Cleffairy's Blog, page 151

Railway Tourism: Sightseeing in Kampung Pauh

After stuffing our face in Lenggong Food Festival, we headed home for a free and easy time.

Mak Tok’s house beckons us for a rest.

All of us were tired but pretty much restless. And I guess Mak Tok could sense that too, and therefore, she took the trouble to feed us. With freshly picked local fruits.

We were in luck. The King of the fruits, durian is in season.

So is mangosteen

Rambutans

And duku. Yups…we get to eat all of these, and it was free of charge.

Mak Too picked em up especially for us from.her orchard by using her red bicycle, the one that we hijacked and used to ride around the village after that.

One would say that life in the kampung is very boring, but I beg to differ. It was very refreshing and fun and close to fauna and flora. See the cock up there? Well, my son and I decided to tease the cock, but it got angry and chased us instead. We ran for our lives while screaming and laughing. This is something I wouldn’t trade for anything else in the world.

Fatty hens. These are the ones that can lay eggs everyday, according to Mak Tok.

Skinny hen and chics

Teasing cocks aside. Here’s my boys, taking a walk around the village. And here’s sharing some pics taken during our walk.

We were surrounded by nothing but greens, and edible plants.

Rambutan tree

Coconut tree

Banana trees

Jackfruit trees

Tapioca plant

Papaya trees

Freshly dropped durian spotted during our little excursion.

Ferns

Wild grass at least 1 meter tall

Hibiscus

Bougainvilleas can be seen almost everywhere in Kg. Pauh.

Unknown flowers

Pepper plant

Bird’s eye chilli plant

My son enjoyed the walk very much and I was really glad that he’s given an opportunity to be close to nature this way. It was indeed an unforgettable and educational experience for me and my family. Despite being autistic, I realized that my boy adapts to kampung life pretty well, and makes me feel a tad wistful about his upbringing.

Oh well, emotional sentiments aside. By the time we finished the walk, we headed back home to freshen up for the next thing on our agenda; mock wedding.

My family and I had so much fun there and I’ll be telling you about it in my next post, so stay tune for it.

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Railway Tourism: Lenggong Food Festival

As I mentioned in my previous post, after breakfast at Mak Tok’s House in Bukit Gantang, my family and I joined the rest for Lenggong Food Festival. Lenggong is a town in Perak, Malaysia. It is situated about 75 km north of Ipoh.

It was drizzling and all foggy in Lenggong that morning. Reminds me of the time I spent with my family in Genting last year. There are a lot of food that I have never seen or tasted before, and I took the opportunity to sample each and everyone of it at the food festival.

First one that caught my attention was Nasi Daun Lerek. Similar to lemang, rice was all wrapped up and cooked in huge bamboo.

The only difference with lemang is that instead of glutinous rice, normal rice was used instead.

The taste? Very bland. I prefer lemang more than this, but it is tolerable with various traditional curries and dishes.

Masak Besamah. One of my favourite that day. This traditional thick and half dry curry is lovely.

Next up: herbal rice or nasi ulam.

I tasted a scoop of this, and asked for more. it is so minty and refreshing.

Belitung curry with pumpkin. Unlike the one I’m familiar with, this curry is sweet instead of spicy. A welcoming change and my husband and I was sucking away happily on these. Yup…you need to sick on the belitung to get the teeny meat out.

Next is Lambuk with freshwater prawns. I naively thought that lambuk is a variation of a traditional Malay porridge, but here in Lenggong, lambuk is actually some sort of bamboo shoots.

Here is the ingredients for Lambuk with Freshwater prawns.

This dish is savoury and superbly delicious and finger licking good! The crunchy bamboo shoots complimented the sweetness of the freshwater prawns very well and if I did not need to save some space in my tummy for other food in the food festival, I would have taken this with piping hot rice over and over again!

Next on my post was Gulai Rebung Masak Lemak this is the variation of bamboo shoots curry that I’m familiar with. It tastes okay I guess. I prefer the exotic lambuk more now.

And then there is a never seen before traditional fruit salad, Kebebe.

Various kind of wild kampung fruits were pounded together with shrimp paste, salt, lime juice and sugar.

To be honest, it doesn’t look very appealing, but don’t judge it by it’s appearance. This sweet and sourish traditional fruit salad is absolutely exotic and divine.

For those who fancies Javanese food would be surprised to see that there is Pecal Lele available for visitors to feast on during the food festival.

