we were to finish installtion at the Johor site and I had to be back in Pahang ( appointment already made) on Friday morning.

On Tuesday, it rained the whole time we drove down, but the client was having meetings so he delayed us one day. So the next day, lucky for us, we were "blessed" with good weather, in other words, hot and sunny. Little did I noticed it until we got back to our hotel room, that I realized I got sun burnt, on my neck and face. Darn !! Kononnya good weather la.

FOOD

The first night we were on our own, and with a little research and talking to the locals, Briyani Gam, is famous here in this region. Had to try it, and found out there is this restaurant called, Beriani Power Restoran. Got directions to go find this place, but it took us 45 mins to finally find it. It was fragging closed at night. Mahai !! nobody told us they were not open at night. So we ended up having food at a mamak stall in town. Restoran Meriyiam, Nasi Kandar. But there weren't selling Nasi Kandar, Sup and Nasi Lemak saja ada !! Ok lor, ordered Nasi Lemak Ayam Goreng and Zup Campur ( Ayam, Kambing , Daging Campur wo). Nasi Lemak wasn't good, because their sambal was burnt, like my face. But their Ayam Goreng, fuiyooo, punya la bes rasanya. Its along the main road in Pusat Bandar Batu Pahat, opposite of Maybank. Ayam Goreng panas... bes !!

When you drive to Batu Pahat, you have to try their APAMS and Putu Bamboo. Where ? After exiting the Air Hitam Toll Plaza, you will see very prominent signs put up by stalls there, at this moment there is only one and that stalls sells superb apams and putu bamboo. They are nice and cheap. On Thursday, it rained in the morning, until the evening , non stop. We rushed to finish installation and testing of our equipment before we headed back home. All wet and soggy, we began our journey home after a quick change of clothes. As we reached Air Hitam town we stopped by a place for lunch. Thats where we saw a goreng pisang stall there. Pisang Tanduk prominently displayed on the booth. I call them Pisang XXX , why ah, you go figure out yourself la. The Pisang goreng was superb. This one from Air Hitam town. Go for the pisang tanduks, the huge ones, because they are very sweet and aromatic.



After lunch we left in a hurry. It has been raining the whole entire day , as far as we were concerned. The little lake where we installed the equipment recorded a 0.6M rise in level. I had to be in Kuala Lipis the same night.




The black marking is the road up to Kuala Lipis. Its via Bentong, Raub, Benta and then you will finally reach Kuala Lipis. Siti Town they call it. Spent the night day before I began on another crazy day, of driving up to Kuala Medang ( Felda ), visit 2 sites. From there we had to drive back down to Kuala Lipis en route to Jerantut. Red markings , the Ikan Patin Trail I call it. Why Ikan Patin ? Simple, you drop by any Malay stall, you are surely to find Ikan Patin sold. My favourite style too, Patin masak Tempoyak ... yummy.. The kicks come after eating the dish... when you begin passing gas !! hehehe

On the way down to Jerantut we were met with a long queue. Wondering what the commotion was , I took a slow stroll to see what was happening. It is not common for this alternative trunk road to be congested like this. Then we saw this. It had some sort of a fiesta feel to this.


Some smart ass decided to set up stall to sell his Petais. So this is the first time I had so much company driving on this road to Jerantut. Lucky for us, all this lasted no more than 15 minutes before we began to inch our way through. The Crane decided to stop rescuing for awhile so that the kilometer long queue could move.



We then drove up to the Sg Tembeling area, pretty much very close to Kuala Tahan. Here if you are lucky, you could catch yourself Ikan Kelah. Apparently this fish has been fished out to almost extinct. It is an endangered species now, however so, the Wildlife department has set up many Kelah Sanctuaries in Taman Negara's rivers. This because Ikan Kelah can not survive in dirty or turbid waters in the wild. Therefore, the only place it could survive is in National Parks like Taman Negara, where the river is clean.

So I came back via Jerantut - Temerloh highway to the New EastCoast Expresway. Nice drive back home and it took me only about 2.5 hours to reach home from Jerantut.

Basically I have never seen so much rain before, I mean in KL everything seems to just pour out and stops. In Johor it just never seems to stop. Luckilly there were no floods at the places where I visited. Even for the Pahang rivers, they did not seem to be as high as when they were in December.

Vietnam Kitchen - Neither here nor there

Have you been eating a lot of good food lately or your tastebuds are becoming increasingly picky ? Thats the first question I asked myself when I looked at the bowl of noodles the waiter. It wasn't even aromatic, instead it smelt like blend soup with hor fun in it.

I have had two other unsatisfied visits to this restaurant, Vietnam Kitchen ( Leisure Mall branch). Name only Vietnam, but instead it actually serves up a Vietnamese - Chinese fusion cuisine. Whatever the want to claim to be, they do not serve good food, neither do they serve authentic food.

I ordered a special Beef Noodle Soup. I could easilly quote two other places , Jln Alor and Jalan Silang Beef noodle stalls that serves much better beef noodles than this restaurant. And those are only Standard beef noodles.

The other dish is Special Seafood Fried Noodles,at first sight came to me instantly as Kong Lam Mee with Seafood in it. Alamak, how lame can a Vietnamese restaurant trying to be ? Viet trying to be Chinese or Chinese trying to be Viet ?

My recommendations for Vietnamese Fusion Cuisine - Go to MidValley , CoDo... you will enjoy the food, its really a twist of Chinese and Vietnamese Cuisine combined, with a very nice environment to savour your food in.

Six Treasure Drink

Special Beef Noodles

Stir Fried Seafood Noodles