Padang Kota

Puan Anita enjoying her lee chee kangI remembered when I was young, I looked forward to have laksa at Padang Kota Lama every time I visit Penang. Laksa, followed by ais kacang. The ais kacang must have a scoop of ice-cream on top! Sometimes we also had some kerang (cockle) or cuttlefish with spinach. A real local delicacy. A must have. Over the years, the beachfront stalls were moved into a more organised food bazaar and to a certain extend, the charm was lost.

Kerang .....For instance, take laksa. The moment you reach the stalls, there will be throng of vendors coming towards you asking what you want. A quick look, you will see at east 4 laksa stalls. You will never know where your order will come from, or more importantly, will in come from the best stall on offer. It can be really intimidating if you were unfamiliar with the place. The second issue was the number of child beggars around. I was sure they were organised in syndicate. The problem was, they kept on coming and pretended that they did not know each other. After giving money to a couple of children, we soon got fed up and ignored the rest. The sad thing was, none of the vendors minded them, much to the annoyance of the visitors.

What to choose?And more ....The squid and cuttlefish I had was really nice, but shame about the laksa. The ais kacang was OK.I guess if I were to go there again, I should bring one of my uncles to take me around. He should know where to order from. Dropping by just like that may not be a good idea after all. If you really wanted to sample good food, get a local fella to come along!

Suffice to say that Idlan did not enjoy the visit since as soon as he arrived, he was swamped by the vendors, and the beggars. We had to finish up fast before the boys kick up an even bigger fuss. After a quick walk along the esplanade, we headed home. The main Padang Kota was transformed into a giant football hall. There was a massive screen beaming the World Cup game live later in the evening, filled with locals. There were also a small fanfare there. Unfortunately, lingering around was a bit too much for the boys.

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.

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