Wonder.Food.Travel

Five years ago, i left a place i spent five years in. That place is near Ipoh, a usual weekend getaway for food and entertainment. In other words, to de-stress and keep balance being a student. The fond memories of Ipoh will remain with me and forever hold a special spot. Over the years, Ipoh has grown to be a booming tourist attraction. No surprise as i always see its potential, but there are definitely still room for improvements. Recently, my family and i visited Ipoh, partly to reminisce, and partly to explore and discover, creating new memories. Colourful mural art scattered around Ipoh. It was challenging to find them previously ( read Wall Paintings in Ipoh ) but today, there were abundant.  We came from the north ( read about Kuala Sepetang ) and our first stop was the Taman Rekreasi Gunung Lang . Passing by this place numerous times in the past, i was often intrigued. It was a crowded late morning, school holiday, Saturday when we arrived. Upon stepping onto the v...

Kuala Sepetang in Perak is a testament to a place that has nothing much to do yet so much to learn and experience. Irony, yes, but that's the truth, or at least that's what i felt after spending a lovely evening in the charming coastal town. Since i developed an interest to visit less known places, this town shone brightly under my radar. My family came along on this retreat- that's how i call it. Kuala Sepetang is also known as Port Weld, named after a former Governor, Frederick Weld. Familiar? Perhaps from our Sejarah (History) textbook. This multilingual signboard , something you don't see often today, is a landmark of the town which once had a railway in 1885 linking this port to the Larut tin-mining quarry. It is claimed to be the first railway station in the country.

When i got back, my family was talking about going to Sungkai. So on Saturday, we ventured up north to hunt for the chicken treasure. Being myself, i got up early and researched on the destination, using 'chicken' as my search. I stumbled upon the shop (or house) and took note of its name and direction (of which later i used Waze). I expanded my search onto activities and i was always directed to the famous hot spring- i can confirm now that, that is the only other thing there. Having skipped breakfast in KL, we had a toilet break and brunch at one of the R&Rs. When i saw the other tables folding and unfolding their banana leaf, i rushed to the shop and grabbed one from the shelf. The chili sambal was triumphant; nasi lemak in banana leaf is a timeless classic. The quaint little town of Sungkai greeted us with a warm welcome of its old buildings. From the map, i gauged the size of the town and quickly spiraled into our destination. With road signs leading us too, w...

I enjoyed it so much that i'm putting whitewater rafting as an activity to-do. My friends and i bought the Groupon offer (RM 88 per person) on whitewater rafting in Sungai Kampar (Kampar River) by My Gopeng Resort. We booked the morning slot so we had to be there by 9am. Excited, we drove to Gopeng town then turned following the directions to the Resort. My adventure for the day began at the journey towards the Resort. From the main road, we moved to kampung area with narrow, tarred and gravel road. There was a stretch of road with at least 20 road bumps, forcing us to slow down and enjoy the rather scenic view of the countryside. To be honest, the surrounding was special and if i am a foreign tourist, i would like the feel of the Malaysian countryside there. We followed the road signs that led us through a hilly terrain. The road was so narrow that i thought only one car can use it at one time. Over the edges, the cliffs weren't that high but still, it was my first time dr...

This post is different than usual. Why? Look on. Not wanting to travel far, i suggested to visit the 'kapal korek', Malay for dredge. It has been there for years, at least for the last five years, and to visit this Malaysian treasure was one of the many items in my 'to-do' list this year. I Google-d for information about this place and got the directions. Surprisingly, it is about 20 minutes drive from my university- i never thought it'd be this near. I followed the route through Kampung Bali and turned left at the end of the road towards Batu Gajah; my heart beat with excitement. It is a pride of Perak and a pride of our nation, a living history, our legacy. I saw it while i was driving, amazed at its great size even as i parked my car and entered the compound. The place was quiet; no crowd; everything was still and silent that i could hear my footsteps and the wind. Thoughts, imagination began to play in my mind. We were greeted by a lady who was manning t...

We found this restaurant not on purpose. But it was so good, we didn't mind and wouldn't mind to go there on purpose the next time. Initially, we wanted to have lunch at a restaurant we had previously in Kampar but we missed the turning, on a busy Friday afternoon. Then, we decided to return to a shop in Tapah, a shop we didn't go for almost two years, but it was closed. So, my dad told that on the way to Cameron Highlands from Tapah, there is a famous restaurant but he wasn't sure where or its name. We explored, hungry. Not too far from the turning to Cameron Highlands, we passed by a row of shops and i noticed one restaurant stood out. Uncertain if it was the restaurant my dad was referring to, we decided to give it a try- the crowd pulled us in, somehow, we knew the large number of customers in a restaurant may indicate that food's good. We asked the waitress to recommend some of the popular dishes and she named some. We ordered three dishes and she told us tha...