Old Colonial Fun.....Taiping

Serenity and peace are what most of us sought for as we continue our arduous life walk each day and yet, sometimes, these two values are so real and near to us if we take the time to plan for a short trip,actually. I will always be grateful  to my sister, Lee Lee for taking the time to take us to a trip to Taiping during the last holidays. It was at this time that I realized how good it is to have family and places to go to relax the body, mind and soul. Technically, only GOD gives us that comfort but He certainly will put the right people in our path to strengthen us and to show us the beauty of his Creation.

I must admit too that my sister, Lee Lee was as drained out as I am but she is such a strong character and a good hearted woman. I love her for her talent in cooking ( she inherited much of it from mom! ) while making us all feel at home when we are down in Penang for a break. This time, she planned a trip for us to go to Taiping and Larut/Matang. It was truly a great outing and one that we enjoyed very much.

That early morning, Soon Ling, SYuen, Felicia, Molly, Lee Lee and myself took our travel down to Taiping. It was a bright and sunny morning. The fellowship was awesome and there was much laughter around. Our first destination – Taiping Museum. As I have been to Taiping Museum before, it wasn’t a real surprise for me but it was always a welcome site for me. Afterall, I am a sucker for museums, actually. We posed for pictures and had a lot of fun in the museum. We also got to see the renovated top floor for the Orang Asli artifacts which was interesting indeed.

 

With slight stomach rumblings and an ever ready storage, Taiping Food Court was our second destination. Upon arrival at the food court, I immediately sought out the big leaf char kueh teow ( fried flat noodles ) but the uncle was nowhere to be found. Instead I was told of a certain stall number that sold the best Taiping char kueh teow and I readily tried. I must admit that it was different than what I used to taste but it is alright, really. Then it was coffee and ban cheng kor or apam balik Taiping style. Now, this one was differently good as the combo of peanuts, sugar and jagung (maize) made it all a succulent treat. Drown down with a cup of kopi peng ( iced coffee ), it was pure heaven! Luckily, the pig stomach soup stall was closed or else we would have gobbled that up too. Yeah, yeah, must have sounded barbaric to foreigners who are not accustomed to our way of eating but they are far better than fried chicken and hamburgers,ok?

Armed and filled with food and drinks, we were off to Taiping Lake Gardens…. What serenity and peace. The scenery by the lake was awesome and inspiring. I guess, I could sit here all day and do absolutely nothing but paint a picture of it. It was so…….calm, peaceful and quiet. The occasional water break on the surface of the calm waters by the fishes are the only disturbances you can find. Other than that, it was so peaceful. We took lots of photographs there and it was just so heartwarming to see everyone having a good time- laughing and resting, I guess. Reminding me of Saturday afternoon Hindustani movie love scenes! After all the fantasy and posing were done, we snapped back to reality and we were off to our next destination. 

We are off to charcoal factory in Kuala Sepetang. Now, this was an interesting place as far as I was concerned as mangrove trees are cut and used as charcoal. It was interesting to see the huge kilns used in charcoal making process. I was told that it took several hours and days for the production of good charcoal. Yeah, I managed to see how a worker sealed the entrance of the kiln after filling it up with sawn mangrove wood. Never knew there was such a market for charcoal! 

We, Malaysians, are one helluva unique people lar! If we can sell charcoal to foreign tourists, we are really champion one lar! We then moved on to Kuala Sepetang village to get some dried ikan bilis ( anchovies ) and some fish stuff while I wandered off and got us some prawn crackers and some drinks to counter our rather heaty day! That day, we declined the offer to take a boat ride to feed the eagles as we were really on a short trip and it was blistering hot that day. Maybe, we shall feed the eagle some other days. From here , we travelled back to Taiping to get the green mee koo buns from Plaza Perbandaran Taiping!

Haiyooh, it was just some colored plain buns which seemed to be the talk of the town. In fact, many would recommend that this mee koo bun be eaten with crab curry and all types of gravy like dishes and it taste heavenly wor…… So, we jammed pack our car with mee koo buns and it was hilarious as we try fitting the buns in the car. I wouldn’t know if the buns stayed as buns or became head rest and pillows for the passengers…..hahahahahhahahahahahaaaaaa……..Honestly, the mee koo buns tasted really good when I tasted one the following morning for my breakfast. 

Now, we are off to our next destination – Trong Leisure Farm & Resort. I guess, we were told that it would be fun being here but silently, I was thinking to myself, “ how much can you do at a duck farm, right ? “ Well, for starters, it was obvious that the lake with pedal wheel boats were an immediate attraction. Secondly, I love to eat ducks! And, this is the place for good duck dishes. Indeed, before we go onto our duck farm exploration, we had an early dinner  of pipa duck and one more special duck dish together with some vegetables and tofu. Wow! It was a nice meal and I really enjoyed that very much.

After the meal, we travelled by a bulldozer and attached cabin seat transporter and taken into the duck farm area. Well, the ladies chased the ducks, played with the ducks and fed the ducks. It was a wonderful experience plus you need to stand the smell of what’s coming out from the duck’s end. The white colored ducks were everywhere while the brown colored ducks were located at the right side of the farm. There are two huge fish ponds available in the farm and so far they are not opened to the public. I was told that the ducks were mainly readied/prepared for the export and local market while foie gras were also prepared here for export too. Interesting indeed. I imagined myself having a plate of duck liver parfait or duck liver pate or even foie gras with garlic laced bruschetta and some greens! Mamma mia! That would have been heavenly, huh?

Well, we cut short our duck feeding and headed to the lake to do our boat ride. Yeah, somehow, the yellow duck boat seemed so alluringly penchant to be rode on. It was fun riding it but with an old man like me, it was like huffing and puffing  plus pure MZ11 ( the legs lar ) power. The best part - no one in the boat fell off the boat nor did the boat turned turtle! That’s the good part. Everyone seemed happy enough and had a full day indeed.

On the way back, it was the quietest ride ever with occasional musical nasal notes being hit at the lower and higher end of the pitch. All in all, it was a great day of travel and I know that it was really fun. I really cherished the times spent not forgetting our “shopping spree” too. It was so much fun and a good time of fellowship with Felicia and Molly ( Felicia’s mom – truly an awesome and fun lady!)

That evening as Joa Wee unraveled the packed pipa duck, he asked “ So, was it a good day?”. I just smiled and replied, “ It was an awesome day, son. Awesome day!” There was no other words best described the day, actually.