Food Trails Series

FOOD TRAIL SERIES – SEKINCHAN

There are lots of interesting sights and things to do along the coastal road to Sabak Bernam.

As you travel along the idyllic road with oil palm trees you will see stalls selling cotton pillow and hot Kueh Bahulu. But we WON’T stop to let you buy.

And when we pass the fishing village in Kuala Selangor where they sell yummy keropok, dried fish, prawns and fishballs, we WON’T be stopping either.This is because we have something much more interesting waiting for you in the padi fields of Sekinchan, 30km away from Kuala Selangor.

If lucky, MAYBE this is your last chance to go eel fishing for this harvesting season in Sekinchan (however, it will depend very much on the weather too). You will have the fun of making your own rods (or use your finger if you dare) to fish for the eels.

This town boast of six main attraction. Besides the eel, it is well known for padi planting, ‘jambu air’, the migratory birds, fishball and seafood.

Join us on a food trail to Sekinchan and soak in the idyllic scenery, savour the good food which highlights Teochew-style seafood lunch with fishball as well as learning the truth about swallows.

Price - RM 180

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03 - 7877 5048

2 DAYS TRIP – BATU KURAU - TAIPING

14th November 2009, 7.00 a.m,

It is weekend! After running an event the whole Friday night, it is time to take a deep breath and break!
We’re going to Batu Kurau, Perak! And yes, it is durian season. Batu Kurau is well-known with its top-notch durian. Thumbs up! Let’s go and eat! But, not only that, we’re going to discover and experience the heritage and nature in Batu Kurau. Despite the best durian, Batu Kurau has a lot of stories to tell. Trust me. If you still remember or ever heard from your folks or read from books, a fairy tale of Sang Kelembai who has magic charm that can turn lives and things into stone? Yes, the tale was from Gua Sempeneh in Batu Kurau! A lot and lots more to tell you guys! Read it up!

We left house at 7a.m and taking Putra LRT from Taman Paramount to Masjid Jamek and to Plaza Rakyat (Puduraya Station) by STAR LRT. What a breezy morning.


Whoa, it’s been a long time. Puduraya had a lot of changes. I was reminiscing my time and while waiting for a friend, I snap this picture.
Here’s our ride! We left Puduraya at 8.30 a.m

...To be continued

Gua Tempurung Adventure

Berusia lebih 400 juta tahun, Gua Perah atau lebih dikenali sebagai Gua Tempurung merupakan satu destinasi perlancongan yang terletak di Gopeng, Perak. Ia merupakan antara gua batu kapur yang terindah dan terbesar di Malaysia. Perjalanan melalui lebuh raya Utara Selatan hanya mengambil masa kira-kira 2 jam dari Kuala Lumpur.

Ekspedisi menerokai keindahan Gua Tempurung secara keseluruhannya mengambil masa kira 3 jam setengah iaitu 4 km. Umumnya ia terbahagi kepada 4 jenis ekspedisi iaitu Golden Flowstone (Dry), Top of the world (Dry) ,Top of the world and Short River Adventure (Wet) dan Grand Tour (Wet). Masa lawatan adalah seawal jam 9 pagi hingga 4.00 petang bergantung pada jenis ekspedisi yang dipilih.

Ekspedisi kami bermula dengan menaiki 1500 anak tangga yang mempunyai 10 platform agak mencabar. Keramahan dan kemesraan yang ditunjukkan oleh Tok Janggut (nama sebenar Mohd Syahryzan) iaitu juru pandu (guide) yang menemani kami, kepenatan mendaiki anak tangga ini ditidak dirasai. Di setiap platform beliau memberikan penerangan serta menunjukkan keunikkan bentuk-bentuk atau monumen yang terbentuk secara semulajadi. Antara monumen yang dapat dilihat ialah kepala kambing gurun, kepala gajah, kaki wanita, bentuk badan wanita, wajah seorang perempuan tua, batu yang berbentuk dewa kepada umur panjang @ smiling budha. arca yang terbentuk dari tahi kelawar dan sebagainya. Ketika menaiki platform ini, anda juga dapat melihat terdapat peralatan melombong seperti cangkul, menurut Tok Janggut, ia merupakan peninggalan daripada pelombong bijih timah dan ia sememangnya ditemui ketika gua ini diterokai.

Bahang mulai terasa sehinggalah kami tiba di Wind Tunnel, nyaman udara di sini seakan-akan terasa di puncak gunung. Mitos mengatakan bahawa udara sejuk di sini adalah hembusan dari seekor naga. Secara saintifiknya ia merupakan proses stimmer iaitu proses pertembungan udara panas di luar gua dan udara sejuk di dalam gua yang menghasilkan wap air.

