Muted Mental Musings: Skipping Worlds

You know when Singaporeans cross over to Malaysia for holidays, it's always about shopping, cheap food, dare-devil toilets and many smirks and snipes at how 'country' the Malaysians are, how chill and slack. Only on this family trip of mine, that i realised that Malaysians have an exceedingly wholesome and simple out look on life. Competition holds no kick for them; good food, a dip in the river and durians do way better. That's something us stressed up, competitive and complaining people should learn from them-- how to appreciate the little things in life, and discount (not shop prices) the little 'negatives' that life throws at us.

Long photo post of the trip coming up.

So in short, my 4D3N trip spans a few places, KL, Ipoh, Cameron Highlands and Bentong, across 3 states, Selangor, Perak and Pahang. Some family went and friends, totalling 8 Singaporeans, and our guides were my aunt's friend called Ah Lan, her cousin Ah Boon and the driver, who we called Sek Kor (Brother Sek). Took Grassland Coach (note: seats that go all the way, private tv and selectable movie choices!) to KL, pick up by the guides in a minibus (note: scratched windscreen and aircon that only works when bus is moving). Of course we were one seat short, but what the heck, Ah Lan brought a little plastic chair, and she is happy (Malaysian trait).

Day 1: Went to a roadside restaurant for nice food, then on to a natural spring, then to Ipoh for a night.

"roadside restaurant, me and aunt"

"Aunt's friends, her parents. Ah Seng and Ah Lan on the right"

"some hot spring off the beaten track, done up nicely"

"Splashes in the Spring"

"doesn't look appetizing, cos it's all eaten up..."

OK a word about seafood in those out of the place restaurants... they can be DAMN good and cheap! What you are looking at are 2 plates of Big-Head Prawns (one fried, one steamed), sweet and sour crab, veges, tofu and steamed White-Whiskered Fish (bai xu gong). All of which cannot be found in Singapore.

"Me and Gran"

"Rest in Peace (no prawns don't hump like that)"

The 61-year old Ah Seng really can eat alot. Supper was 3hrs after a huge dinner. He insisted that we head out of the hotel (a lousy Geylangish affair) and go to the night market. Ate pomelo, had white coffee and Ipoh's famous taugeh chicken with horfun. Ok the horfun was so super smooth that my bro had trouble using chopsticks on them. One up for the gourmet, one down for weight loss.

"Ipoh's White Coffee (WOHOO!) and taugeh chicken and horfun"

Day 2: Went from Ipoh to Cameron Highlands. Visited farms, ate durians and stayed in a nice place...

"breakfast venue"

"dim sum ala HK"

"Waterfall somewhere along the Cameron road"

"Tea plantation. Me and Dad'

Ok the house we stayed in on Cameron was a scream. Ir was some colonial affair, complete with gardeners, housekeepers and quite a nice garden. The interior was standard colonial, meaning fairly opulent.

Day 3: Cave Crawling, Waterfall, Food and more food and Bentong town.

"Perak Cave"

"This is a collection of underground caverns... damn big"

"Eerie face on the rock wall"

"braided girl..."

"apparently this is the original Chicken-in-a-Bread, it's damn good and big"

"appetizer... this can be one dish la"

"CAT MOUNTAIN KING!"

The durian is as good as it looks and as expensive as they come... Damnable... RM 120 for 2? In Singapore Cat Mountain King Durians sell for as much as 20 bucks per kg... Ok the taste is superb, freshness unparalleled (the fruit dropped from the tree one day back), super sweet and bitter and the smell is WOH. Highlight of the trip. It beat the D24s i had prior to the CMK hands down. Oh well by the way we stayed in Bentung, at Ah Seng's house. Great condo.

"my half-chewed little piece of heaven"

"N2O shot for the beat up minibus"

Last Day: Woke up for breakfast, visited the Bentong market on a Sunday, visited a French themed Resort in the hills, back to KL, shopped at Times Square... and to home...