A Short Trip to Bentong

Our driving route : Penang --> Ipoh --> Bukit Tinggi --> Bentong --> KL --> Ipoh --> Penang.

Due to our good friends' wedding ceremony at Bentong and dinner at KL, we had a great 3D2N self-drive trip at the end of May. The bridegroom wanted us to go straight to KL. However, I insisted to go to Bentong.

I love small towns in Malaysia. I always do. And I had great time in Bentong during my last visit. So, when we have chance to revisit Bentong, I, of course, chose staying in Bentong instead of KL!

After our lunch in Ipoh, we planned to go straight to Bentong. However, through Facebook, we noticed that the bride-to-be and bridegroom-to-be were still in Genting. Hence, we detoured to Bukit Tinggi instead.

PH was extremely tired and wanted to pamper himself. He called a few resorts in Bukit Tinggi to check for the spa / massage price and he found some great discount (according to him la~). When he told us that it cost about over RM100, we were 90% sure that he had heard it wrongly but we decided to try our luck anyway. So this was how we ended up in The Chateau Spa and Organic Wellness Resort.

One will immediately notice how exclusive this place is as soon as you enter the premises. The guards are extremely well trained. They speak fluent English, and they followed us to the car park to show us the most convenient spot to park our car, and led us to the waiting area before the spa officer came to serve us.

This was where we waited for the spa officer

Pathway to the spa

We were lead to second floor, and another officer showed us around. We were awed by the facility. They have "heated massage bed imported from German", mineral pool, sauna infused wit herb etc (just named a few that I could remember). While listening to the introduction, besides being super impressed, we were also very concerned about the price too :) Due to their excellence service, we felt terrible to say "thank you very much but we are not interested". Meanwhile, we didn't plan to spend a fortune here too! I'm sure you can imagine our internal struggles.

After guided us around the facility, the officer finally brought us to an extremely relaxing patio facing the forest. The spa manager came to showed us their spa courses, wellness programs etc. We scanned the price list and knew immediately we were in deep trouble. The cheapest 2D1N wellness program cost RM1999 per pax (full board, with fine dinning dinner and various massages and fitness/wellness courses)!! Luckily we found the cheapest on the list: medicure & pedicure. It costs around RM150 if I remember correctly. There's also a introductory massage that costs RM180 for 25 mins!! We prepared for the worst. If none of us have the courage to say "thank you very much but we have to go", we might have to go for these below RM200 items.

View from the chateau

When we were having crazy internal mental arguments and negotiations, the manager said "I'm very sorry that we have only one slot left for today, and there are no slots left for tomorrow either. We do not have enough trained personnel to cope for four of you", you can imagine how relieved we were!! PH showed his "disappointment expression" and requested the manager to send him the details so that we can plan for our next trip. We couldn't help but laughed at ourselves after we left the premises. Definitely the thrill of the trip :)

We did promise to ourselves that when we make enough money from our Plan B / Plan C / Plan D etc, we shall return. The 3D2N wellness program sounds great! This experience also strengthen our belief that price is never the issue (Fully booked!! With this price!!) People willing to pay as long as you provide the experience that's value for money.

After our "adventure", we continued our journey to Bentong. We didn't call the bridegroom because we didn't want to give him too much headache before his big day. We went to explore the town by ourselves instead.

Our first stop was at the street with lots of eatery stalls. Found some tasty looking salted fried chicken (盐酥鸡), deep fried mushrooms etc. We definitely have the "tourist look" because the stall owner thought we were from Taiwan!.

We then went for the wantan mee at Meng Kei (明记). We heard the famous one is Hooi Kee (开记) but that stall is open only in the morning. So we decided to give it a try anyway. My friend's mum later told us that she think this is the worst wantan mee in Bentong, but I think it is not bad at all. Not excellence, but not bad at all.




I wanted to try more of Bentong food but the others claimed that they were too full for another round so we decided to go back to bridegroom's house to shower first before our next round.
 