Bersempena dengan penemuan batu kapur yang berusia lebih 200 ribu tahun dan masih aktif, Top of The World, merupakan platform ke 5 bagi mereka yang mengambil pakej lawatan ke 2. Di sini dapat dilihat batu yang berbentuk Dewa Kuang Yin, hati manusia, tangan dan kelawar gergasi. Di platform ke 7, terdapat tulisan bahasa mandarin di gua ini yang menerangkan bahawa keadaan paras air pada 16 Jun 1959, telah meningkat sehingga mencecah kawasan ini. Petikan ini ditulis oleh “Yang Ming Sun”. Platform ke 10 merupakan platform terakhir kami melalui kawasan “dry area” perjalanan yang diterangi dengan lampu dan anak tangga yang terakhir dijejaki.

Alam Gua memerlukan kekuatan fizikal dan juga mental kerana keadaan gua yang gelap serta stalaktait dan stalakmait yang terbentuk dipermukaan gua. Hanya ditemani dengan lampu suluh, menyebabkan ada kala kami terpaksa meraba di dalam gelap kerana tidak tahu apa yang berada di hadapan kami.

Cabaran pertama bagi mereka yang membuat lawatan Grand Tour adalah menyusuri terowong kecil, kami terpaksa mengambil giliran untuk melalui gua. Setelah menyusuri terowong ini, kami terpaksa melakukan “easy sliding” iaitu kira-kira 20 kaki tinggi. Oleh kerana ini merupakan pengalaman pertama melakukan sliding tanpa alat bantuan, Tok Janggut menerangkan dengan terperinci teknik-teknik dan cara-cara sliding yang betul. Hati terasa berdebar-debar walaupun ia bukan lah setinggi mana tapi perasaan takut masih ada. Dengan keyakinan dan kecekalan mental, sliding yang agak mendebarkan ini mampu di atasi. Di sinilah kekuatan mental dan kerjasama antara satu sama lain amat diharapkan.

Meredah anak sungai, pada mula nya amat menyeronokkan, tapi awas sekiranya anda leka pada pastinya anda akan terhantuk kepada stalaktait. Sungguh tidak percaya kami terpaksa melakukan aksi ala komander “merangkak di dalam air”. Kami terpaksa berhati-hati kerana ruangan ini amat sempit sekali.

Keindahan semula jadi batu kapur ini dapat dilihat dengan lebih dekat dan jelas lagi. Sesungguhnya sungguh tidak menyangka bahawa khazanah alam semulajadi ini sungguh mengasyikan mata yang memandang. Tiba-tiba kami ternampak cahaya seolah-olah kami ekspedisi ini telah tamat. Perasaan lega mula terasa, tetapi anggapan itu salah, ekpedisi kami hanya baru 1 jam setengah berlalu. Masih ada lagi kira-kira 2 kilometer perjalanan pulang yang perlu diteruskan. Setelah berehat melepaskan lelah, kami kembali meneruskan ekpedisi ini.

Melalui jalan yang agak mudah, kami merasakan bahawa seolah-olah tidak lagi cabaran lasak yang perlu dilakukan. Rupa-rupanya kami terpaksa merangkak kembali di dalam air untuk sampai ke platform ke 6. Hati bertambah lega apabila hanya cabaran 1500 anak tangga yang menanti kami. Seolah-olah merasakan hanya cabaran fizikal diperlukan dan ianya tidak lah sesukar mana. Huh! Anggapan kami rupa salah cabaran yang menanti bukanlah menaiki 1500 anak tangga tetapi melakukan sliding setinggi 25 kaki. Jika sebelumnya “easy sliding” 20 kaki dirasakan agak gementar, sliding 25 kaki ini lebih mengerunkan kerana kecuraman yang agak menegak. Jika sebelumnya teknik penahan kaki dilakukan, tetapi kali ini teknik mengunakan tangan sebagai pengawal kelajuan. Malah posisi badan juga perlu dititikberatkan dilakukan kerana sekiranya berlaku kesilapan sudah pasti kami akan terjatuh ke bawah gaung atau melibatkan kecederaan. Menggunakan tangan sebagai penahan agak sukar dilakukan kerana keadaan lantai gua yang agak basah dan gelap. Melihat dengan keadaan kami yang agak gementar, Tok Janggut seakan-akan memberikan semangat bahawa kami boleh melakukan cabaran ini. Dengan semangat dan keyakinan inilah kami berjaya mengatasinya.

Lubang tikus merupakan cabaran berikutnya, menurut Tok Janggut, lubang ini merupakan lubang semulajadi yang ditemui. Mereka percaya bahawa dahulunya kawasan ini merupakan air terjun kecil yang terdapat di dalam Gua ini. Oleh kerana gua ini telah berusia lebih 400 juta tahun, berkemungkinan air terjun ini telah kering dan menjadi anak sungai. “River Adventure” merupakan cabaran terakhir kami, ketinggian paras air sungai yang ketika itu agak sukar dilalui apatah lagi keadaan merangkak.