It was okay. Nothing to really shout about and I’ve tasted better ones in Kuala Lumpur.

Banana Curry with smoked beef. An exotic curry made from banana and smoked beef.

This curry is another one of those kampung dishes that I have never seen before. The taste is savoury and a tad thick and gooey. Goes very well with plain rice. I like this banana curry very much, and would probably attempt to make em on my own one day.

Rendang Daging Masak Hitam. The beef was wonderfully tender and was absolutely tantalizing to the tastebuds.

Not a fan of fish, but these Ikan Pekasam Goreng is not only appetizing, but addictive and fragrantly pungent as well. Again, this traditionally fermented fish dish that is fried with loads of shallots goes very well with plain rice.

Next up is Kampung Beng specialty, Pindang Ikan Sungai. Freshwater fish was used for this dish.

Along with other ingredients that I am not exactly familiar with.

The freshwater fish is wrapped up and steamed.

This is the end result after long hour of steaming. Again, I’m not a big fan of fishes. The bones are a big turn off. But I tried this nevertheless. It is flavourful, and I wouldn’t mind a second or third mouthful if it wasn’t for the tiny bones.

Finally, there is something I’m familiar with in the Lenggong Food Festival; Yong Tau Foo. Hahaha…I practically devoured this so did my boy.

Freshly steamed pau.

And last but not least, something sweet to end my gluttony; Putu Mayam.

Overall, Lenggong Food Festival was a great food trail, and I learned that there is a lot of uncovered gastronomic treasure that is left unknown.

There was plenty of activities during the Lenggong Food Festival, but because of poor redirection on the organizer’s part and the lack of attention by our tour guide, I was not informed about it and missed out most of the activities. I’ll update on that soon should I see updates on other media friend’s blog, so do keep an eye on this post if you are interested to find out more about it

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Railway Tourism: Experiencing Kampung Life in Homestay Bukit Gantang

After dinner and concert in Ipoh Railway station, Sahabat Media and co departed to our respective homestays to spend time with our foster family. Some were sent to Kampung Beng, while the rest of us were sent to Homestays in Bukit Gantang and Gopeng. My family and I, along with my blogger friend Wendy were sent to Homestay in Bukit Gantang.

Due to unforseen circumstances where transportation and accommodation arrangement is concerned, we arrived late at Bukit Gantang. We only arrived back home at about 3am. I feel sorry for my foster mum and the rest of the foster families, but there is nothing any of us Sahabat Media can do. The fault is not ours and KTAM should have been more attentive when handling and coordinating media. Not sure who was actually in charge and responsible for all the glitches, but despite of the hiccup, we did managed to arrive safely and I am grateful for that.

This is our foster mum’s house. Pretty secluded. It is located in Kampung Pauh in Bukit Gantang.

A closer look at Puan Noriah’s house, whom we dubbed Mak Tok. ( it means grandmother in Malay)

Here is Mak Tok, serving us breakfast before we head over to other activities on our first day there.

Wendy stayed in the same house with us. And here is her pic, enjoying her breakfast.

Breakfast was pretty simple, but fabulous. Mak Tok has taken the trouble to prepare some cucur kodok durian ( durian fritters) and fried bihun for us. There was hot coffee and tea too. I was famished, so I took a few servings of the bihun and spared none of those yummy fritters.

My boy wasn’t really in a good mood that morning. He was absolutely tired; having to sleep late but forced to wake up early…but thank God he loved the food too and was all pumped up after that. Good thing, as we need all the energy for the rest of the day.

My family and I along with Wendy headed over to to the bus stop to join the rest for Lenggong Food Festival.

Wanna know what we had in the food festival? Well stay tune for the next update.

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Railway Tourism: First Railway Trip with Media Friends

It’s weekend again and my boys and I are off on our first trip of the year with Sahabat Media CC1M and KTAM. (More updates will be posted on our respective blogs, Garfield and Travel with E.T.A. Our destination: Perak Darul Ridzuan ETS (Electric Train Service) with YB DS Mohamed Nazri bin Abdul Aziz on board. ETS is the latest service introduced by KTMB (Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad).

Travel time taken from KL Sentral to Ipoh, Perak is a 2-hour, non-stop. At about 6:00 pm more we departed KL Sentral and arrive at 8:20pm. ETS offers two section, the Gold and SilverClass. Gold Class ETS from KL Sentral to Ipoh is only RM35 and RM25 for Silver Class.