Around 11pm, after the bridegroom got everything settled and finally free, we went out for another round of food hunting. The one that I have to highlight is the "Hong Kong fried chicken" at BuYeTian (不夜天). Please don't ask me where this name comes from but I'm very sure it's not from Hong Kong. Anyway, this fried chicken is fried with chopped garlic crumbs!! Lots and lots of them! The fragrant was nice and we love the chopped garlic crumbs. We love it so much we actually focusing on eating the crumbs than the chicken.

The next morning, we went to the famous Hooi Kee for wantan mee. The noodle is very springy but the sauce is a bit too sweet for my taste.
The wantans are very good though.

In the same shop, there's another food stall that caught my attention, the one selling Hakka Yong Tau Fu (客家酿豆腐).

We are pampered with tons of choices that normally we don't see in Penang. Penangites normally do not crave for Yong Tau Fu, most probably because there are very limited stalls in Penang that sells good Yao Tau Fu.

Me, on the other hand, grew up at Ipoh, where Yong Tau Fu is a serious matter and I LOVE Yong Tau Fu.

Yong Tau Fu lovers are in heaven when come to Bentong. There are Yong Tau Fu stalls every where.

This stall that we tried is very good. The minced pork and hint of salty fish mixed so well with the taufu / eggs / eggplant. I wondered if they would open a franchise in Penang to start some "Yong Tau Fu trend" in Penang. (Almost a decade ago, there was almost zero 'ban mee' stalls in Penang. Now 'ban mee' is every where! So, even though not typical authentic Penang food, Penangites will always 'give chance' if you serve good food)

Our final stop before heading to KL for the wedding dinner preparation, was to stop at this extremely humble stall for "ban mee". This IS THE ONE that I've been waiting for.

First of all, you must understand that I grew up in Ipoh from age 7 to 13, and I spent 3 years in Tronoh in my early twenties. I have had all the great ban mee in my youth before the ban mee trend picked up in Penang. And I have to tell you this. So far, none of the ban mee stall in Penang sells excellence ban mee. Some are better than others, but none of them make unforgettable 'ban mee'. They just don't do the "kuih" right.

This little stall at Bentong on the other hand, make one of the best "kuih". It was smooth and springy. You knew the owner had spent hours and great effort in processing the flour (赶面粉) as soon as your first bite. Besides the "kuih", I also love the crunchy anchovies and the nice ratio of sweet leave (mani cai). Their special made chilli sauce go very well with the "ban mee" too!

What a great way to conclude my Bentong trip!





Read also my Pahang Trip in 2011, including Bentong, Sungai Lembing and Teluk Cempedak:
惊喜处处彭亨游（一）
惊喜处处彭亨游（二）
惊喜处处彭亨游（三）

Legally a Cat now

The kitten is finally officially and legally a cat! The "overly awesome" cat!!

OK, OK, I know, I know! I have blogged about him turning into a cat officially 3 years ago. But this is different. This time, he is officially and legally a cat!! He can vote in next GE, he can now go into Genting Casino, and he can now get married without parental consent (Just saying, not like he really plan to do so :p)

I couldn't accept the fact that he IS an adult now. I'm sure Wei has the same feeling too. We always wish that our little brother will never grow up, we wish he can stay cute forever, we wish he can be our 'remote control' forever, we wish he can be our 'technician' forever, I wish he can be my automobile carer forever.....And suddenly, with the blink of an eye, our little brother is all grown up!

Happy Birthday, Ah En!!

Why I Can Relate to Sheldon Cooper - The Need of Perfect TV Screen

"The Big Bang Theory" Season 7 premieres on Thursday, Sept. 26 at 8 p.m. with back-to-back episodes on CBS. While waiting, I'd like to continue my blog about "Why I Can Relate to Sheldon".



*After complaining of dead pixels on Raj's TV, Sheldon says "Oh look, it's Harry Potter and 98% of Sorcerer's stone!"

I myself is very particular about my TV screen too. My hate for Samsung brand started years ago when my dad bought our first ever flat screen tube TV. It was from Samsung. 

It started to have a "shadow" line at the middle of the screen, just a few weeks after we bought it. Since it was still under warranty, my dad brought it back to the store and got the free exchange. 