Secara keseluruhannya ekspedisi Gua Tempurung merupakan satu ekspedisi yang amat mencabar bagi mereka baru ingin menceburi aktiviti lasak. Kekuatan mental, fizikal adalah aspek penting untuk melakukan aktiviti ini. Semangat kerjasama antara kumpulan perlu dipupuk dan mampu dibina antara satu sama lain. Dalam erti kata lain, tiada perkara yang tidak mampu dilakukan atau pun mustahil bagi diri seseorang. Yang penting keazaman dan kecekalan perlu ada dalam menghadapi rintangan. Walaupun penat dan letih namum kami masih lagi menyimpan rasa kagum pada keunikkan gua batu kapur ini.

FOOD TRAIL SERIES – RAUB

I love to eat (this is common knowledge among my friends), and so do many Malaysians out there. So, when Paul suggested that we should start a Food Trail Series – travelling to different places in Malaysia in search of food, I couldn’t control my excitement.

Our first destination was Raub. We brought a group of 30 people that consisted of teenagers, working adults as well as senior citizens last Saturday, for a day trip to Raub. Age may be diverse, yet, we all share a common passion – “FOOD”.

Our first stop was at Sg Klau, about half an hour from Raub town. That was the time I realised that my passion for food cannot match my fellow travellers. The minute they were let off the bus, Kong-Kong Mark and a few of the senior citizens headed straight to a ‘yau cha kwai’ stall and started buying. Oh my, they are so bought in to the concept of this trip…

Our morning tea break was at a local coffee shop, famous among the locals for its wantan mee. I could see the surprise in the travellers’ faces when the coffee shop workers came around to take their drink orders. They looked at me and asked “Anything? We can order anything from the shop?” I had to remind them that this is an exploration trip, so, they’ve got to make their own discovery. I could see the joy in their faces...

Next to the coffee shop was the durian depot of Sg Klau – it’s the ‘pasar borong’ for durians. Haven’t seen so many durians in a single site in my life!

Lorries were coming and going all the time while I was sitting at the coffee shop – wooo…. I’m in durian heaven...

We then travelled to a fruit orchard of Mr Law.

Meeting him has taught me a lesson – do not pre-judge people by their simple outlook. Actually, this guy owns the orchard, and he’s constantly trying to hybrid local fruits to make them taste better and bigger. In the orchard, we also discovered that there’s a Rambo among us – Uncle Stanley. Uncle Stanley aka Uncle Rambo was always there whenever we needed anything – when we needed a straw, the next minute Uncle Rambo was seen making one from a papaya stalk; when we needed water, Uncle Rambo opened up his cooler bag and jeng, jeng… chilled water bottles came out of his bag.

The 30 of us ate durians and rambutans by the baskets. Of course we couldn’t finish them … so, we had to sweet-talk the coach driver to let us ‘tapau’ the fruits back to KL.

I’ve also discovered angels in the group. The group of teenagers that were travelling with us gave me a positive view of our next generation. Mr Law has a few fragrant coconut trees in his orchard, and, we coaxed him to let us try some.

There were not enough for everyone, but, the teens unselfishly collected the coconuts and gave them to their seniors before sharing the remaining few among themselves. It was done even without being told!

Everyone decided that we needed a break from eating, so we visited the groundnuts factory just outside Raub town.

The machines used are as old as 3 generations, and it was really cool to see that charcoaled ovens are still used to ‘salai” the groundnuts.

Sempalit groundnuts are not often seen in supermarkets or retail shops, wonder why? The secret… no preservatives are used in the packing; hence, they can’t be kept for long. This also means that every packet of Sempalit groundnuts is fresh and guaranteed to taste fresh!

I think we managed to burn off some calories here – by carrying the packets of groundnuts that we had bought at the end of our visit.

We finally had our lunch at the famous fish head curry in Raub. Though we were all muttering about how full we were, once the hot curry fish head was served, we totally forgot about our full stomachs.

Our food discovery was coming to an end. As a reward for our achievement (based on the amount of food we could eat), we had ice kacang with ice-cream at the famous home-made ice-cream shop in Bentong.

Hats off to my fellow travellers – they were so gung-ho and passionate about food. When I asked if they could still eat, everyone except three, were confident that the food in their stomachs would be digested by the time we reached the shop. Kow Po, the famous ice-cream shop has also been around for 3 generations. It’s not merely the taste of the ice-cream, but, also the friendliness and genuineness of the Tan family, the owners of the shop that has attracted me to this place.

There were so many places to visit in Raub that we couldn’t do it all in one day. Looking forward to the 2nd part of the journey...