My boys and I decided to travel light. This pink backpack is all I have with me during the trip.

This time, instead of a road trip, we travel via train instead; as to experience the newly launched program, Railway Tourism in conjunction of Visit Malaysia 2014. Train ride to Ipoh Railway station was a mere 2 hours ride. Very comfortable and fast.

During the ride, we were served some pasta and pastries to calm our growling tummy.

Upon arrival, we were greeted with smile by KTMB train steward and stewardess.

And kompang and silat performances. There’s this huge launching for Railway Tourism by Datuk Seri Nazri on the behalf of Tourism Malaysia, but sorry, no pic. I couldn’t get a good shot as it was too crowded and people were pushing around to get a glimpse of the VVIP. The members of the media were then ushered to dinner and concert performance to celebrate the launching of Railway Tourism before we departed to our respective homestays for the weekend.

Interested to know what misadventures my boys and I got ourselves into during the trip? Well, stay tune for the next post.

In the meantime, find out more about ETS and interesting packages offered
CLICK: ETS

CLICK:  ETS fees
The trip was made possible by our sponsors:

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VVIP for A Day

Have you ever wondered how it’s like to live like a VVIP? Well, every now and then I fantasized being treated as one. And a few days ago, my fantasy came true.

I was invited to attend the launching of Uber. One of the coolest apps for luxury car service around. Unlike most taxi apps, Uber is different in a sense that it is providing service to high end clients and cars that were used is more on the expensive end. They have Camry, Mercedes, BMW, Audi, you name it. Using their service would mean that you get to travel in style, and cashless at that.

Being invited means I get to try their service for free, and I was fetch to and fro the event with luxurious cars. The experience is something I wouldn’t forget.

I woke up late that day and when I used the apps to book a driver, the driver arrived earlier than E.T.A. My first driver was courteous to boot and eager to impress. He waited on me and held the door for me as I stepped in. And during the ride, I was served complimentary drinks. Journey back was no different, and I enjoyed having a personal driver to chauffer me around that day.

Some of the bloggers invited that day.

Their service was absolutely wonderful, and if should you want to travel in style, you should check em out HERE

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Ushering The Year of Golden Horse 2014 in Armada Hotel, PJ

Ready for Chinese New Year or not, the horse is galloping our way in 2014. Christmas is finally over and I can start counting down to Chinese New Year and Valentine’s day.

I’m pretty excited to celebrate Chinese New Year this year, and so when I was invited by Armada Hotel, PJ to sample their Chinese New Year’s offerings, I was very delighted.

Spotted at their buffet, The Armada Prosperity Yee Sang with Maguro

Unusual choice of accompaniments; chilled octopus

Chinese New Year Cold Cuts

Sushi and Sashimi& Condiments

Fresh Prawns with Mandarin Orange Cocktail

Herbal Duck

Steamed Chinese Chicken

Chinese Longevity Noodles

Steamed Seabass with Ginger Sauce

Chinese New Year Steamed Lotus Rice

Exotic Pun Choy. A pork-free one, though, as Armada Hotel serves only Halal food. This one’s a mixture of mixed seafood, chicken and vegetables.

Mandarin Orange

Nian Gao

Assorted Chinese New Year’s goodies. I won’t be saying much about the food that’s found in their buffet section, as we did not exactly sampled that. Instead of letting us loose in the buffet area, us media and bloggers were lavished with Loh Sang Menu instead. We were treated to Bliss Abundance which costs RM988++ per table of 10 person.

So below is what we had;

Prosperity Yee Sang with Crustacean. Served with white radish, carrots, red pepper, turnips, red pickled ginger, sun-dried oranges, crustaceans, chopped peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, Chinese shrimp crackers laced with special sauce using plum sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. The Yee Sang tasted like any other regular Yee Sang. I have no complains about it, but definitely prefer the traditional version with raw fish slices in it.

Braised Seafood Mentaiko Soup. Soup is always my favourite dish when it comes to Chinese course meal dining. This braised seafood mentaiko soup does not disappoint. It was generous with mentaiko slices and bursting with flavours. I definitely wouldn’t mind a second or third bowl of this.

Pei Pah Chicken In Orange Salsa Sauce. The sauce was marvelous, very appetizing, but the chicken was a tad too gamey for me. The saving grace for this dish in my opinion was the side of diced orange salad. But there was no complaints from the rest at the table, so I suppose it was just me.