Few weeks later, this free-exchanged-new-TV had the "shadow" again. My dad brought it back to the store again. This time he didn't get the free exchange (most probably because the store owner couldn't see the shadow as what we claimed) but the TV set was sent back to Samsung for "repair".
The "repaid" TV showed the shadow again, few weeks later! 

My dad sent to the store again, and we waited a few weeks for the second repair.
When the repaired-for-second-time-supposedly-new-TV finally came back to our living room, we still found the shadow!!

My dad gave up complaining, and I hate Samsung ever since. 

That thin darker zone across the screen spoiled all my great movies marathon moments! For years!

So, no, I don't think Sheldon is weird complaining about the 98% of the Sorcerer's Stone.



Why I Can Relate to Sheldon Cooper:

• Star Wars Fans
• The Need of Perfect TV Screen
• Being Accurate
• Hate Dressing Up
• Acoustics Sweet Spot

What Do You Care What Other People Think?

As I mentioned a few months back, I always have a soft spot for Physicists. For years, after collecting a few copies of Einstein's and Hawking's, I have been looking for Feynman's books in Malaysia but always failed.

A few years ago, I finally bought "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character)", but then, somehow, I totally forgot about that book! (Ya, crazy huh? I still couldn't believe this!) Anyway, years later, I accidentally found it in my bookshelf recently, and I couldn't put down the book. I finished it in 2 nights.

So, during our "Half" Peninsular Malaysia road trip, when I visited Kinokuniya at KLCC, I couldn't resist but to buy a few Feynman's books (and of course, other titles too, spent over RM300 there in less than 1 hour). The first title that I finished reading was “What Do You Care What Other People Think”.

The first part of the book is about the love stories between Feynman and his father, his mother, his first love, and his family. The title "What Do You Care What Other People Think" came from his first wife's comment to him, when she tricked him in doing some embarrassing acts. He did them anyway, I think partly because he loved her, partly because she was dying, and partly because he knew that's true.

The second part of the book mainly revolves around the true stories of the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster. (FYI, The Rogers Commission Report was created by a Presidential Commission charged with investigating the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster during its 10th mission, STS-51-L. The report, released and submitted to President Ronald Reagan on 9 June 1986, both determined the cause of the disaster that took place 73 seconds after lift-off, and urged NASA to improve and install new safety features on the shuttles and in its organizational handling of future missions.)

Reading these stories had further strengthen my values that instilled long time ago. I believe manufacturers are responsible to produce products with quality that exceed customers' implied expectations with conscience.

I used to dream of working in NASA when I was in primary school (I gave up this dream after I found out their minimum height requirements :p). Reading these behind the scene stories from Richard Feynman made me realize that even NASA has no difference.

1.  The communication between management and the floor is always the key weakness / strength of an organization.
2. Criteria are always being changed when the reality cannot catch up with the original expectations. 
3. People tend to be unrealistic in making contracts, and in estimating the costs / difficulties of each project. 
4. Departments that spend a lot of money and resources in the important but not urgent activities (making sure that no problems happen) always being victimized. It is always seen as "wasting money on preventing things that never give us problems".
5.  When being assigned to carry out an investigation, most people focus on preparing a perfect report than actually spending resources in finding the root cause

My intention of listing the above is not to tell you how bad the manufacturing world is, but to remind you the reality.
I would like to remind you that while we still have our conscience intact, it is our responsibility to provide correct and sufficient information to the decision makers, and to remind the decision makers on what is right when necessary.
You don't have to care what other people think :)

“For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.” ~ Richard Feynman

Exploring Ipoh Old Town

We had a very short road trip in the second last weekend of May 2013.
Our driving route for the 3D2N: Penang --> Ipoh --> Bukit Tinggi --> Bentong --> KL --> Ipoh --> Penang.

Ipoh is my second hometown. I spent 7 years of my preteen in this clean, lovely town (now a city). So, I always have a soft spot for Ipoh. I always try to plan a brief stop at Ipoh, whenever I can, when I'm on my Malaysia road trip.

This round, we skipped our favorite dimsum. Instead, we had some nice breakfast at 2 different coffee shops in the old town. I just love to explore this part of Ipoh city.

All the walls have stories to tell......

