Heading Home via Tasik Raban

It was only a short break. We had to leave this morning for home with school and work coming tomorrow. We did not want to leave too late. I didn’t want the boys to end up too cranky the next morning. I stayed back with the boys while Anita and her mum went to the market. They certainly bought plenty of stuff to bring back to KL, fresh fish and all. We also had some relatives coming over to visit. They were the ones looking after the house while we were away. My Mum wanted to leave some money for them and asked them to do some other odd jobs. We had some problem with the main stairs being too steep. Maybe, it needed to be redone.

Reached the destinationAs the sign said, it was about 30km off Kuala KangsarAnyhow, we left the house by 11, and headed to Lenggong for lunch. There is a restaurant there whose specialty were fresh water fish. I have to confess that I am no fresh water fish fan. I don’t mind them being raw, but they have to come from the sea - that’s my rule! Apparently the place was quite famous, located along the Gerik-Kuala Kangsar road, an alternative route to get to KL from Kota Bharu should you chose to take the East-West Highway rather than via Karak. A favourite joint among convoys.

Tucking inSome ulamTempoyak - not for the faint-heartedThe place was located at Tasik Raban, just after the junction to MRSM Lenggong if you are coming from Kuala Kangsar towards Gerik. It should be on the right side of the road if you were coming in that way, around half an hour from Kuala Kangsar. We quickly settled in and ordered. Since I didn’t know much, my wife did the ordering. The best food there I must say was the pekasam - a kind of heavily salted and marinated fish. It was gorgeous. They also did drinks by the jug, which was different. Certainly with the hot weather, that hit the spot. Most of the fish there were grilled, but since I was not much of a fan, I did not really appreciate the true taste, hence I better not make a fool of myself by trying to describe them. They have the usual selection of fresh water fish - patin, keli etc. 

The convoy have arrivedBefore we left, there were a convoy of 15 bikes pulling over. Certainly looked fun in their overall and all. I took out my camera and took some snaps of the restaurant. Just in case if anyone was interested, the details of the place can be seen on the banner above.

We travelled on and reached KL by 5 pm, unpacked and unwind. The boys were already asleep by 8pm. I was feeling tired to but had to do some reading and writing. It was raining outside. I didn’t reckon I can stay up too long ……

Slideshow of this trip can be found here.

Relaxing Day

At the Duta tollWe reached Kuala Kangsar just after 9pm, taking us just over 3 hours. The lack of traffic helped. I did not have to do any of the driving, our driver did the honours. I was too tired to drive anyway, coming home straight after work, a day of clinic in the morning, followed by the Nurses Day party in the afternoon. I managed to leave earlier than usual to beat the traffic. A quick shower and packing, then off we went. The boys had a good nap all the way, and they were up and about well into midnight, before finally taken to bed.

Sunset near Sabak Bernam along the PLUS highwayWhen we woke up this morning, they were still asleep, so we sneaked out to the morning market quickly to buy breakfast. Nasi lemak, roti canai and other goodies, then munch them away until late morning. The main surprise was how cheap the food were. The same amount of food could easily cost twice as much in Taman Melawati market, but not nearly half as nice!

Beli! Beli!After breakfast, we left for Taiping as Anita wanted to get some cheap clothes for the boys. Idlan wanted to stay at home, so we only brought Irfan. Taiping was only 30 minutes away by the highway, and using GPS, we did not get lost finding the Taiping Sentral Shopping Centre, one of the new establishment opened there. It was next to a Tesco and was quite crowded that day.

Taiping Sentral Shopping Mall - next to a TescoAnita spent quite a lot on the clothes, but they were all on sale. Again, it could easily cost more in KL. We then had lunch at the A&W there before heading home. With nothing much to do, I decided to take a nap, then headed out again to get the famous cendol and laksa for tea.

Irfan coming out to playQuick strollLet's go this wayMy mum-in-law went to Ipoh to visit her relatives, so we stayed back at the kampung house. After tea, we then took a walk around the kampung and let Irfan loose with the camera. A few of the neighbours children came around, while Anita handed some chocolates and cookies to them. They promptly showed Idlan and Irfan around the kampung.

Back to baseTrooping inBy the time I wrote this entry, the boys were still up watching their DVD. We were planning for an early morning, heading again to the market for breakfast, followed by lunch at an ikan bakar place that my Dad has been talking about all day. Will see if the place was as good as he described it.

Slideshow of the trip can be found here.

Kampung Ahoy!

At our kampung house at the moment. Everything looked nice and welcoming although the area just outside the compound needed some weed trimming. It has been warm here lately with not much rain, so some of the vegetables we planted died. Never had green fingers anyway!

It has been close to a couple of month since we last been here. It looked like we were due to come here again!

Laksa time!

The next port of call was Kuala Kangsar. I have o admit that there were hardly anything in Ipoh that I can't find in KL. Might as well drive along to somewhere with more exotic things to find. Decided to have some laksa there instead, with some ABC for good measure.

Called Puan Anita and she suggested that I give our kampung house a visit. That's where I will be heading next.

The waterfront

Back to Kuala Lumpur now

Hey! What's so funny?We finally made our way back to Kuala Lumpur at around 11.30. Initially we wanted to wait for the laksa shops to open, but the boys were getting restless. They have to go to school tomorrow anyhow. Would be better of making an early start. We stopped for food in Tapah, had lunch there, and I as usually got a supply of pau and jambu batu. We reached Kuala Lumpur by 3.30, picked up the maids and returned to our house at Taman Cemerlang.

Idlan running down the hallwaySince it was kind of early, Anita wanted to go out to KLCC to get her eyeglasses fixed. The day before, Irfan accidentally stepped on them and it was kinda crooked. A quick visit to the shops and things were fixed. We then went on to have dinner at Chinoz. However I was disappointed with the dinner tonight. I ordered the wrong stuff.

My ultra-dry chicken pie!The salad was good as usual. For the mains, I asked for chicken pie. Little that I realised, there were no gravy or cream as when I imagined from my usual order.The boys enjoyed their pizza which was the main thing. I was starving when I went home, and ended up having some noodles! Note to self - ask the waitress to describe a new dish should you about to try one .... Tired now. Time for bed!

I also just uploaded the slide for the Kuala Kangsar trip here.