Deep Fried Sea Garoupa in Spicy Sesame Sauce. I’m not a huge fan of fish. The bones always puts me off, but this dish is somewhat tolerable and I find the sauce was absolutely divine. It was a perfect balance of sweet and spicy. The re-plated fish slices was all right, though I wish it was fried to a much crispier texture.

Steamed Tiger Prawn with Ginger Sauce. Bedded underneath thick and flavourful ginger sauce, the steamed tiger prawn is to die for. The savoury sauce complement the sweetness of the prawn perfectly. Everyone’s favourite that night.

Braised Taukan with Mushroom in Black Moss Soup. Surprisingly, this dish was one of my favourite that night apart from the superbly done steamed tiger prawns with ginger sauce. The taukan was perfectly braised. i had more than 3 pieces of the taukan while my boy absolutely adored the mushrooms and the kailan veggie.

Fried Rice with Pineapple. This one’s all right. Nothing to praise, nothing to complain about. Generous with chunky pineapples, so if you’re a huge fan of pineapples, you will definitely like this fried rice.

Sweet Red Bean Cream with Snow Sago. I don’t have a sweet tooth, but this sweet red bean cream was delicious! Wish I had more space in my tummy for second and third servings of this.

Shanghai Pancake was lovely. The filling was not cloyingly sweet, so it kinda won my heart too that night.

Overall, the Chinese New Year dining experience in Armada Hotel is wonderful. Armada Hotel is offering a feast fit for an emperor and it’s court with a fraction of a price. Apart from that what they are offering is great for reunions and gathering for non-Muslims and Muslims alike as they are not only offering feasts that’s non-pork, but certified Halal by JAKIM too.

The Oriental Feast is available from 2 Jan 2014-14 Feb 2014

Here’s the price for your reference should you be interested in booking a table of two for this upcoming festive season;

Chinese New Year Reunion Buffet Dinner

RM70++ Adult

RM49++ Senior Citizen

RM35++ Child

Reunion Set Dinner

RM988++/RM1088++/RM1188++

Price quoted are for per table of 10 pax

*minimum of 2 tables are required for private dining

Prosperity Yee Sang. Choose from a variety of fruity veggies, salmon, butter-fish or Hokkaido Yee Sang. Priced from RM40++ per potion.

Note: Prices are subjected to 10%service charge and prevailing government tax.

For inquiries and reservations, contact: 03-79546888 ext 4557-Utara Coffee House

More info and current offer, hop over to Armada Hotel’s website

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Fun During Blogger Friend Yana Yassin’s Wedding

I’m pretty much well known for being afraid of attending Chinese weddings. Whenever I received Chinese wedding invitations, (I dubbed it as red bomb) I shudder. Why? Because culturally, it is expected of us to give huge amount of angpow whenever we attend Chinese weddings.

But the same cannot be said about Malay weddings. Gifts and angpows are appreciated, but not compulsory and not much are expected of guests except for attending the reception and have fun with the bride and grooms and mingle to their hearts content.

Attended my first Malay wedding in 2014. It’s been awhile since I last attended a Malay wedding, and it felt fabulous. I knew most of the guests and we greeted each other with warm hugs and air kisses on the cheek. I’m a sucker for hugs and kisses. Lol. Naturally, I feel very good there today.

Crazy pic with blogger friends and bride Yana Yassin and husband. Familiar faces in the pic: Kelly Chin, Kak Jie, Namia

Kids hijacking the bridal dais.

Wedding favours. Grabbed two of these thinking that it is boiled eggs. Ended up it was salted eggs. Lol. First time getting salted eggs as wedding favours.

So how about the food? The food was awesome, but I had too much fun chit chatting and catching up with friends to snap the pictures of food.

It is indeed a good start to 2014, and here’s wishing Yana and husband a blessed life together for the rest of their lives.

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A Visit to Lembah Bujang Archeology Sites

Following our visit to the Lembah Bujang Archeology Museum in Sungai Petani, Kedah, we took the opportunity to visit the archeology sites in the vicinity of the museum too.

There are four remnants of temples in total for visitors to visit. The Pendiat Temple, Bukit Batu Pahat Temple, Pemgkalan Bujang Temple and Bendang Dalam Temple.

Pretty much an easy hike. Stairs are available for visitors to climb on.

Gateway to the wonders of the early civilizations.