And I bet this tree can talk like an Ent, with stories worth passing down, for days and nights.

Every corner, there's an old charm standing tall, waiting for you to explore.

And I love all the passages to the past......

And most importantly, I love how life continues, in this rustic corner of the modern city......

As usual, we first went to Nam Heong for the addictive White Coffee. Before the "Old Town White Coffee" franchise era, this street was where our family spent our Sunday morning, for the aromatic white coffee, and the to kill for roasted pork.
After I had my favorite white coffee, and some food, we went to the famous Thean Chun Restaurant, which is fondly known as The Hall of Mirrors.

This, surprisingly, was my first visit. With the 95% full stomach, I still couldn't resist but ordered a lot of food! (well, at least to my standard). None of them really made an effort to help me so we actually spent more than 1.5 hour there, trying very hard to finish my 2nd round breakfast.

Because this gang that followed me on the road trip was not so keen in food, I guess I have to arrange for another makan-makan trip to Ipoh.

I'll be back.....

Cuti-cuti "Half" Peninsular Malaysia - Day 4 - Sunrise at Panorama Hill

3rd June 2013:  
Driving route: Sungai Lembing --> Kuala Lumpur

We woke up at 5am and left Lembing Riverview Resort for the Panorama Hill sunrise at 5:30am. Except papa, none of us brought torch light. Luckily there were other tourists too so everyone was helping each other.

For a place to view the sea of clouds, Panorama Hill is relatively low. Averagely tourists take about one hour to fight the steep stairs to reach the top. If you are going with kids or senior citizens, be careful. Though relatively low, this hill is still quite challenging.

We reached the top right before sunrise. Though not as crowded as my previous trip, still, it was hard to find a great spot for photo. So instead of focusing on the sunrise like everyone else, I took quite some Chinese-painting-style-photos. 

Our luck was good but not great. The sun was blocked by huge, thick cloud! So instead of the view of egg york coming out from the horizon, we got to see the "golden-lining" decorating the cloud.

I wish I can paint something like this......

Hard work, everyone :)

Going downhill was equally hard. Dad and I walked slowly while the others went to the market to grab some breakfast (phobia, from previous night experience)

Tips: For those that plan to visit Sungai Lembing, sigh..... it is really hard to choose. If you go during weekend, most probably you have to fight for food (and everything else) with a lot of tourists. If you go on weekdays, most of the famous stalls are not open.

After breakfast, just like any responsible tourists, we visited the village, the suspension bridge, and the famous Lembing noodle making factory.

The Sungai Lembing noodle shop owner told me that no matter how much she made, the tourists "sapu" within an hour. I guessed the Singaporeans just love this traditional food.

 
After our short Sungai Lembing trip, we drove all the way to KL to meet our uncle. It was a long drive, luckily there's someone kept me entertained :)

Cuti-cuti "Half" Peninsular Malaysia - Return of the Masterpieces

As I have told you earlier, we enrolled in a batik workshop and we enjoyed the experience very much. However, our masterpieces were accidentally sent to the Australian family when they left Pasir Belanda Resort. Pasir Belanda Resort owner promised to try to contact the Australian family after their Taman Negara trip and try to get them to send the batik to my home address when they reach Kuala Lumpur. This happened almost 2 months ago. We thought we will never see our masterpieces again.....

Then, last week, I received an email from Pasir Belanda Resort. I was told that the parcel was returned to the sender. I suspected something wrong with Bukit Mertajam post office, or the postmen working in Bukit Mertajam, or even something wrong with my house address since I always face problems with the postal service (remember the Threadless episode?). So, I gave them my office address instead. 

So, finally, this morning, the parcel arrived!!!

With Pasir Belanda address written on the back of the envelope

It's so nice to finally see the final products! This is the first time I see our final products!

Nicely wrapped

Again, another shot!

I was so excited! I have to open up all these 3 in the office, almost immediately!

Sonia's masterpiece, dolphin and friends, get the most thumbs ups!

Wei's bright and vibrant artwork, the sunflowers and the butterfly, is quite popular too!

However, I still love my cute little mushrooms the most! They reminded me of the lovely China Dance from Fantasia :)