Pendiat Temple site

Bukit Batu Pahat Temple site

Ritual Area

Pengkalan Bujang Temple site

And of course, the Bendang Dalam Temple.

Pretty much a good and educational experience for me and my family. My son enjoyed the little expedition very much and I’m eternally grateful that he is not the sort of child who can’t survive with gadgets. To me, this is how school holidays should be spent;outdoors under the sun.

I will be sharing in details about all these temples in Traveling with E.T.A soon.

Cleffairy: I shall raise my son how I saw fit.

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Closer to Nature in Belum Rainforest Resort

I’ll be damned if my son turns out to be a geeky child who does not appreciate nature. Unlike most parents who aims to push their children to excel academically, I aim to let my son experience the world as much as possible. So I made it a point to give him as much hands ons on his environment as possible. Last school holiday has been remarkable for us. Unlike before, we spent our holidays exploring Malaysia. If you wanna know what I’m talking about, kindly read my posts on Genting, Bentong and our trip up in Northern Malaysia.

In the meantime, here’s a little something for you to ponder about: Getting closer to nature. Cuti Cuti 1Malaysia Media companions departed from as early as seven in the morning in Matic for Rainforest Resort .

A few hours later,the group stopped at Kellie ‘s Castle .

The media were welcomed by the Board of Kellie ‘s Castle , Encik Zamari bin Muhyi.This heritage destination is also a symbol for a romantic love story.

Our next destination was Belum Rainforest Resort.

Something I don’t mind seeing everyday.

Very peaceful…

Amazing

Eco-tourism is something pretty much foreign to me. The efforts made by Tourism Malaysia to introduce such thing is indeed something that needs to be praised. Temenggor is the ideal destination to attract travelers to eco-tourism.

One of the activities that can be done here. water recreation.

The resort offers various activities while kayaking around the islands. Rent is about  RM30 per hour.

Closer to nature. Guests may chose to trail through the jungle or fishing and camping.

Night scene. We were given a chance to participate as Green Ranger in the Belum Rainforest Resort . The program began in May 2013. The program was 3 days 2 nights stay worth RM400 . There are five chalet and dorm that could accommodate 50 people . During our stay, we learned about various stuff that’s definitely not in the textbooks. If you want to be closer to nature, this is the place you should go.Green Ranger program offers an all- new experience- seeing wildlife habitat and wild plants which have never been seen before. The travelers may choose some interesting packages to explore the place.

One for the album. The stay was not enough. Hopefully, we’ll have an opportunity to stay longer there soon.

Cleffairy: I’m pretty much adventurous, and so is my boys. Are you?

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A Visit to Lembah Bujang Archeology Museum

Someone I used to know used to tell me that I’m a frog in a well. A metaphor used to describe a recluse who lives in her own world. Well, I kinda got fed up with the things ‘friends’ keep telling me. To most, I’m all talk and complains and no action.

Well, there are times I feel hurt. Just because I don’t react instantly towards sarcasm and just because I’m a person with sense of humour, and carve a smile on my lips each time I’m sneered at does not mean that I have no feelings to begin with. I don’t trash people face to face doesn’t mean I am okay with rude and insensitive comments hurled at me. It simply means that my parents taught me not to lower my standard to theirs and I very much prefer to distance myself from such people and stop being in their lives slowly.

Pretty much fed up with some people’s insensitivities, I kinda decide to ‘get out of my well’ with a huge bang. I used to stay home, and home only during school holidays, but not anymore. I stopped giving a damn about commitment and ‘people’ and I took FIVE roadtrips cum getaway in total with my boys in just one month. 3 media/sponsored trips and self-funded. It felt awesome. I like feeling awesome. And so I shall continue doing this…getting out and see the what the world have to offer.

One of the most recent road trip back in Dec 2013 was way up North, in Sungai Petani Kedah and I decided to play a little bit of Indiana Jones with my boys.

Visited the Lembah Bujang Archeology Museum.

Plenty of exhibits can be seen in the museum, dating back in the 4th-5th century.

Evidence of religious worship. Ganesha God sculpture.

Inscribed stone written in Sanscrit

Potteries

Ancient accessories made from beads and shells.

There are plenty more exhibits that I would love to share, but I won’t be sharing em here. If you’re interested to know more about this museum, do wait for my updates family’s travel blog, Travel with E.T.A

Until then, share with me your school holiday memories links in the comment section below, and I’ll be sure to visit them.

Cleffairy: Silence is golden or action speaks louder than words?

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